Somerset (Pennsylvania)

Somerset is a borough of 6,000 people (2020) and a township of 12,000 people (2020) in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania. This article also covers Shanksville about 11 miles (17 km) away.

Understand
Somerset was a central stage for the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, a violent protest against a tax imposed on spirits, including whiskey Several rebellion leaders lived in Somerset. Federal militia were sent to put down the rebellion. The Whiskey Rebellion was the first major test of the federal authority under the newly adopted U.S. Constitution and under President George Washington.

On September 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco was one of the four planes hijacked that day by al-Qaeda operatives. It crashed not far from Somerset near Shanksville, killing all 44 people on board. It is believed that hijackers intended to fly this plane into the U.S. Capitol Building or the White House.

Get in
Somerset lies just off Interstate 75 southwest of Pittsburgh, and  west of Harrisburg.

Sleep
Along the access road to the Dwight Eisenhower Highway/Interstate 76, there are several chain hotels.