Drake Well Museum and Park resumed normal, five days-a-week operating hours on July 14. Official hours will be Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until October 31.

Group tours have also resumed, bringing back much-anticipated visits from summer camps and tour busses. Museum staff and volunteers are happy to be interacting with groups again after a 15-month hiatus. Facility rentals, including pavilion and room rentals, will begin in August, with reservations now being accepted.

Although visitors to Drake Well are no longer required to wear masks, they will continue to find plexiglass barriers in certain areas as well as increased cleaning of high-use common surfaces as part of the daily protocol.

The first large in-person event at the museum will be the annual Fall Gas Up on September 11 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.  The event is in partnership with the Pioneer Steam & Gas Engine Society and features large and small operating gas engines running throughout the grounds. Regular admissions fees apply.

Tourists from all over the world visit the museum each year, and the increased hours will allow them to be fully immersed in the 240-acre site’s extensive indoor and outdoor exhibits. In addition to engaging and experiential indoor/outdoor learning environments, the grounds offer an abundance of year-round recreational opportunities.

Visitors and locals enjoy paved bike trails, delayed harvest fly fishing in Oil Creek, modern picnic facilities, hiking trails, a neighboring 9,000-acre state park and more.

For more information about Drake Well Museum and Park, visit www.drakewell.org, call (814) 827-2797, or find them on Facebook at Drake Well Museum and Park.

This article was published in the Venango Chamber’s August 2021 VenangoWorks! Newsletter.