Want to know a brief history of the Harry Packer Mansion?

Love the architecture of many of the buildings in Jim Thorpe and want to know more about them?There's an app that can help.The Mauch Chunk Historical Society recently created the "Tour Jim Thorpe" app for iPhones and Androids.The app helps visitors learn about the history of some of the most historic places in Jim Thorpe using their smartphones. It costs $0.99."Thousands of people come here wanting to know the history of the buildings," said Al Zagofsky of the Mauch Chunk Historical Society. "The app provides information to all the tourists that come through the area right on their phones."What I find neat about it is whenever you're wandering around town there are always visitors or even residents walking around town asking questions about the history of the buildings. This app is an easy answer."Tour Jim Thorpeis bornJack Sterling, a local historian with the Mauch Chunk Historical Society, said the idea for the app came about as a result of the society's past Victorian house tours, as well as a failed guided walking tour.The tours were good in the content they provided visitors, but the success of the events was dependent on the weather, if guides were available and if visitors signed up for the tours.Last year, members of the society thought taking the information they had gathered for the tours and presenting it through an app available to anyone at anytime would be the way to go.The app navigates the user through 11 historic sites, including the Jersey Central Train Station, Navigation Building, Carbon County Courthouse, Asa Packer and Harry Packer mansions, the Inn at Jim Thorpe, the Harlan/Yaeger/Eagles building, Dimmick Memorial Library, 55 Broadway, St. Mark and John's Church and the Hooven Mercantile Building.Each stop includes audio files giving a brief historical overview of the building as well as old photos of the buildings.Zagofsky said that headphones are recommended during the tour to allow users to hear the audio files over the noise of traffic.He said the app is not like a guided tour, where a person leads a group on a specific route, but rather it provides more freedom because it allows the person to determine their own route.For more information, to view a sample site or to purchase the app, visit

www.mauchchunkhistory.com/WalkingTour.