RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Welcome to Big Shanty ...

Big Shanty is located in McKean County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Big Shanty, you might consider that their post office opened in 1881.

Big Shanty is 2,090 feet [637 m] above sea level.<2>.

Time Zone: Big Shanty lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Big Shanty: 814 & 582<3>

Communities near Big Shanty ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Big Shanty.

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Big Shanty. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Big Shanty.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Big Shanty. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Big Shanty.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Big Shanty. See our Newspapers Page for Big Shanty.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Big Shanty ...

Looking for more information about Big Shanty? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Big Shanty, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Big Shanty.

Adding Big Shanty to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Big Shanty in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Big Shanty was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>

From that list, the Big Shanty post office opened in 1881. The Big Shanty post office closed in 1905.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Big Shanty.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Pennsylvania's counties, including McKean, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Big Shanty - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 814 code has been Overlayed with the 582 area code. New phone numbers in the Big Shanty area will be assigned with one of these codes: 814 or 582. As a result, placing a call in the Big Shanty area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/