Tristan Bair may only be a high school senior, but he's thinking about people and places much, much older than he is. Tristan, a member of the Donegal High School Class of 2025, recently completed his Eagle Scout project for the Mount Joy Area Historical Society.

"I chose 10 historic locations within Mount Joy to create outdoor signs that have a brief description of what the building was back in the day along with a QR code that can be scanned," Tristan shared. "The QR code will take you to the historical society's web page and give further information about the location as well as some pictures of what the building used to look like."

Locations featured in Tristan's project include Cemetery Road Schoolhouse, 120 Fairview St., now used by the Mount Joy Area Historical Society; Central Hotel and Bube's Brewery, 102 N. Market St.; and the Gerberich-Payne Shoe Company, 240 W. Main St., now home to a senior citizen housing complex.

Tristan got the idea for his project after talking to his grandmother Kim Bair, who is active with the Mount Joy Area Historical Society. He has also been a junior member of the society for the past few years.

"I wanted to do something that would last for many years and mean something to the town I grew up in," he stated. "I know the historical society has been wanting to expand its connections beyond its physical location, so I thought I could help do that."

A member of Troop 349 in Mountville, Tristan joined Cub Scouts when he was 6 years old. He is currently a Life Scout and earned his Eagle Rank on Nov. 4, the night before his 18th birthday. He is the son of Diane Bair and Justin Roberson of Mount Joy.

Tristan began working on his Eagle Scout project in May. He attended Mount Joy Borough meetings to get approvals, and he discussed his project with the historical society to approve the sites where he planned to install the signs.

"It was a lot of work prior to doing the actual installation part," he commented. "The most challenging part of this project was definitely the steps it took to prepare and amount of time each of the individual steps along the way took."

The best part of his project, he said, was installation day, when friends helped him put up the signs. He also credits several people with helping him with the project, including his grandmother Kim; Carper Signs, which agreed to make the signs for him; and Linda Eberly of Eberly Designs.

Now that his project is complete, Tristan is looking forward to hearing feedback from the community, and he hopes his efforts will boost interest in local history.

"A project like this is important to me because I think it could potentially open a gateway for people to connect more within the community," he said. "I am hoping that this will bring more interest from the community to learn more about Mount Joy's history. I am hoping it is a way to have others become more involved with our historical society. I feel like not a lot of people are aware of the really cool things that they do for our town."

A complete list of properties featured in Tristan's project may be found at http://www.mountjoyhistory.com/places-of-interest.