Westmoreland County commissioners moved their public meeting from the courthouse to the visitors center at Historic Hanna’s Town on Thursday, holding county business at the site where the county’s first seat of government stood more than two centuries ago. The shift was part of the country’s Semiquincentennial celebration.

The meeting unfolded inside the modern visitors center, with the reconstructed Hanna’s Tavern, three relocated log houses, a reconstructed Revolutionary War-era fort and a wagon shed with an authentic late-18th century Conestoga wagon just outside. Commissioners handled routine business, including awarding contracts and approving personnel actions, then heard public comment from a half-dozen residents and presented proclamations.

For Joanna Moyar, who works for the historical society that operates Historic Hanna’s Town, the setting was the point. She said holding a meeting there was symbolic of government history and of a place where people once gave their opinions and aired their grievances, which still happens now. Westmoreland County leaders met in a local tavern four years before the United States revolted against its British lords, and Hanna’s Town dates to 1773, when it served as the county’s initial seat of government.

The symbolism, though, was not entirely new. Commissioners already held a public meeting on the grounds in 2023 to mark the county’s 250th birthday, so Thursday’s gathering was less a debut than a return. Commissioner Doug Chew said the county’s rebellious past and its role in the run-up to independence made the site worth revisiting, and Commissioner Sean Kertes said he would like to come back more often, maybe every other year.

That leaves the practical question still open: whether Westmoreland County will keep bringing its public meetings back to Historic Hanna’s Town, or leave Thursday’s session as a one-off salute to history. Chew and Kertes both signaled interest in repeating the visit, but no schedule was set.