The Pennsylvania collection
Butler County
23 places. A county full of stories.
Discover local legends, historic places and the stories of sites you can explore virtually.
Explore this county on the map →Applebutter Inn
The Applebutter Inn near Slippery Rock began as a six-room farmhouse built by Michael Christley in 1844. His family lived there, followed by the…
Cemeteries · AI illustrationBlack Cross burial ground
The Black Cross marks a burial ground at Cornetti and Sasse roads in Winfield Township, Butler County. Victims of the influenza epidemic of 1918–1919…
Brinker Road trailhead
The woods below Summit Township Elementary School follow a former railroad corridor near Brinker Road in Butler County. Brinker Depot once stood…
Butler–Freeport Community Trail
The Butler–Freeport Community Trail follows a former railroad corridor through Butler County. Stories about children laughing along the trail and…
Cider Press Antiques at Sally’s Cider Press
Cider Press Antiques operated in an old barn at Sally's Cider Press on Perry Highway near Harmony, Butler County. Former owner Susan and her daughter…
Dassa McKinney Elementary School vicinity
McKinney Hollow near West Sunbury in Butler County has a story about children's singing carried on the wind. Directions passed among local residents…
Elias Fry Barn
The Elias Fry Barn stands in Knob Hill Community Park in Marshall Township, near Cranberry. A local legend describes music and crowds returning after…
CemeteriesEvans City Cemetery off Franklin Road
Evans City Cemetery is the setting of the opening encounter in George Romero’s 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. Johnny and his sister Barbra…
Experience Butler County office
Staff at the Butler County tourism office in a house on East Grandview Avenue in Zelienople reported seeing a young boy they called Robert. Their…
Former Clinton Elementary School
Clinton Elementary was among four township schools closed in 2002 when the district consolidated its youngest pupils into a new primary center. While…
Inns & businessesHotel Saxonburg
Hotel Saxonburg on West Main Street has roots in the town's nineteenth-century history. Originally called the Vogeley House, it was bought and…
Bridges & railwaysMars Area History & Landmarks Society
The restored railroad depot in Mars is associated with Chessie, a cat whose story extends into shops around the Butler County town. According to…
Schools · Historical imageNorth Hall
North Hall at Slippery Rock University is associated with Emma Guffey Miller, a former university trustee who helped develop the campus. University…
North Side Cemetery
An old Butler story places a floating woman above North Side Cemetery at dusk on Decoration Day, the holiday now generally called Memorial Day.…
Inns & businesses · Historical imageOld Stone House
The Old Stone House near Slippery Rock occupies the site of a stagecoach tavern that served travelers heading north from Pittsburgh. After the…
Penn Theater
Butler's Penn Theater opened on Main Street in 1938 and closed in 2001 before later returning to use. An early ghost account placed a male figure in…
R.C. Men’s Club
The R.C. Men's Club in the Herman area of Butler County has reports of a young girl in several settings. One witness saw her in the road approaching…
Historic homesSenator Walter Lowrie House
Butler’s Senator Walter Lowrie House remained in the Sullivan and Shaw family from 1839 until 1986, when Isabelle Shaw Adams left the furnished house…
Cemeteries · AI illustrationSnyder Cemetery
Snyder Cemetery, a family burial ground near Moraine State Park, is associated with a presence called Ol’ Red Eyes. Local storytellers identify the…
St. John Road at Hallston Run
The crossing of Hallston Run on St. John Road near Slippery Rock is the setting of a Butler County story known as Deadman's Bridge. In the account…
Swinging Bridge over Sullivan Run
Butler’s swinging footbridge crosses Sullivan Run behind the ballpark’s center-field fence. A local story collected by Jim Clements concerns cries…
Inns & businessesThe Harmony Inn
The Harmony Inn in Butler County developed from a private mansion into an inn and, later, a bar and restaurant. Staff stories had already given the…
Inns & businessesThe Strand Theater
The Strand Theater in Zelienople had an unusual way of acquiring a resident ghost: local students invented one. The Ghost of the Strand contest…