BILL’S PLACE, Pennsylvania — Technically this place is no longer on a map — the realignment of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the 1960s ended its tiny dot. However, for over 30 years, if you were traveling up and down the Lincoln Highway along the Bedford-Fulton county line, you were greeted with billboards bearing this charming rhyme:
“You may be from Massachusetts
You may be from Tennessee
Even from the state of Washington, it matters not to me
Tourist friends, we’re glad to greet you
And to help you on your way
Our hope is when you leave us
That you’ve had a worthwhile stay
Bill’s Place, Pennsylvania”
The Bill in Bill’s Place was William C. Wakefield, an Everett, Pennsylvania, man whose gimmicky way to attract tourists in the early days of the…
