Designating the Endless Mountains a National Heritage Area could open up the four-county region to the rest of the world.
"We have something amazing to offer up here ... I think it'll lead to more tourism, which is in dire need in a lot of our smaller communities," said Cain Chamberlin, Executive Director of the Endless Mountains Heritage Region Inc.
"I think this designation could be a huge benefit to the entire region, not just our organization.”
The Endless Mountains include Bradford, Sullivan, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties. The area is one step closer to that national distinction.
On Thursday, March 26, U.S. Senators Dave McCormick, a Republican, and John Fetterman, a Democrat, introduced the Endless Mountains National Heritage Area Act to designate Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains region as a National Heritage Area. It was referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Read the Endless Mountains' National Heritage Area Feasibility Study here: https://emheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/EMHR-National-Heritage-Area-Feasibility-Study.pdf
“Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains are a cornerstone of our commonwealth’s history and natural beauty, with a legacy that stretches back to the earliest days of our nation,” McCormick said in a press release. “Especially as we approach our nation’s 250th birthday, this designation is a major win for Northeast Pennsylvania.”
U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser also introduced a companion bill in the U.S. House on March 26. It was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
"The Endless Mountains region is one of Northeast Pennsylvania's most scenic landscapes, full of history, natural beauty and local culture … establishing the Endless Mountains National Heritage Area will help protect that legacy while increasing tourism, encouraging local economic activity and strengthening relationships among communities, small businesses and conservation groups across the four counties,” Meuser said.
National Heritage Areas are not National Parks. They are lived-in landscapes where historic, cultural and natural resources form cohesive, nationally important landscapes, according to the National Park Service. There are 62 National Heritage Areas in the country.
A region of national significance
Endless Mountains Heritage Region Inc. is a nonprofit organization that has served as the state-designated heritage area coordinating entity for more than 25 years.
To go national, the nonprofit had to find a story of national significance.
Endless Mountains put together a feasibility study alongside its consultant, Point Heritage Development.
The North Branch of the Susquehanna River is the focal point of the study to establish that national significance, Chamberlin said. The nonprofit manages the north branch water trail.
"It [Susquehanna River] led to all the settlements here, a lot of the industry, all the development that has occurred. And it was kind of the setting for a lot of the indigenous people who were here before the European and then white settlers came,” Chamberlin said.
They interviewed stakeholders and subject matter experts and researched the lengthy history of the four-county region.
What they found is that the Endless Mountains is a dissected plateau within the Allegheny Plateau, an elevated landscape in the Appalachian Mountains, according to the study.
“This rugged landscape, which began to take shape more than 300 million years ago, became an important corridor for human activity long before written history,” it says.
Archaeological evidence indicates human habitation stretching back more than 12,000 years in the region.
The Susquehannock tribe, an Iroquoian-speaking people, were the primary inhabitants of the Endless Mountains when Europeans arrived in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The region was also home to Moravians and Mormons, coal mining and lumbering.
Today, there are five state parks, two state forests and the D&H Rail Trail. There’s gravel biking and other cycling trails and opportunities for hunting and fishing. The nonprofit is working on documenting all of the historic barns and farmlands in Susquehanna and Bradford counties.
Susquehanna County is home to the Dennis Family Farm, the oldest African-American-owned farm in the country.
Public response and support
The study features letters of support from museums, associations, other nonprofits and elected officials across Northeast Pennsylvania and the state. Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn wrote a letter of support.
"Its unique landscape, rich history, abundant outdoor recreation opportunities and natural resources are some of the best in Pennsylvania and in the nation," her letter says.
Point Heritage Development circulated a public survey, and about 600 people responded.
"Our consultants had said that was the most response they'd ever seen to a survey they'd put out, and having worked on many different NHA projects, that was pretty cool to hear,” Chamberlin said.
Of those respondents, he said over 99% were in support of making the region a National Heritage Area (NHA).
Chamberlin said the one misconception about the designation is that the region would become a National Park.
"We have no authority over private lands. We have no control over governmental decisions or anything like that. (It) doesn't grant us any additional authority,” he said.
What the designation would do is open the organization up to more resources and funding through the federal government.
"To keep maintaining the water trail, doing all of our heritage preservation as well as our outdoor recreation development projects. And, you know, it creates more awareness of the region,” he said.
Next steps
Like McCormick, Chamberlin said it would be symbolic to receive the National Heritage Area designation in conjunction with America's 250th birthday.
The Endless Mountains’ history and its people set the area apart from other parts of the country, he said.
"Anyone who comes from out of the area is always pleasantly surprised by how welcoming the community is, how helpful people are,” he said.
Chamberlin will likely have to testify in Washington, D.C., on the designation.
"A lot of our rural areas in the northern part of the state are often forgotten. A lot of the funding and opportunities and things seem to go to the more urbanized areas in the southern part of the state,” he said “To have that recognition, and this is my home, this is where I grew up, so to be able to promote it a whole new demographic of visitors, it's a great opportunity, and I would love to create the awareness of the Endless Mountains that comes with a national designation.”
