The Laurel Highlands is a region in southwestern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

made up of Fayette County, Somerset County and Westmoreland County. It has a population of about 600,000 people. The region is approximately fifty-five miles southeast of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

; the Laurel Highlands center on Laurel Hill and Chestnut Ridge of the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...

. The mountains making up the Laurel Highlands are the highest in

, with Mount Davis in Somerset County the highest point in the state at . Because of the elevation, weather in the Laurel Highlands is generally cooler and wetter than in most other parts of the state. The Laurel Highlands are a popular area for camping, hiking, mountain biking, hunting, whitewater kayaking, trout fishing, wildlife viewing, and downhill (and cross-country) skiing, and golf.

Amusement parks and resorts

Seven Springs Resort on 4th of July at dusk viewed from the summit pre fireworks

* Hidden Valley Resort * Idlewild Park and Soak Zone * Nemacolin Woodlands * Polymath Park * Seven Springs Mountain Resort * Laurel Mountain * Summit Inn Resort

Architecture

Fallingwater Fallingwater is a house designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 in the Laurel Highlands of southwest Pennsylvania, about southeast of Pittsburgh in the United States. It is built partly over a waterfall on Bear Run in the Mill R ...

Kentuck Knob Kentuck Knob, also known as the Hagan House, is a house designed by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in rural Stewart Township near the village of Chalk Hill, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, USA, southeast of Pittsburgh. It was designat ...

* Polymath Park

National Parks & Historic sites

National Parks *

Allegheny Portage Railroad The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania, United States; it operated from 1834 to 1854 as the first transportation infrastructure through the gaps of the Alleghen ...

* Flight 93 National Memorial *

Fort Necessity Fort Necessity National Battlefield is a National Battlefield in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, which preserves the site of the Battle of Fort Necessity. The battle, which took place on July 3, 1754, was an early battle of the ...

* Friendship Hill *

Johnstown Flood National Memorial Johnstown Flood National Memorial commemorates the more than 2,200 people who died and the thousands injured in the Johnstown Flood on May 31, 1889. The flood was caused by a break in the South Fork Dam, an earthen structure known to be structur ...

UNESCO World Heritage Site *

Historic Sites * Bowman%27s Castle * Bushy Run Battlefield *

Compass Inn Compass Inn is a historic inn and tavern located in Laughlintown, Ligonier Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. It is a 2 1/2-storey, five bay log and stone building in a vernacular Georgian style. The original section was built in 1 ...

Fort Ligonier Fort Ligonier is a British fortification from the French and Indian War located in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, United States. The fort served as a staging area for the Forbes Expedition of 1758. During the eight years of its existence as a garrison, F ...

Hannastown, Pennsylvania Hannastown is an unincorporated community and important historical and archaeological site located in Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Although the village is not tracked by the Census Bureau, it has been assigned the ZIP ...

* Heritage Discovery Center * Johnstown Flood Museum *

Johnstown Inclined Plane The Johnstown Inclined Plane is a funicular in Johnstown, Cambria County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The incline and its two stations connect the city of Johnstown, situated in a valley at the confluence of the Stonycreek and the Li ...

National Road The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main tran ...

* Quecreek Mine Rescue Fort Ligonier1

Route of the Lincoln Highway ''Note: A fully interactive online map of the Lincoln Highway and all of its re-alignments, markers, monuments and historic points of interest can be viewed at thLincoln Highway Association Official Map website'' As the Lincoln Highway was one of ...

* Somerset County Courthouse * Somerset Historical Center *

Staple Bend Tunnel The Staple Bend Tunnel, about east of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in a town called Mineral Point, was constructed between 1831 and 1834 for the Allegheny Portage Railroad. Construction began on April 12, 1831. This tunnel, at in length, was the ...

* Uptown Somerset Historic District * Wagner–Ritter House & Garden *

West Overton, Pennsylvania West Overton is located approximately southeast of Pittsburgh, in East Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is on PA 819 between the towns of Mount Pleasant and Scottdale. Its latitude is 40.117N and its lo ...

Parks and outdoor recreation

State Parks and Forests *

Forbes State Forest Forbes State Forest is a Pennsylvania state forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #4. The main offices are located in Laughlintown in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Mount Davis, the highest peak in Penn ...

* Gallitzin State Forest * Keystone State Park * Kooser State Park * Laurel Hill State Park * Laurel Mountain State Park *

Laurel Ridge State Park Laurel Ridge State Park is a List of Pennsylvania state parks, Pennsylvania state park that passes through Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Cambria, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Fayette, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, Somerset, and Westmoreland Co ...

* Laurel Summit State Park * Linn Run State Park * Mount Davis (part of

) *

Ohiopyle State Park Ohiopyle State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on in Dunbar, Henry Clay and Stewart Townships, Fayette County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The focal point of the park is the more than of the Youghiogheny River Gorge that passes thro ...

* Prince Gallitzin State Park *

Youghiogheny River The Youghiogheny River , or the Yough (pronounced Yok ) for short, is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 tributary of the Monongahela River in the U.S. ...

Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail - panoramio

Trails * Coal and Coke Trail * Ghost Town Trail *

Great Allegheny Passage The Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) is a rail trail between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Cumberland, Maryland. Together with the C&O Canal towpath, the GAP is part of a route between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., that is popular with through ...

* Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail (part of

) * Jim Mayer Riverwalk * Westmoreland Heritage Trail *

Five Star Trail The Five Star Trail runs nearly 8 miles through Westmoreland County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The trail is alongside an active railroad track, Southwestern Pennsylvania Railroad, that stretches between Lynch Field, a Greensburg city par ...

Downhill ski areas

* Hidden Valley Resort * Laurel Mountain Ski Resort * Seven Springs Mountain Resort

References

External links

* {{Coord, 40.241, -79.239, type:adm2nd_globe:earth_region:US-PA, display=title Allegheny Mountains Pittsburgh metropolitan area Regions of Pennsylvania Highlands