CARBON COUNTY, Pa. — Behind the gates on South Avenue in Jim Thorpe sits the Mauch Chunk Cemetery. The cemetery dates back to the early 1800s, and the cemetery association has now been awarded a major historic designation.
“Being the first cemetery that the town had and having all of its really famous people, such as Asa Packer, buried in here, it just made sense to try to get the designation for the town,” said Robert Sofranko, Board of Directors, Mauch Chunk Cemetery Association.
Asa Packer pioneered the railroad and founded Lehigh University, and many other notable figures are buried here. The cemetery has been accepted into the National Register of Historic Places by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission in a partnership with the National Park Service…