Drake Well Museum had another successful year in 2024, with visitation continuing to grow. Over 16,830 people visited the museum from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, returning to pre-pandemic numbers. The site also hosted eleven different programs and events, including its popular “Drake Day: Circus!” event in August.
Drake Well’s Site Administrator, Michael Knecht, credits 2024’s strong numbers to the significant increase in school tours, thanks to a special program offered by the museum which provides free admission and assistance with transportation costs for schools. “We had 1,867 school students from October 2023 through May 2024 – that is an 84% increase from last year,” says Knecht. “Our Admission and Transportation Scholarship Program for schools was a huge success in getting schools back to Drake Well.”
School tours were stagnant at Drake Well Museum over the last few years following the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the ever-increasing costs faced by many school districts. Knecht worked with Museum Educator Sarah Goodman and Executive Director of Friends of Drake Well Emily Weaver to come up with an idea for a program that schools could apply for through the museum to receive free admission and/or assistance with transportation costs.
Weaver was able to secure grant funding to help pay for the program. “Thanks to grants received from Oil Region Alliance, Bridge Builders Community Foundations & United Way of Venango County, Crawford Gives, and the John K. Henne Charitable Trust, we were proudly able to offer free transportation and admission for any school wishing to visit and tour Drake Well Museum and Park during the 2023-24 school year,” says Weaver.
The funding received through the Oil Region Alliance of Business, Industry & Tourism was made possible with a C2P2 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation through grant funding from the Heritage Area Program and the Environmental Stewardship Fund.
All schools in the northwest Pennsylvania region were eligible for the program, including public, private and homeschool groups.
“We especially wanted to see an increase in local school tours,” continues Weaver, “Over the years, even prior to the pandemic, we have seen less local school districts bringing students to the site. It is so important for the youth of our region to understand and appreciate the events that happened here over 160 years ago, events that changed our region as well as the world at large!”
Over thirty schools and day care center educational programs benefited from free admission and transportation, bringing in over 1,000 students in ages ranging from preschool to senior high school. Drake Well Museum is offering the program again for the 2024-2025 school year, thanks to funding received from Crawford Gives and the John K. Henne Charitable Trust.
Schools and teachers interested in scheduling a tour should contact Goodman at 814-461-0005 or email sargoodman@pa.gov.
Located off Route 8 south of Titusville, Drake Well Museum and Park is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) in partnership with Friends of Drake Well, Inc., a non-profit community-based organization.
The two entities also partner in the administration and operation of Historic Pithole City near Pleasantville, and McClintock Well #1, located between Oil City and Rouseville. Friends of Drake Well, Inc., works to support Drake Well Museum in achieving its mission to uncover, preserve and share Pennsylvania’s rich petroleum history, connecting past to present through a diversity of perspectives and inspiring its global audience to strive for a sustainable energy future.
Drake Well Museum is open year-round to visitors, with reduced hours of operation during the winter months. Hours from Nov. 1 through April 1 are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday through Sunday; after April 1 the hours change to a five-day schedule, operating Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Historic Pithole City’s Visitor Center is currently closed for the winter season but will reopen May 31, remaining open Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Sept. 1.
The staff at Drake Well Museum and Park consist of five permanent/year-round positions and one seasonal position under the PHMC and an additional eight positions under Friends of Drake Well, including two full-time, year-round staff and various part-time and seasonal staff.
PHMC staff include Michael Knecht, Site Administrator; Sarah Goodman, Museum Educator; Sarah Bell, Museum Curator; Stewart McKinley, Facility Operations Supervisor; and Tom Lindsay, Maintenance Repairman. James Becker was employed throughout 2024 as the site’s seasonal Semi-Skilled Laborer. Friends of Drake Well staff include Emily Weaver, Executive Director; Toni Brown, Visitor Services & Curatorial Assistant; Vickie Ruppersberg, part-time Museum Store Manager; and Frances Fulton, part-time Museum Store Clerk. In addition to these positions, Friends of Drake Well also employs three seasonal operators for the Drake Well Replica: Gene Hale, John Hetrick and Dave Mock; as well as a seasonal coordinator for the Pithole site. The Pithole Coordinator for the 2024 season was Parker Los.
Drake Well Museum welcomes student interns to the site each summer, providing great experiences for those seeking to work in museums and archives, non-profit management, education and other fields of study. Drake Well welcomed four interns during the summer of 2024 – Damon Navaroli, Alex Huffman, Anne Schwanke and Alyssa Shick. Damon was the PHMC Keystone Intern, working primarily with collections and archives. Alex, Anne and Alyssa were hired through Friends of Drake Well, receiving a well-rounded experience in both museum education and non-profit management. Drake Well Museum will once again be hosting student interns in the summer of 2025; links for applications are available at www.drakewell.org. The deadline to apply is Feb. 9.
Events and programs at Drake Well were well attended this year; over 1,740 people attended fun events such as Drake Day, Wisdom & Wine, Fall Gas Up and more. The museum and grounds were open for the Great North American Eclipse on April 8, 2024. The site sat on the edge of the path of totality, allowing for full coverage just shy of one minute! Despite that short amount of time, 255 visitors chose to watch the historic event at Drake Well. Historic Pithole City had strong attendance throughout 2024 including 461 attendees for its ever-popular Lantern Tours in October.
Lots of events and programs are scheduled for both Drake Well and Pithole in 2025; a full calendar of events can be found on the Drake Well website as well as on its Facebook page.
Improvements and updates to Drake Well’s outdoor exhibit area continued during 2024, with some of the projects slated for completion in 2025. Interpretive planning called for better wayfinding and reconfiguring of the different themes in the outdoor exhibits.
A new exhibit area, the “Business of Oil,” sits across from Mill Run which runs down through the park. A bridge was constructed across the run, connecting the main outdoor area with this new section. The replica of the Grant Well Office building was moved to the exhibit along with a building that will house a blacksmith and cooper shop. The blacksmith and cooper shop, expected to be open and functioning by fall of 2025, will provide educational demonstrations of how these two trades were conducted in the 19th century Oil Region and their importance to the early oil industry.
Another important component of this section will be an exhibit displaying an engine with a central power, showing how an oil lease would have operated in mid-twentieth century Pennsylvania. The engine and power were manufactured by Bovaird & Seyfang in Bradford in the 1930s and were used on a lease in Bradford belonging to the Wooster family. The heavy equipment and the building that housed it were transported to the museum grounds this past summer for storage. It will be several years before the engine and central power will be set up and functioning for interpretation.
The museum also acquired an original 1978 Chevy truck used by the Otto-Cupler Torpedo Company to haul nitroglycerin to well sites. The highly explosive nitroglycerin was used to revitalize old, underperforming wells in the area. The truck is currently being repaired and restored for interpretive use. It was generously donated to Drake Well Museum by E & K Equipment of Titusville.
The most important part of both Drake Well Museum and Historic Pithole City is their volunteers! As Museum Educator, Goodman oversees volunteer recruitment for both sites.
“We have a great team of volunteers here at Drake Well,” says Goodman, “but our numbers continue to decline every year.”
Some of the many ways in which volunteers help at Drake Well include, but are not limited to, school tour guides, regular tour guides, curatorial assistants, educational outreach and staffing the front desk of the museum during its hours of operation. There is also a need for volunteers at the Pithole site, especially docents who can interpret the history of the legendary boomtown to visitors. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer for either Drake Well or Pithole should contact Goodman directly to set up an introduction and training.
There is always something new to discover at Drake Well Museum and Park, the new year promises to be another great success! For more information about Drake Well Museum and its programs, visit www.drakewell.org, call 814-827-2797, email ra-phdrakewell@pa.gov, or find us on Facebook at Drake Well Museum and Park.
Drake Well Museum and Park is located at 202 Museum Lane, Titusville, PA 16354.
