SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY(WBRE/WYOU)— You are able to do something this weekend that hasn’t been done publicly in about a half-century, the Brooks Mine officially reopened Saturday Scranton’s Nay Aug Park.
The model mine is Pennsylvania’s oldest tourist mine which first opened in 1902.
It was established back then to help northeastern Pennsylvanians learn more about the region’s coal heritage.
Now that it’s reopened for the first time since 1975, you have that chance once again.
A volunteer helped educate tourists while wearing an oil wick hat typically worn by turn-of-the-20th-century miners.
“This is the only thing you got to see with. It was total pitch darkness in the mine,” said Robbie Flowers, Volunteer Tour Guide. “It’s a smaller tour. It’s a nice mine tour for people that walkthrough. It’s not that bad. It’s closer to the people and stuff. They can actually see how it was.”
Tunkhannock-based non-profit Underground Miners helped restore the 150-feet long, roughly 9X9 feet mine.
You can tour it for free on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
