Nestled in the picturesque Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania, Somerset County has a rich and vibrant history that spans more than two centuries. In this photographic collection, local historian Sister Anne Frances Pulling brings to life the characters and communities that make up this Roof Garden of Pennsylvania.

From Harmond Husband’s rebellious roots that led him to settle in and establish the village of Somerset to the Meyers family of maple fame, Pulling includes images from many of Somerset’s treasured boroughs. As the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor wound its way through central Pennsylvania and coal mining towns like Boswell and Jerome sprang up across the countryside, Somerset County changed and evolved with the times.

Pulling revives the lost memories of curiosities like the Ship of the Alleghenies and extols the virtues of the snowmakers at the Seven Springs resort. She also recounts the tragic accident at the Quecreek mine that trapped nine miners for more than three days, and shares the sorrow and mourning of the community of Shanksville–forever changed on September 11.