Foot of Ten, PA

Foot of Ten is a census-designated place in Blair County, Pennsylvania, spread across Allegheny and Juniata Townships just north of Duncansville. Its name is a map clue from the start: the community sits at the foot of the tenth inclined plane of the Allegheny Portage Railroad, the nineteenth-century system that carried canal traffic over the Allegheny Mountains. The 2010 census counted 672 residents, and Newry is about five miles to the south.

That old railroad is still part of the local landscape. The National Park Service's 6-to-10 Trail follows the former portage route for roughly twelve miles, with its Foot of Ten trailhead off Dry Run Road; the route retains culverts and other railroad remains, and part of it allows bicycling. Hollidaysburg Area School District handles local public education. The local scoop is that Foot of Ten is a small Blair County community whose name, roads, school district, and trail all still point back to the mountain-crossing railroad that put it on the map.