The reconstructed Drake Well demonstrates the first practical use of salt drilling techniques for the extraction of petroleum through an oil well.

A historic site, the museum is located in Cherrytree Township, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Titusville on Drake Well Road, situated between Pennsylvania Routes 8 and 27.

The museum includes indoor and outdoor exhibits and houses a library of over 2,500 titles, over 1,000 cubic feet (28 m3) of manuscript material and a photographic collection with over 10,800 images.

Visitor services include orientation film, guided tours, a museum store and more.

Interactive exhibits include a discussion between John D. Rockefeller and Ida Tarbell, author of The History of Standard Oil.

His employer secured a piece of leased land just south of Titusville, a slow-growing and peaceful community.

Drake had to travel to New Kensington, PA, (over 90 miles away), to find and hire a salt well driller, William A. Smith, in the summer of 1859.

In 1865, pipelines were laid directly next to the rail line and the demand for teamsters practically ended.

That fall President Ulysses S. Grant visited Titusville to view the booming oil industry.

The first oil millionaire, a resident of Titusville, was Jonathan Watson who owned the land where Drake's well was drilled.