Oil Heritage Region Tourist Promotion Agency, Inc.

Outstanding artifacts, scenic views, area museums, cultural traditions and the communities themselves continue to depict the Oil Region's legacy as the birthplace of the petroleum industry. The initial oil boom was triggered by Edwin Drake's 1859 drilling of the world's first successful commercial oil well. Its development was fueled by inventors and entrepreneurs coping with and creating new methods for the production, movement, refining and business management of this energy industry. Rapid shifts of wealth, population, communications systems and transportation established the area's pattern of Victorian era towns along the waterways and more recent communities on the highlands. Today, residents and visitors enjoy heritage attractions, warm hospitality and four seasons of outdoor recreation in "the Valley that Changed the World."