Founding the Pennsylvania Wilds and Preserving Elk Country

The village of Benezette is ground zero for the famous elk herd of the Pennsylvania Wilds. Before becoming a popular ecotourism destination, the community was a quiet village with a hardworking ethos. The region's first settlers arrived in the 1780s, looking for new frontiers and economic opportunities. Reuben Winslow purchased more than three hundred acres of land along the Bennett's Branch of Sinnemahoning Creek and, by 1844, had laid down the town's lots as the founder of Benezette. The arrival of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the late 1800s fueled the rise of local industry such as timber and coal. Nearby villages such as Weedville, Caledonia, Medix Run, Summerson and others looked to Benezette as the center of the of the region while developing their own communities. Author Kathy Myers presents the history of Benezette and its influence in the heart of the Pennsylvania Wilds.

Kathy Myers is a native of Ridgway, Elk County, Pennsylvania. The seventh generation of her family to live in the Wilds, Myers is a historian, genealogist and writer. She is a member of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants (GSMD), the founder and past governor of the Winslow Heritage Society, a member of the DuBois Area Historical Society and a member of the Jefferson County Historical Society. Myers is a juried member of the Wilds Cooperative of Pennsylvania. This is her third book with Arcadia Publishing/The History Press, including Historic Tales of the Pennsylvania Wilds (2021) and The Pennsylvania Wilds and the Civil War (2023).