BEAVER — As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, a team of developers is using advanced technology to resurrect a vanished piece of America’s frontier history.
Immersive Beaver, a new volunteer-led initiative making interactive media for local museums, announced its partnership with the Beaver Area Heritage Museum to develop a historically informed digital twin of Fort McIntosh for use as an in-person exhibit.
Built in 1778 along the Ohio River in present-day Beaver, the fort was a consequential Revolutionary War outpost and the site of significant treaty negotiations. It is also recognized as the birthplace of the United States Army in peacetime. While the physical structure disappeared centuries ago, this new reconstruction will allow the public to explore the fort as it may have stood all those years ago.
The upcoming digital exhibit was introduced at the museum July 4 as the nation commemorated the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Visitors received a preview of the work-in-progress experience, which is planned to become a permanent museum installation in 2028, marking
the 250th anniversary of Fort McIntosh. While the project has reached an important milestone, significant historical research, 3D modeling, programming, and exhibit development remain.
Immersive Beaver is actively seeking volunteer historians, artists and engineers, as well as financial supporters to help enhance the experience and ensure it remains freely accessible to the public through the Beaver Area Heritage Museum.
“Our team is excited to unveil our work to bring Fort McIntosh back to life, built by hand on an accurate digital landscape of Beaver,” said Robert Belle-Isle of Immersive Beaver. “We are using revolutionary approaches to give people the chance to see something that has not been seen in centuries.”
The reconstruction is a serious historical and educational undertaking. The Immersive Beaver team will use archival evidence, historical maps and archaeological data to build the environment. Given the ambiguity of historical data from the time, a complete interpretation is not possible. However, the digital space helps the team test competing historical interpretations.
“I have always been drawn to the idea that new technology can help us reach backward, not just forward. We usually talk about innovation in terms of creating the future, but it can also give us extraordinary new ways to recover, preserve and understand the past,” said Ryan O’Shea of Immersive Beaver.
“We are in the business of making history accessible to everyone from children to adults,” said Mark Miner, chairman of the Beaver Area Heritage Museum. “This digital reconstruction allows us to pull the fragments of a rather scattered history together in a truly immersive way so that you can really visualize in an all new format what it felt like to be at the fort. And by doing this, we are going to make history as accessible as possible, not only for today but for future generations.”
Immersive Beaver volunteers Ryan O’Shea, Davey Wagner and Robert Belle-Isle, (left to right) stand before a screen displaying the team’s digital reconstruction of Fort McIntosh during the project’s public unveiling at the Beaver Area Heritage Museum in Beaver, on July 4, 2026. The historically informed 3D environment is being developed for a planned permanent museum installation in 2028, the 250th anniversary of the fort’s construction.
About Immersive Beaver
Immersive Beaver is an ambitious volunteer-led organization that partners with small local museums to develop state-of-the-art exhibits and immersive experiences. By bringing together engineers, artists, historians and educators, the organization creates opportunities for volunteers to apply their professional skills in service of their communities.
Immersive Beaver is actively accepting volunteers to help develop the Fort McIntosh digital reconstruction and future museum projects. The organization welcomes software developers, digital artists, grant writers, researchers and anyone interested in applying their skills to create innovative museum experiences for their local communities.
Support the Fort McIntosh Project
The Fort McIntosh reconstruction is made possible through community support. Donations directly fund historical research, software and equipment costs, exhibit development and the permanent installation at the Beaver Area Heritage Museum. Additional funding will directly expand the scope and depth of the experience, enabling more detailed environments, enhanced interactive features, and a richer, more engaging visitor experience.
As a one-time recognition, supporters who contribute during the project’s early development will have their names permanently displayed on an Early Supporters Monument within the digital exhibit.
To support the project, visit: beaverheritage.org/digital-fort-mac-donation/
(Credit for Photo: Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of Governor Josh Shapiro’s Office)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(Harrisburg, PA) Governor Josh Shapiro announced yesterday in Harrisburg that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has secured an $80 million, multi-yearinvestment fromCurtiss-Wright to expand its operations in Allegheny County. The Commonwealth is investing more than $1.2 million in the project, which will create 150 new jobs over the next three years while retaining over 860 existing positions.
Curtiss-Wright’s Cheswick campus spans 118 acres and designs, manufactures, and tests advanced solutions for critical naval defense and commercial nuclear markets.
The company will construct two new buildings to expand manufacturing and testing capacity, improve operational efficiency, reduce lead times, and support future growth as part of these investments.
(Credit for Photo: Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of Allegheny Health Network)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(Pittsburgh, PA) A surgical team at AHN Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh recently completed the region’s first robotic-assisted kidney transplant for a recipient.
This procedure was performed in April by Jennifer Carpenter, MD, transplant surgeon and director of the living donor kidney transplant program at Allegheny Health Network and it used the daVinci® Surgical System.Sarah Skeba, PA-C assisted Dr. Carpenter.
This marks the first time that the technology has been used to assist in the implantation of a donor kidney into a recipient even though Allegheny Health Network has routinely performed robotic nephrectomies, or kidney removal, from living donors since 2018.
(File Photo: Source for Photo: In this image provided by NBCUniversal, Savannah Guthrie, right, her mom Nancy speak, Wednesday, April 17, 2019, in New York. (Nathan Congleton/NBCUniversal via AP)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(Pima County, AZ) A man from Hawthorne, California has now pleaded guilty to sending a fake ransom note to the family of Nancy Guthrie, a resident of Arizona and the eighty-four-year-old mother of “TODAY” show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie.
According to the United States District Attorney’s Office, forty-two-year-old Derrick Callella entered a guilty plea on Thursday as part of an agreement as he faced federal charges for sending a ransom demand across state lines and using a telecommunications device to threaten or harass.
Callella admitted in court that he had used drugs four days prior, but he denied being under the influence of drugs during proceedings when asked by the judge. September 10th, 2026 is the scheduled date of his sentencing.
A report from KVOA confirms that he received five years of probation.
KOLD-TV confirmed in a report that the FBI stated Callella texted two of Guthrie’s family members — Nancy Guthrie’s oldest daughter, Annie, and her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni — on February 4th. Callella allegedly made a nine-second call to a Guthrie family member.
According to court documents, one of Callella’s messages read, “Did you get the bitcoin were (sic) waiting on our end for the transaction,” The suspect also reportedly sent the message using a VOIP phone line.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos warned that individuals who send fraudulent notes in this case will be held accountable in response to this guilty plea.
Nancy Guthrie went missing after she did not attend a virtual church service on the morning of February 1st and was last seen on January 31st having dinner with her family.
No arrests have been made in connection with the 84-year-old woman’s disappearance and investigators have not released information about any suspects or persons of interest in the case.
However, authorities released doorbell camera footage from Nancy Guthrie’s home in Tucson, Arizona earlier this year.
That footage shows a masked man at the door of her house and he appears to be tampering with the camera.
(Credit for Photo: Photo Courtesy of the Pennsylvania State Police)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(Schuylkill County, PA) Thirty-three-year-old Michael Bon of Brockton, Massachusetts, has now been charged with homicide by vehicle and involuntary manslaughter after a Pennsylvania State Police trooper was hit and killed on Wednesday by a vehicle.
According to the criminal complaint, Bon was driving a tractor-trailer on Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County when he rear-ended another tractor-trailer. The second vehicle was being inspected by Trooper Michael Pahira, Jr. at around 7 a.m. andPahira was pinned underneath.
Both vehicles caught fire, and even though nearby construction workers pulled Pahira out, he was taken to the hospital, where he later died because of his injuries.
Pahira was forty-four years old and was assigned to Pennsylvania State Police’s Troop L’s Frackville station for nearly twenty years.
Bon was arraigned, and police note that a bail for him was set at $700,000.
(Beaver Falls, PA) Duquesne Light Company paid it forward to a local community after nearly 1,500 customers in the New Brighton and Beaver Falls area lost power on June 30th because of what the company described as a “cable issue.”
Duquesne Light recently made a $5,000 donation to The Salvation Army of Beaver Falls, which is open Tuesday through Friday. This donation will support its food pantry and the donation was made a week after the incident occurred.
DLC also noted that there will be a food distribution event at Big Beaver Middle School from 10:30 a.m. to noon on July 25th.
(West Homestead, PA) A new chaperone policy will be implemented starting this week at Sandcastle Waterpark.
General Manager Richard Spicuzza announced this policy yesterday and it will go into effect on Friday.
Guests that are 15 years old and younger are now required to be with an adult who is aged 21 or older while they are at the park.
Spicuzza confirmed that the change at Sandcastle was caused by positive feedback coming from the guests of the park.
A chaperone can look after six guests who are teenagers that are 15 years old or younger. They need to be present at the park at all times when the teenagers visit, but it is not a requirement for them to accompany the teenagers at all times.
Spicuzza is also the general manager of Kennywood Park, which implemented the same policy last month because of reports of possible gatherings that were unauthorized.
(File Photo of a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Car)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(Washington County, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Pittsburgh reported that twenty-four-year-old Samantha Withers of Hookstown was charged for tailgating after a two-vehicle crash occurred in Washington County yesterday. She and forty-eight-year-old Adam Warren of Toronto, Ohio were driving on US Highway 22 West in a construction zone in Hanover Township at 4:05 p.m. Withers was unable to stop her vehicle in time before it hit the vehicle of Warren. Warren was transported to the Weirton Medical Center because of a possible injury and there were no other injuries as a result of this crash.
(File Photo of a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Car)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(New Sewickley Township, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Gibsonia reported yesterday that thirty-four-year-old Ann Breia Kelly of Rankin was charged after a two-vehicle crash occurred in New Sewickley Township on June 22nd. Kelly was driving on I-76 East at 1:45 p.m. and side-swiped the vehicle driven by fifty-five-year-old Larry White of Tarentum. Kelly entered into the right lane with her vehicle when White was trying to negotiate a left-hand curve in that lane. Kelly was transported to UPMC Passavant Hospital because of an injury with an unknown severity and there were no other injuries as a result of this crash.
