A "revolutionary" new attraction in Pottstown unlocks the Schuylkill River's many secrets.

It's a river with a thousand stories. One of them is "The Breaker Boys," children as young as seven who mined coal -- ten hours a day -- in the mines along the Schuylkill River.

"They pulled scraps of coal out that didn't get broken up properly, and it was very dangerous work," said Kurt Zwikl, executive director of the Schuylkill River National Heritage Area.

"The Breaker Boys" is just one of the many exhibits at the new "River of Revolutions" Interpretive Center in Pottstown.

"It tells the story of the three revolutions: the American, the Industrial, and the Environmental Revolution," said Zwikl.

Most people know about George Washington's camp at Valley Forge, the coal mines and the railroads -- and of course -- Yuengling, everyone's favorite Pennsylvania brew. But few know about the Schuylkill's "Environmental Revolution."

"It became the first major environmental clean-up in the United States," said Zwikl. "In the 1940s and 50s, there were sections of the river where you could walk across the river on a bar of coal silt."

This is just the beginning, too. What you're seeing here is just the beginning of what will eventually be a much larger project at the site. Over the next few years, Montgomery Co. Community College plans to open new classrooms and a new laboratory to study the Schuylkill River.

"We started in 2006, it's really been a six year project," said Zwikl.

The interpretive center is located at the Schuylkill River Heritage Area at 140 College Drive in Pottstown.