{"id":600,"slug":"historic-pithole-city-pleasantville-pennsylvania","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Pithole is the vanished — the '15,000' that's the peak's count, the 'two years' that's the city's span. The 'oil found' is the born — the 'Frazier's well' that's the '65's strike, the 'Drake's shadow' that's the region's fame. The '57 hotels' is the sprang — the 'two days' that's the first's build, the 'third busiest post' that's the mail's rank.","The 'pipeline killed' is the died — the 'teamsters out' that's the '66's loss, the 'fires seventeen' that's the wood's cost. The 'cellar holes' is the left — the 'grid grass' that's the streets' mark, the 'post office gone' that's the state's loss. Pithole is the boom — the 'oil's first' that's the rush's kind, the 'vanished city' that's the book's name.","The file keeps Pithole: the vanished city, the oil's boom, the pipeline's kill, and the cellar holes.","Pithole City is the archive's Pennsylvania file — the 15,000-person city that lasted two years."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Pithole City is the archive's Pennsylvania file — the boomtown that grew and died inside a term.","A field keeps its grid — the file's suggestion being that Pithole's hold is the speed: the 'two days built' that's the hotel's pace, the '15,000' that's the peak's count, and the 'cellar holes' that's the meadow's left."]}],"name":"Historic Pithole City","aliases":[],"type":"GHOST_TOWN","type_label":"Ghost Town","cats":["GHOST_TOWN"],"groups":["ghost-towns"],"desc":"Vanished oil boomtown interpreted through surviving street alignments and a museum.","full_desc":"Historic Pithole City is a ghost town in Pleasantville, Pennsylvania. Vanished oil boomtown interpreted through surviving street alignments and a museum. An 1865 oil boom produced a large town that rapidly declined amid falling prices and repeated fires. Its charter was revoked in 1877. Pennsylvania acquired ninety acres in 1963 and opened a visitor center in 1975.","address":"14118 Pithole Road","city":"Pleasantville","county":null,"state":"Pennsylvania","postal":null,"region":"Northeast","lat":41.520662,"lon":-79.586201,"coord_kind":"EXACT","status":"HISTORIC_SITE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":"Grounds are publicly accessible; visitor center is seasonally closed as of September 2026.","ownership":null,"website":"https://www.drakewell.org/plan-your-visit/what-to-see-and-do/pithole","phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":1865,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":null,"research_notes":"Discovery/enrichment pass; geographic coordinates and current visitor conditions remain to be independently verified. Evidence confidence refers to attribution, not paranormal reality.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":74.3,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.8,"paranormal_claim_provenance":null,"coordinate_confidence":0.85,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[],"history":[{"description":"An 1865 oil boom produced a large town that rapidly declined amid falling prices and repeated fires. Its charter was revoked in 1877. Pennsylvania acquired ninety acres in 1963 and opened a visitor center in 1975. Historic Pithole City's history is documented — boom, bust, and desertion all on record, the lore layered on top. The record holds it as fact — documented, not retold. The detail is preserved in 'Historic Pithole City'. The record keeps it — history, not lore.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Historic Pithole City","url":"https://www.drakewell.org/plan-your-visit/what-to-see-and-do/pithole","publisher":"Drake Well Museum / PHMC","type":"MUSEUM","authority":2}}],"legends":[],"entities":[],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"opening_hours":"Grounds dawn–dusk year-round; visitor center June–August weekends 10–4, currently closed for season","admission_fee":"Grounds free; visitor center adults $5, ages 3–11 $3, under 3 free","tour_availability":"Outdoor guided tours on request when center is open; admission required","accessibility":"Visitor-center first floor accessible; outdoor terrain difficult for wheelchairs; tour golf cart available","operating_season":"Summer center season; grounds year-round","public_restroom":"Accessible restroom inside visitor center","last_verified_at":"2026-09-14T10:36:20+00:00","source":{"name":"Historic Pithole City","url":"https://www.drakewell.org/plan-your-visit/what-to-see-and-do/pithole","publisher":"Drake Well Museum / PHMC","type":"MUSEUM","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Historic Pithole City","url":"https://www.drakewell.org/plan-your-visit/what-to-see-and-do/pithole","publisher":"Drake Well Museum / PHMC","type":"MUSEUM","authority":2}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":0,"history":1,"legends":0,"entities":0,"sources":1}}