Robert Peary: Born Near Here, Bound for the North Pole

Rear Admiral Robert Edwin Peary was born near Cresson, Pennsylvania, on May sixth, eighteen fifty-six. He would go on to become one of the most celebrated and disputed explorers in American history.

Peary made eight Arctic expeditions over more than two decades, each one pushing farther toward the top of the world. On April sixth, nineteen oh nine, he claimed to have reached the North Pole, accompanied by his assistant Matthew Henson and four Inuit guides. His claim sparked one of history's great exploration controversies, with rival Frederick Cook asserting he had arrived first. A subsequent review largely supported Peary, though historians still debate the accuracy of his navigational records. He was promoted to Rear Admiral by a grateful Congress and died in nineteen twenty. This park in his home county honors the man who spent a lifetime chasing the world's most remote point.