Category: Pennsylvania...

much of the fighting during the French and Indian War (1754-63) took place in Pennsylvania
the world's largest mushroom farm, the covered bridges of Bucks County, the nation's oldest botanical farm
Philadelphia lies athwart the vast population belt of Maine to Virginia, and Pittsburgh is at the beginning of the Midwest industrial belt stretching to Chicago and Milwaukee
named for Sir William Penn, the suffix sylvania "woodlands" was added at his request
the cultivated fields of Pennsylvania Dutch country and the forests of the Allegheny Plateau
in the 1840s, a system of canals and railroads linked Philadelphia to Pittsburgh
the invention of the ice-cream soda in Pennsylvania, as well as other firsts: root beer, circus, pencil with an eraser, zoo, pretzel, cable car, U.S. mine, firefighting company, motion-picture show, commercial radio station, lending library, weekly newspaper, savings bank, and Little League baseball game
Benjamin Franklin (1706-90), who ended his formal education at age 10 and then became one of the most creative men of his time and a founding father of the U.S.