Westmoreland County has its fair share of parks, schools, churches, nonprofits, historic sites and entertainment venues.
Now, people are able to see at a glance how close they are to such points of interest through a county asset mapping project that is underway in conjunction with the county’s yearlong 250th anniversary celebration.
Spearheaded by the Smart Growth Partnership of Westmoreland County, the online map has grown to include more than 130 listed sites, each with a brief description of its significance.
There are familiar locations such as the county-owned Twin Lakes Park east of Greensburg and historic West Overton Village in East Huntingdon.
Among the lesser known sites: the West Leechburg Native Plant Preserve, a 12-acre ravine overseen by the Kiski Watershed Association; LeFevre Butterfly Garden, at the Greensburg Garden and Civic Center along Old Salem Road in Greensburg; and the Luther Family Millstone Memorial in Fairfield Township, referring to early settler and Revolutionary War veteran David Luther.
“This undertaking has very much been a project that has evolved and grown since it began,” said John Turack, Smart Growth Partnership executive director. “One of the biggest outcomes is that the participants involved in the map’s creation now know a great deal more about each other just by exploring the map each time they come back to it.
“We are building a community of people who care about the county, its history, its heritage and its most special places.”
“The concept for this map was to be entirely crowd-sourced by the community,” said Evan Tobin, who developed the map as a volunteer consultant for the Smart Growth Partnership. A community asset survey helped to provide input for the project.
“We’re just having fun with it at the moment,” Tobin said.
“What makes it fun and engaging is that it includes both high and widely-recognized civic and religious spaces, as well as the ‘low and humble ones,’ ” said Whit Watts, one of the project leaders and a board member of the Smart Growth Partnership. “We get the courthouse along with local coffee shops, neighborhood pubs and small country churches. These are everyday settings where folks have both shared memories and affections.”
There is plenty of room left to highlight additional sites on the map.
“We want to reach at least 250 special locations on this map, which the public can contribute to,” said Jessica Petrovich, Discover Westmoreland director at the GO Laurel Highlands tourist bureau and member of the Westmoreland 250 Celebration Committee.
The asset map can be viewed by visiting discoverwestmoreland.com/westmoreland-250-calendar, scrolling down and clicking the link.
Suggestions for additional asset listings — including a site or organization’s street address and a description of its significance — may be submitted to Turack at jdt15@psu.edu.
The project’s initial web-design services were volunteered by Cindy Leonard Consulting.
“We will save the data as a snapshot of Westmoreland residents’ favorite community assets during the county’s 250th anniversary year,” Tobin said. “But I think the data could also be used and analyzed for other community and economic development purposes. Who knows?”
Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff by email at jhimler@triblive.com or via Twitter .
The Link LonkJuly 05, 2023 at 04:00PM
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Westmoreland 250 map a little over halfway to goal in highlighting county's community assets - TribLIVE
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