A Spur of the Moment Vacation

 It was Wednesday night and I was debating about taking a ride to Hollidaysburg the next day. There was a talk being held at the Blair County Genealogical Society (BCGS) about, of all things, iron furnaces! The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go. The only problem was that Hollidaysburg, the county seat of Blair County, was about two hours away, which would mean a long drive in the dark to get home. I don’t mind leaving on a trip in the dark, but returning home is another thing completely.

    I talked with Ann Marie and we decided to get a room for the night and turn the trip into a small vacation. A few minutes later and there was a room waiting for us for the next day.

    Thursday morning had me loading the car as the sun neared the horizon. Everything was orange, the sky, the clouds and the trees. I debated digging the camera out of its bag but instead just stood for a minute or two and enjoyed the view, then got in the car and started my trip.

    I arrived early at Ann Marie’s but she was ready and waiting. As is always the case, our first stop was for coffee followed by some breakfast. After some eggs, bacon and toast and a very unsuccessful attempt at solving the crossword puzzle on the placemat, we continued with the journey.

    The trees looked great in the early morning light; fall was definitely well on its way. Bits of fog still clung in the valleys and the treetops making the views spectacular no matter which way we turned. A couple stops were made for geocaches and possible train sightings but even with these, we were in Hollidaysburg by ten. We stopped first at the local library. They were holding their annual book sale and we always try to support the libraries we visit. We both came away with a couple books.

    After that, we drove out of town to the cliffs overlooking the city. Known as Chimney Rocks, they provide a nice view of the town and the surrounding countryside. A small, steep hike is required to get to the top of the ledges. We found another geocache while we were there but even more importantly, we visited an iron furnace which was built into the hillside below the cliffs.

    I couldn’t find much about this furnace other than a couple brief mentions of it on-line. I did find some old currency that was being sold on E-Bay which references it and I also found a mention of it in a book dated 1859. This book says that the furnace was near the train station, the furnace we visited was about a mile away and up the hillside. This furnace is interesting in the fact that it has a concave front, only one opening and is nowhere near any water. Is it the same furnace? I don’t know!

    Later that evening, at the BCGS we met Byron Smail who was giving the talk. His book is called “The Iron Furnaces of the Cove! Williamsburg, Martinsburg, Roaring Springs, McKee”. The book covers the various furnaces that had been built in the “Cove”.

    I had never heard of the Cove before. I always thought of a cove as a small harbor or indentation in a body of water. Looking the word up in the dictionary I found out that it also means; “A deep recess or small valley in the side of a mountain or a level area sheltered by hills or mountains”.

    It was a nearly standing room only crowd. What a nice group of people. Byron gave an excellent talk, showing pictures of the furnaces and places he was talking about. He explained how these furnaces worked and the differences between charcoal and coke fueled furnaces. He had some examples of slag and iron “rock” to show also. The man knows what he was talking about! I picked up a few books from the society’s bookshop while we were there. Ann Marie and I were glad we came. We were also glad that we didn’t have to drive back in the dark!

    We woke up to rain but that didn’t stop me from finding another geocache about a ¼ mile from the motel. I then got coffee for the two of us and returned back to the room where I promptly spilled all of AMB’s coffee on the table. My mutterings and curses were probably what woke her up!

    We drove into Altoona passing the Allegheny Iron Furnace, (built in 1836) about a mile and a half from where we stayed. Then we cruised some of the alleys and back roads of Altoona looking for trains and the Boyer Candy Company. They make Clark Bars and Mallow Cups there. I was hoping to get a tour but that was no longer being offered. We made do by visiting the retail store and stocking up on some candy.

    Leaving Altoona, we stopped at the small town of Gallitzin. The public library sits right beside the portals of the tunnels leading from The Horseshoe Curve. No trains passed by while we were there. In the library I saw a book set up on a display stand, written by a friend and fellow astronomer Ken Kobis. Cool!

    The next stop was in Johnstown where we stopped at another library. The Cambria County Library has a bookstore in it and while AMB browsed the shelves, I went up to the third floor to visit the Pennsylvania Room. I looked at a couple of old books about iron furnaces while I was there. On our way out of town we stopped at a small restaurant and had an excellent chicken meal for lunch. We are often surprised at the good experiences we have when we “try” a place that we just happened upon.

    We were back at our homes by mid-afternoon, both of us pleased at how well the trip went. We got some great fall leaf viewing, learnt some new facts about iron furnaces along with seeing a couple, visited a few libraries, picked up some more books, got a few more geocaches and had a whole lot of fun doing it. Not bad for a spur of the moment decision.