Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village
September 26 & 27
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Where can you experience life in a 16th-century American Indian village right here in our own region? The first weekend of Autumn is an idyllic time to head out to Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village to explore traditional American Indian customs, culture and everyday life.
Celebrating its seventh annual American Indian Heritage Weekend, the unique international destination invites families to participate in two days jam packed with all-ages activities on Saturday, September 26th and Sunday, September 27th.
Meet talented reenactors who will demonstrate a variety of prehistoric and colonial skills used by American Indians—such as hunting, fur trading, cooking, weaving, decorative porcupine quill work, hide tanning, tool making, and even creekside native fishing. Step into Meadowcroft’s 1770s-era Frontier Indian cabin to discover the similarities and differences between the lives of American Indians and European settlers in the Upper Ohio Valley.
Explore the interior of a wigwam, inspect carefully recreated prehistoric artifacts and learn all about American Indian agriculture. Next, try your skills at using a prehistoric spear thrower known as an atlatl, take a behind-the-scenes tour of Meadowcroft Rockshelter and experience life in a mid-19th century Upper Ohio Valley Village.
Part of the Senator John Heinz History Center museum system, Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village is the oldest site of human habitation in North America which features a massive rock overhang used by the region’s earliest inhabitants 16,000 years ago. Located about 34 miles from Pittsburgh in Avella, Pa., the National Historic Landmark has been named one of the “Five Great Places to See Evidence of First Americans” by Smithsonian Magazine.
Admission to Meadowcroft’s American Indian Heritage Weekend event is $12 for adults, $11 for senior citizens and $6 for children ages 6 to 17. The event is free for children under 6 and Heinz History Center members.
