A Visit to Hunt Tower
[This article appeared in the November 2002 issue of the Bull Sheet]
[By Allen Brougham] . . .
A number of years ago I was en route by train back to Baltimore from someplace out West (I don't remember where), and from my left-side roomette I looked out upon the darkened early morning scene as the train made a station stop. I needed no further hint as to where we were; my sleeper was stopped directly adjacent to Hunt Tower in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
Hunt Tower had closed by this time. But its silhouette against the lights from within the town presented a surreal but pleasant opening to my final day of travel. What a thrill! I had already heard of efforts to preserve this structure, and I looked forward to the opportunity to visit it once it had been brought back to life.
That opportunity finally came early this year. I was making an advance trip by car to establish continuity for an upcoming Oakleigh Tours bus trip to Raystown Lake, Pennsylvania, and I took time from my schedule to visit Hunt Tower. I was accompanied on this fact-finding effort by my friend Darren Reynolds, a great fan of interlocking towers, who was more than delighted to make a first visit to the tower as well.
In fact, I even included some padding in the planned bus itinerary for an impromptu quick-stop for the bus group, if time permitted, prior to our arrival at the lake. But as things developed on the day of the trip, our bus took a wrong turn at Lewistown requiring a 12-mile detour to get back onto the proper route, and this killed any chance of fitting a tower stop into the tour. Oh, well. Maybe some other time!
Hunt Tower has been preserved by the Huntingdon County Transportation Society and Museum. The society maintains the building and operates the transportation museum on the second floor. According to the society, the tower originally opened in 1899. It served the busy Pennsylvania Railroad's "Middle Division," into the Penn Central and Conrail eras, until 1980 when it was closed due to advanced technology. Conrail planned to demolish the building, but the good folks of Huntingdon County stepped in to make it a museum instead. Right on!
The tower is open to the public whenever staffing permits, generally Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays during the warmer months of the year, or whenever "the lights are on in the evening." There is no admission charge, but donations are happily accepted.