The night was filled with snow; lights in the valley below
me were hardly visible. In the morning, the sky was clear and there was a promise
of a beautiful day. Snow was clinging to the limbs of the trees and the roads
appeared clear. An hour later, after cleaning about 3 inches of snow off of my
car, I was at Ann Marie’s place. The slanting morning sunshine was giving a
golden glow to the snow covered trees.
We had no destination planned. We find that this is often
the best way to go on an adventure. Point the car in a certain direction and
go. Chances are we will run into something exciting! Today we pointed the car towards
the rising sun, towards the east. The Laurel Highlands were in that direction
and they always have roads that provide lots of scenic views.
Before we got going, we had to put some gas in the car and
some caffeine in us. While I filled the car, Ann Marie went inside for
libations. While filling the car, I heard a bang behind me and watched as a man
drove away from the pumps with the hose still inserted in his car, the hose
dragging behind him. I waved my arms and yelled at him to stop. He smiled and
rolled down his window, wondering what was the big deal. His smile quickly left
his face when I told him what had happened. Luckily, no gas was spilled. I
guess it was just good luck that we were there to tell him what happened, of
course, he would’ve found out eventually!
Back on the road, Ann Marie looked at the Gazetteer to find
a place to go. On the map was a batch of iron furnaces we had visited in the
past. It might be nice to see what they looked like with snow on them, and so
our course was narrowed down.
Driving along, searching for a small road, we
drove right past it and started something that followed us throughout the day,
we had to turn around. This happened at least 5 times and it got to be rather
funny as the trend continued We turned onto a road that had a steep drop off, we felt as
if we were going to slide into the ditch. Snow was covering it but other cars
had already passed by. A few miles down the road we came to a reservoir and
then, right at a bend in the road, there was the Ross Furnace. It sits on a
golf course! We could see a flag on a pole in the hole on the green in front of
it. Of course, we couldn’t see if it was really green, it looked white to us!
This furnace was built around 1815 and worked until the 1850’s.
One of the owners, along with some of the workers was involved in the
underground railroad and they helped a lot of people in their quest for
freedom.
Continuing on the same road would eventually bring us to
another furnace. We stopped to talk to a young man and ended up giving him a
ride. Jake had a head full of historic knowledge. We enjoyed talking about similar
interests with him.
The next furnace was the Hillview, or Valley Furnace. We
have seen cows around the furnace in the past but there were none there today.
This furnace was built in 1850 and used coke as a fuel instead of charcoal.
This gave it a higher heat. It is made out of uncut stone and has four arches,
though we could only see three of them. There is an electric fence that keeps
the cattle in and the curious out!
Being in the “neighborhood”, we drove back Coke Oven Road to
see the long row of coke ovens. The road hadn’t been plowed yet, we broke
through the snow, eventually turning around when we saw that the ovens were
pretty much covered by the snow. I pulled over to take a couple shots and of
course…a snowplow stopped behind me. The driver was a nice guy who let me
finish taking my pictures. We laughed about how I was about 10 minutes too early;
I should’ve waited and then been able to drive on a clear road. I then led the
plow back out to the main roads.
We proceeded to the other side of route 30 and entered an
area full of horse farms. Snow covered trees arched over the roads with a wide
stream flowing beside us. Crossing over a small covered bridge we came to the
remains of the California Furnace.
According to a paper written by Myron B. Sharp in 1972, (The California Furnace and the Iron Industry)
the building was originally built in 1853. It was a cold blast furnace powered
by a waterwheel. The furnace made little profit during its life and it was the
last furnace built in Westmoreland County. The furnace went out of blast
sometime around 1862. It deteriorated over the years and was rebuilt at a later
date.
After visiting the furnace and enjoying the sights and sounds
of the near-by stream, we stopped at The Gateway Café. We both had a bowl of
French Onion Soup with lightly toasted Rye Bread, an excellent meal for warming
us up after walking around in the snow.
We stopped at one more furnace on our way back. The Laurel
Hill Furnace was built in 1845 and ran until 1855-1860. Ann Marie stayed in the
car for this stop. The Baldwin Furnace is about a mile or two further up the
road but due to the snow and the long walk to it, we decided to save it for a
warmer day.
While out exploring, we saw skies varying from bright blue
to dark grey, there were times we drove through snow flurries and at other
times, clouds of snow blown off the trees. There were places where the roads
were covered with blowing drifts and other spots where we were the first car to
break the pristine surfaces. We were treated to postcard-like vistas and the
furnaces all looked like they had been frosted.
We arrived back home in the late afternoon, tired and a bit
sore from sitting in the car seats for so long but completely happy with our snow day
experience!
