Since its beginning in 2009, the Central Pennsylvania Ragtime and American Music Festival has grown in stature, if not in size. Originally held in early summer, the event has moved to September (mercifully!) in Orbisonia and Rockhill Furnace, two adjoining small towns in southern Huntingdon County. Rockhill is the home of the East Broad Top Railroad and Rockhill Trolley Museum, so the festival has incorporated both into its schedule. This is one factor that makes it unique among ragtime festivals, and a true slice of rural Americana.
The EBT is the only surviving three-foot gauge railroad east of the Rockies. It was built in the 1870s to service the iron furnaces and coal mines in southern Huntingdon County. Its tracks and rolling stock have recently been upgraded, and further expansion is planned. The trolley museum is the first of its kind in Pennsylvania and offers rides on streetcars from Johnstown, York, and other cities in Pennsylvania and around the world.
