Port Carbon, PA

Port Carbon is a Schuylkill County borough whose name still gives away its original job. It grew at the northern end of the Schuylkill Canal, where coal from the region was loaded for a 108-mile run toward Philadelphia. The canal’s first lock was here, and old wharves, the Thomas Firth dock, and the basin where boats waited for their loads remain part of the town’s story. Abraham Pott founded the settlement, tying it to the same family that gave Pottsville its name. Port Carbon also has a wonderfully specific local footnote: resident Robert Allison bought the first commercially produced American automobile. It is an old coal-and-canal town with a few surprises tucked into the industrial story.