A Guide to the PROPERTY OWNERS

of the village of

HACKELBERNIA

 

Located at the west end of Jim Thorpe, and now a part of that borough, Hackelbernie (as it is now known) was a part of Mauch Chunk Twp. until the 1960s.  In 1875 the village was a mining patch servicing the Hackelbernie Mine, also known as the Old Lehigh Mine, the first deep mine in the county and perhaps the country (opened in the 1820s).  A breaker once stood at the village’s western end, mounds of coal dust still blanket that area.  A gravity railroad ran from the breaker down to the Switchback Railroad along the Mauch Chunk Creek. 

          At that time, the village was formed by a “T” intersection from a road branching off the Mauch Chunk to Summit Hill road.  The cross part of the “T” later was connected with Upper Mauch Chunk. 

          In later years, after the Old Lehigh Mine closed, miners in Hackelbernie walked over the mountain to the mines in Nesquehoning, and parts of the “old miner’s path” remain. 

          Cut through solid rock, the main level of the old mine was so solid no support timbers were needed.  Miners also used this route to reach the Nesquehoning mines.  Strip mining in the 1960s caused collapse of part of the old mine, as well as eradication of much of the miner’s path.  Into the 1970s it was possible to walk a great distance back into the mine, until the opening was only a dot of light far to the rear.  Since then, flooding has occurred in the mine making passage difficult to impossible. 

          The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co. also maintained a farm near the site of the village during the early years of Mauch Chunk.  Produce grown at this farm helped feed the workers in the nearby town. 

          On the following chart, Hackelbernia Road formed to cross part of the “T” intersection.  Coal Street was the spur off of the Mauch Chunk to Summit Hill road. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Research, transcription and web page by

Jack Sterling

2002