MAHONING TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Breaking up limestone is not something kids in the Danville area do much nowadays, but during the 1800s, it was a regular thing.
At this weekend's Danville Heritage Festival, volunteers will demonstrate an old-fashioned limestone burn.
"A lot of farmers used to mine limestone in these mountains, and then they would burn it to make whitewash, to make mortar, and to make agricultural lime. So we're going to do it the old-fashioned way," Van Wagner said.
This weekend marks 20 years of a heritage festival in the Danville area. The Iron Heritage Festival was a longtime tradition that was canceled in 2014 for financial reasons. It was brought back a year later under a different name, the Danville Heritage Festival.
"Nice thing for the community, a lot of interesting things about the history of Danville," Bob Appleman said.
"I think it's a very nice festival. It's good for the borough of Danville. It has been scaled back but it's good that it's still going," Steve Wilkerson said.
The heritage festival takes place at Hess Field Complex with events all over the Danville area. Volunteer Van Wagner tells Newswatch 16 his favorite part is this hands-on history project.
"You can read about a lot of the stuff and you can hear stories, but to actually get to do it, I think is much more memorable for the young people involved," Wagner said.
The Danville Heritage Festival is this weekend. The free activities are Saturday from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. at Hess Field.