2025 Year in Review

In 2025, the Susquehanna Discovery Center & Heritage Park at the Historic Mifflin Farm crossed a historic threshold. What began more than seven years ago as an ambitious preservation vision is now open and accessible to the public. Over the course of the year, careful planning gave way to public access, community engagement, and powerful affirmation from local, state, and national partners. Most importantly, the stories rooted in this landscape—stories of freedom, conscience, and collaboration—are once again being shared on the ground where they happened.

 

Courtesy of Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).

The year opened with a moment of statewide attention and reflection. In February, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources joined the Susquehanna National Heritage Area (SNHA) at the Mifflin Farm to mark Black History Month. State and local leaders gathered at the site to honor the Mifflin House as a place of refuge and safety in the early nineteenth century. The program highlighted the courage of freedom seekers and the moral conviction of those who aided them, introducing new audiences to the nationally important role this property played in the struggle for human liberty.

As part of this commemoration, SNHA announced the formation of an Underground Railroad Work Group to guide interpretation and exhibits at the Mifflin House and across the historic landscape—an early signal of the organization’s commitment to thoughtful, inclusive storytelling grounded in scholarship and community collaboration.

In the spring, planning efforts reached a major milestone. After months of public input, stakeholder meetings, and collaboration with consultants and partners, the Master Plan & Interpretive Framework was finalized and formally adopted by the SNHA Board of Directors. This plan lays out a phased roadmap for the next decade, envisioning a Discovery Center & River Art Museum, Underground Railroad Learning Center, and Heritage Park with interpretive trails. These features will create new opportunities for visitors to engage with the nationally important stories of York and Lancaster Counties.

On May 24, 2025, the Mifflin Farm officially opened to the public for the first time ever! New driveway access, parking, and ADA walkways allowed visitors to safely enter the historic house. One thousand friends visited between May and October, with one reflecting, “I didn’t even know this house existed! How amazing that it has been preserved.” In July, we kicked off our “Lectures on the Lawn” speaker series, connecting local history to national narratives. Dozens of friends joined us to learn about the connections between Wrightsville and the Battle of Gettysburg, the Underground Railroad, and the art of the Susquehanna River through these special sunset talks.

The landscape itself also opened in new ways. Students from the Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps created the first walking trail at the Mifflin Farm—the Pond Loop—giving visitors access to the interior of the site to explore its natural beauty. We also welcomed Landscape artist Spencer Verney as Artist-in-Residence, funded through the Pennsylvania Environmental Council. Verney spent three months on site, creating an original work of art blending history and place.

Local, state, and federal recognition continued to build through the year. In May, the Mifflin Farm was officially listed in the National Park Service’s Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. The York County Planning Commission added the Mifflin Farm to its Heritage Program in September. In October, the Mifflin House’s National Register nomination advanced through the review process and is currently before the Department of the Interior for approval.  That same month, SNHA received Preservation Pennsylvania’s Henry A. Jordan Award for outstanding local historic preservation efforts.

Alongside all this public engagement, equally important groundwork advanced behind the scenes. SNHA launched a comprehensive business planning process to ensure long-term sustainability, while Historic Structures and Cultural Landscape Reports were initiated to guide responsible preservation and adaptive reuse of the site.

By year’s end, the Susquehanna Discovery Center & Heritage Park stood firmly in a new phase—defined by public access, national recognition, and momentum. As we look toward 2026, we are eager to reopen the site in the spring, while planning for interpretive design, restoration, trails, and a comprehensive capital campaign.

The Mifflin Farm is no longer a story waiting to be told. It is a place where history is encountered, felt, and carried forward—and 2025 will be remembered as the year it opened to the world.

 

Peter Miele
Senior Project Leader
Susquehanna National Heritage Area