1. Students could develop and act out a skit depicting a day in the life of a coal patch town. 2. Students could prepare a miner's meal and bring it in for lunch. 3. Have students research modern day bituminous coal mining and compare it with coal mining of the 19th and 20th Centuries. How has the industry changed? What are similarities from the past? 4. Use the Pennsylvania patch town as an example of the national immigration experience. The Frank and Sylvia Pasquerilla Heritage Discovery Center operated by Johnstown Area Heritage Association in Johnstown, Pennsylvania would be an excellent museum resource for this extension. It brings to life the Southern and Eastern European immigrant experience using interactive exhibits and by having each student assume the "identity" of one of eight immigrant characters.

Coal and Coke Heritage Center Penn State Fayette One University Drive, P.O. Box 519 Uniontown, PA 15401 724-430-4158
The center has many excellent displays of items from the mining era: miners" tools and clothes, cooking utensils and home-made house decorations, and children's toys. They have models of a tipple, a double house, and also a beehive oven. The staff at the center is used to working with student groups and does a wonderful job of making this era come alive to students

The Leisenring Company Store Route 1051 North West Leisenring, PA 15489 724-628-4066
The Leisenring Company Store is an operating store with a coal and coke era interior. Visitors can see coke ovens and other evidence of the industry in the nearby communities.

Tour-Ed Mine Museum 748 Bull Creek Rd. Tarentum, PA 15084 724-224-4720
Tour a mine formerly owned by Allegheny Steel and mined by Leechburg Mining Company.

Scottdale Coal and Coke Museum 401 Pittsburgh St. Scottdale, PA 15683 724-887-6350
The Scottdale Coal and Coke Museum features many artifacts documenting the history of the coal and coke industry in the area.

Windber Coal Heritage Center 501 15th St. Windber, PA 15963 814-467-6680
Tour a model mining town. Find out how the miners lived and worked and see the equipment they used.