"Harrisburg: an underrated capital city" Top 5 Page for this destination Harrisburg by PA2AKgirl

When you think of Pennsylvania cities, you probably don't think of Harrisburg. By no means is it as large as Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, but it's becoming, once again, a nice city to visit.
It wasn't the 1st or even the 2nd capital of Pennsylvania. Until 1799, Philadelphia was the government seat of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A few years before, it had been called "an unfortunate location" for the capital and Lancaster was voted to take its place.
However, after only 2 years, Lancaster wasn't considered a suitable capital either. Ideally, the lawmakers wanted to be based somewhere in the Susquehanna Valley. Harrisburg was chosen out of eight possible locations and officially became the capital in 1810, largely because of its location on the Susquehanna river.

Early on, Harrisburg was a commercially important city for boats, trains and later, cars and airplanes. It's about 1 hour from Baltimore, 2 hours from Philly and DC and not too far from New York City either. However, Harrisburg hasn't thrived as well as it could have. The Susquehanna river is too shallow in most places to run an efficient shipping operation and industries have come and gone with little success.

Looking at downtown from City Island park

Growing up near this city, there was no reason for us to go to Harrisburg more than one time a year, if that. Thankfully, this is changing. Whereas in the past it was possible to drive downtown on the weekends and see no one at all, there are now people enjoying the city on their days off. The city has undergone a nice revitalitization or renaissance, but still has a little way to go

There are definitely things to do here now--City Island Park is probably one of my favorite places to go. Strawberry Square, the Capitol Complex, Pennsylvania State Museum, Museum of Science and Discovery are just a few places in the city. Hershey, Lancaster and Gettsyburg are just a short drive away, too.

Most recently, Harrisburg became very important to me on a personal level...Wanna know why?

• Pros:Many more things to do here than in the past, safer and cleaner than before
• Cons:Still a place you don't want to get lost in--definitely some bad neighborhoods