Harrisburg audiotours

Harrisburg stands on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, the widest river east of the Mississippi, at a point where an island chain creates a natural ford that made it the obvious crossing for generations of traders and settlers heading west. The city became Pennsylvania's capital in 1812, and the Capitol building completed in 1906 is one of the most impressive state capitol buildings in the United States. Governor Samuel Pennypacker, who oversaw its construction, declared it 'the handsomest building in America,' and the architect Joseph Huston modeled the 272-foot dome on Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome and the interior on the Paris Opera House. The Legislative Hall and the Supreme Court chamber inside are both extraordinary rooms.

Three Mile Island, the nuclear power plant whose partial meltdown in March 1979 became the most serious nuclear accident in American history, sits on an island in the Susquehanna visible from Harrisburg's waterfront, about 10 miles downstream.

The cooling towers are the most prominent skyline feature between Harrisburg and York. The Broad Street Market on Verbeke Street, operating continuously since 1860, is one of the oldest continuously operating farmer's markets in the United States and remains genuinely active with Pennsylvania Dutch vendors selling scrapple, sticky buns, and fresh produce. The city hall and several federal buildings along Second Street date from the City Beautiful era and give downtown Harrisburg an unexpectedly grand character.