McConnellsburg, PA

McConnellsburg is Fulton County's seat, tucked into a narrow Ridge-and-Valley valley between Tuscarora Mountain and Little Scrub Ridge and Meadow Grounds Mountain. Daniel McConnell laid out the town in 1786, and the old route through the center became Lincoln Way. In 1913 that road joined the Lincoln Highway, giving this small Appalachian borough a place on the first transcontinental paved route. The Fulton House, built as an inn and tavern in 1793, now holds the county historical museum, and the McConnellsburg Historic District keeps 144 contributing buildings along the old core.

The modern town has one foot in county government and the other in manufacturing. JLG Industries, now part of Oshkosh, makes access equipment and telehandlers at its McConnellsburg operation, so the factory is a major part of the local workday. Central Fulton schools serve the borough and surrounding communities, while U.S. 522 and Lincoln Way keep traffic moving through the valley. McConnellsburg is the kind of county seat where the street plan still remembers wagon roads, the museum occupies an old tavern, and a global equipment maker shares the local map with courthouse offices.