Abstract
The ephemeral nature of Western Pennsylvania’s frontier in the late 18th and early 19th centuries is often difficult to grasp. Surrounded by the current built environment, today’s casual viewer doesn’t see what’s missing—the native longhouses, the settlers’ cabins, the timber military strongholds, and the corduroy roads that connected them all. All the more unusual, then, are those pieces from this period that have survived. The Eagle Hotel in Waterford, Erie County, is one such structure. A statement in stone, the Eagle Hotel reflects a frontier community’s desire for permanence and connection in the early 19th century.
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