Mount Nittany Guardians

  • Joseph Carroll and the Mount Nittany Vineyard & Winery

    Joseph Carroll and the Mount Nittany Vineyard & Winery

    The Mount Nittany Conservancy mourns the death of Joseph Louis Carroll, the founder of Mount Nittany Vineyard & Winery, who died last November, shortly after the winery’s 31st anniversary.

    Joe had been an amateur winemaker for years before starting construction on his business in 1987 in the shadows of Mount Nittany’s southern slope. What began as a six-acre plot grew into one of the region’s leading hospitality businesses, where the thirsty came from around the world to sample Joe’s wines along the beautiful mountainside property.

    The story of Mount Nittany is best told through those who have loved it, and few have loved it more than Joe and his family.

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  • American Folklore and Cultural Knowledge: ‘The Building May Perish, but the Thought, the Legend, Lives On’

    American Folklore and Cultural Knowledge: ‘The Building May Perish, but the Thought, the Legend, Lives On’

    The Legends of the Nittany Valley feature only a small sampling of the total number of indigenous American Indian and Anglo-European settler legends collected or written by Henry W. Shoemaker, the first official Pennsylvania state folklorist. While folklore itself has been a part of the human experience from our earliest days, the formal study of folklore remains relatively new. Penn State has been a leader at the intersection of American literature and folklore, with Penn State’s Folklore Studies Program launched in 1972. Folklore and the passing along of oral traditions, legends, and stories—tales where fact, fiction, and memory converge—remains an essential part of every culture.

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