Centre Hall

Centre Hall combines distinctive streetscapes with nature-related attractions and a special summer event. The Georgian-style houses, Penn’s Prairie, and the Grange Fair offer different possible focal points for your trip. You can consider whether you are most interested in architecture and the character of the town, the prairie and landscape, or the summer tent fair.

Georgian Houses and Early Victorian Details

The streets of Centre Hall are lined with five-bay Georgian-style houses. Many feature additions and center gables, as well as decorative porches, brackets, and other early Victorian details. These elements give the houses their own architectural character: alongside the Georgian form, later details also shape their appearance. If you enjoy noticing architectural forms and ornamentation, Centre Hall offers a specific theme that can be appreciated directly in its streetscape.

Another architectural point of interest is Progress Grange in Centre Hall. It was designed by Robert Cole, an architect from Bellefonte. This attribution makes Progress Grange a notable example of the town’s architectural history, without requiring you to compare general architectural styles. Together with the houses, it shows different aspects of local design: on the one hand, rows of houses with Georgian and early Victorian features; on the other, a building whose design is attributed to a specific architect.

Prairie, Wildlife, and Trails in the Area

Penn’s Prairie is a multipurpose park that combines recreation, wildlife protection, and the restoration and preservation of a historic prairie. This combination gives the park more than one thematic focus. When planning your trip, you can therefore consider whether you are more interested in recreation or in the park’s approach to wildlife and historic prairie. The restoration and preservation of the prairie are explicitly among the park’s purposes.

Around Centre Hall, Rhoneymeade offers trails through farmland, woods, gardens, and meadows. Its features also include an arboretum and a sculpture garden. This brings together a range of landscape and garden themes: open agricultural land, woods, landscaped gardens, and art in a garden setting. If you would like to choose between natural and cultural experiences during your trip, these different focal points can help guide your choice.

The Grange Fair in Summer

The Centre County Grange Encampment and Fair, commonly known as the Grange Fair, takes place every summer at Grange Park in Centre Hall. The Grange Fair is the last remaining tent fair in the United States. This distinction sets it apart from the other features described here: while the houses and landscape offer architectural or natural focal points, the Grange Fair is an annual summer event with the distinctive format of a tent fair.

If you are considering Centre Hall for a summer trip, you can take the Grange Fair into account as a reason to visit in its own right. For a stay focused more on architecture, prairie, or the landscape around Rhoneymeade, the town’s other features offer different interests. When looking for a vacation rental in Centre Hall, this distinction can help you choose the town based on which of these experiences you want to make the focus of your trip.

More town pages: Port Matilda, Pine Grove Mills, Spring Mills, Pine Glen, Bellefonte, State College.

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