So it's almost Columbus Day. And before you start planning your outfit for all those wild Columbus Day parties or learning the words to that well-loved song: "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue...," lend me your ear.

This, the 500th anniversary of his famous skedaddle, is a big year for Columbus fans.

Whatever your views about Columbus, one thing is obvious. He's part of the American psyche, an example of how we can twist and turn anything in our history books to make a hero where there may be none, to make ourselves look clean when the business is dirty.

And that's why, even if you don't celebrate it, Columbus Day is still an interesting holiday. Especially here, just 10 minutes from Boalsburg where a real live descendant of Columbus lives in an 18th century home open to the public.

"This is the only tangible link in the United States to Columbus," said Christopher Lee, a Columbus descendant and director of Boal Mansion Museum and Columbus Chapel.

The mansion itself, just off Route 322 heading east from State College, is sort of historia verite -- I mean, the furniture isn't just furniture that might have been in that room that might have been in this house. It's not like the other "historic" mansions perhaps it's that Pledge shine that's missing. Or maybe it just smells like an old house. But I don't think that's all.

The Boal family has been living in this house for over 200 years and the furniture and knicknacks have been collected by them. So, touring the mansion, you not only see History but you also see history.

When you go, they set you up with a tour guide who gives you the lowdown on the Columbus connection. What I understood was one of the Boal men married a niece of the Columbus family a long time ago. It's really hard to keep all the names straight, and probably not necessary for your enjoyment. Our kindly guide, Macklyn Lindstrom, showed us one of Simon Bolivar's pistols hanging on the wall, a lock of Napoleon's hair a French piano bought by Dolly Madison, a 500 year-old coffee maker, and a Chinese medicine jug.

Lindstrom, a retired minister, reflected on the Chinese jug, "Wine and medicine cure all ills."

You'd need a couple of hours to really explore the house well.

Photographs and letters lie in stacks on the coffee tables and desks and it'd be great to just kick back on a carved Victorian-era couch and page through them. But, if your attention span is limited, like mine, leave the house after the tour and head to the Columbus Chapel. You won't believe your eyes.

It's a small, gray stone building that looks more like an unattached garage or barn than a chapel. But, the padlock on the door tells you Something's inside.

Something's pretty amazing. The hand-carved door opens to a Renaissance-Baroque chapel. Here. In the middle of Pennsylvania. I mean to say that in 1909 an entire chapel was taken from the Columbus Castle in northern Spain and sailed over on a ship to the U.S., and the chapel is still in good working condition today.

And, here comes the big deal. A splinter from the left arm of the cross on which Christ was crucified is on the altar. In the chapel. In the middle of Pennsylvania.

"It's felt that it's a holy relic," said Peggy Hartman, the volunteer guide who showed us the chapel.

In one closet of the chapel, 165,000 pages of household records from the Columbus family are stashed. In another corner, Columbus' writing desk taken from the Santa Maria. And on the way out look at the Columbus family tree. I think it qualifies as an orchard.

Other attractions in the vicinity are a coachouse an a room full of weaponary and war relics.

The Centre County Columbus Celebration, a committee organized to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Columbus' voyage, has planned a weekend full of anniversary-related event's. Tomorrow they will hold a ball in the museum and for Saturday they've organized a football game halftime program.

Sunday is the 5th annual Boalsburg Cultural Heritage Festival, focusing on cultures that have shaped America. A cultural harmony ceremony will be performed at the Columbus Chapel at noon.