PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Somerset County is genuinely and solemnly the site of the FLIGHT 93 NATIONAL MEMORIAL, honoring the 40 passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93, one of four commercial airliners hijacked during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks; the Boeing 757, delayed 40 minutes on the tarmac in Newark, took off at 8:41 AM bound for San Francisco before being hijacked roughly 45 minutes into the flight, its course abruptly diverted toward Washington, D.C.; investigators believe the hijackers intended to crash the plane into either the U.S. Capitol or the White House; when passengers and crew learned via phone calls of the earlier attacks on the World Trade Center, they voted together and chose to fight back against the hijackers rather than allow the plane to reach its intended target; at 10:03 AM, the aircraft crashed into a reclaimed strip mine field roughly two miles north of the small coal-mining town of Shanksville (population approximately 245), in Stonycreek Township, killing all 45 people aboard – the passengers and crew’s actions are widely credited with saving the lives of countless others at the plane’s intended target; almost immediately, Somerset County residents began paying tribute at the crash site, laying flowers, flags, and personal mementos along the perimeter fence, an outpouring that eventually grew into a decade-long community-driven effort to plan and construct a permanent national memorial; Congress passed the Flight 93 National Memorial Act in 2002, and following an international design competition, architect Paul Murdoch’s design was built in three phases – Phase 1 (the memorial plaza, arrival court, visitor facilities, and Field of Honor) was dedicated September 10, 2011, on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the attacks, with subsequent phases completed through 2018; today’s 2,321-acre National Park Service site includes the Tower of Voices, the world’s tallest wind chime structure at 93 feet tall, containing 40 chimes – one for each life lost – designed to greet visitors with a calming sound before they encounter the more difficult exhibits detailing the events of that morning, including recordings of passengers’ final phone calls; a black granite Wall of Names and a marked boulder at the actual crash site allow visitors to pay their respects directly; alongside the Gettysburg battlefield’s Soldiers’ National Cemetery, Flight 93 is considered by many to be among the most hallowed ground in Pennsylvania, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world each year; many Somerset County residents continue to volunteer at the memorial today, decades after the tragedy first touched their community
Notes: The Flight 93 National Memorial’s genuine, profoundly significant status as the final resting place of the 40 heroes of Flight 93 is treated here with the gravity and respect it deserves – a place of national mourning, remembrance, and honor.