Sometimes, They Just Disappear

Rt.8 has been a pathway to the north seemingly forever. It roughly follows the Venango Trail, used by Native Americans. George Washington used it in 1753. It started out as a dirt path, then became a muddy wagon trail, in places a plank road and then eventually got paved starting in the early 1900’s.  Now it is often 4 lanes wide. 

    Especially near the bigger cities, it is lined with car dealers, shopping malls, small discount stores and gas stations! Further north, the road narrows and houses and farms start becoming the major scenery. The country views are great, pastures, barns, and row after row of corn.

    As I drive along this road, and the other roads of the state, one of the things I look for is the buildings that were left to simply decay. I look for houses with their doors ajar, windows broken and ivy attempting to hide the buildings from our view. The wooden buildings have their paint stripped from them by the sun, leaving only grey exteriors. There are cars, trucks and farm equipment rusting away in their yards and fields.

    These are the things I watch for and it is their absence that saddens me. An old fruit stand covered with greenery, with parts of its façade hanging down may not interest many, but to me it’s a landmark. Being a visual person, it’s a spot that shows me how far I’ve gone or have to go. I find it tough to see when a barn or old farmhouse has burnt down or was razed to make room for a new store or a housing plan filled with cookie cutter homes.

    Abandoned buildings often have a sort of raw beauty to them. Nature has a way of beautifying a broken building. Of course, this is only my opinion. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To the neighbors or the owners, it could be considered an eyesore.

    I may drive past these places once or twice a year. They are only landmarks for my travels, yet I’ve come to know them, I look forward to seeing them. I feel hurt when they are gone. As I get older, I notice so many of these places are disappearing. Every trip we take, I see something else that is gone. BUT, I also see new things to watch for on future trips! It is inevitable, change is a constant!

    This Thursday, Ann Marie, Jim and I went for another ride, heading north on rt.8 to the town of Franklin, the county seat of Venango. We started at a farm market where we purchased a couple apples and some donut holes. 

    Ten or twenty miles later we stopped at a favorite coffee shop in Butler, for a caffeine refill. We visited a cemetery and a small park to look for geocaches; it was a typical day cruise.

    Nearing Franklin, we detoured a bit to see a covered bridge. It sits almost directly under rt.8 but to get to it requires some back road travel. When we arrived, I was shocked to see that the covered bridge was gone and in its place was a generic concrete bridge.

    Some research revealed that the original bridge was built in 1907; the covered portion was added in 1990. The bridge wasn’t in the best of shape. In 2023 it was closed, torn down and replaced with this “beautiful” concrete travesty.

    The old bridge was beautiful in its own way. There is nothing special about the new bridge. Now, there is no reason to make the drive into the valley, at least for me. I came across the bridge originally because there was a geocache hidden near-by. Now… the bridge has become just a memory.

    We ate our lunch in Franklin and walked around the town for a bit. We refilled out coffee cups at another favorite coffee shop before returning to the road.

    We headed west towards rt.19. On our way we passed what we guessed was an old brick schoolhouse. It sat in a field of weeds, with vines covering the front door. Boards protected the windows and prevented trespassing; it looked old. The porch was missing but the cut stone foundation looked solid. A broken water pump sat behind it. I wonder how many people might have drank from that pump. A metal roof had been put on it awhile ago, so there is someone that is caring for it, I hope!

    Nineteen miles away we came across another schoolhouse. It looked very similar to the building we just left. This was the London School, built on 1861. Besides being a school it also was a gift shop and an antique shop for awhile. It has been empty for quite a few years. It sits on property that is owned by Walmart. Hopefully this historic building will still be standing the next time we go by!

    Reaching rt.19, we turned south heading towards Zelienople and eventually home. We made a quick stop in Harlansburg to take some pictures of the RR cars that sit near the road. The Museum of Transportation had been housed here in a replica train station and the railroad cars, sadly it has closed. On a previous trip, Ann Marie and I had the pleasure of visiting it and talking with the owner. He had a tremendous collection and was a very interesting man to talk with. Both he and his museum will be missed. I can’t help but wonder how much longer these cars will remain here. They are definitely showing their age! There used to be four of them, now there are only three…

    We drove through Zelienople, Harmony, Evans City and Mars before returning home about 8 hours after we left. Thankfully, most of the landmarks I was watching for were still standing, for the time being. It was another great day to go out and explore Western Pennsylvania, but then again, every day is!

A Pre-Labor Day Drive

The Labor Day weekend was in front of us and since we had no pressing obligations we decided to take a ride. After a little thought we decided to revisit the area around Uniontown.

    Ann Marie and I have taken many trips down (south) to this area. We have hiked in the near-by hills, searched out old industry, found a lot of geocaches and even done some rock climbing. Well, it was mostly me doing that last activity.

    Some of the nicest things about living in Pennsylvania are all of the beautiful scenery and the hills and valleys. Most of the smaller roads going through the countryside rarely go straight, there is always some variety. You never know when you might come to a peak on a hill and be exposed to an unbelievable view. There are just so many things to see and do!

    Uniontown is the largest city and the county seat of Fayette County. It sits not far from the West Virginia state line. Like all of Pennsylvania, the countryside around here is filled with beautiful sights. It is hard not to enjoy yourself whenever you’re here, no matter what you’re doing!

    We took rt.79 down to Washington, the county seat of Washington County. Most of that part of the drive was uneventful. There isn’t much exciting on high-speed divided highways. So, the fun part of our journey started when we arrived in Washington, that is where we got onto rt.40, the National Road.

    The road headed southeast towards Scenery Hill and eventually, Uniontown. It follows the tops of the hills providing numerous views into the distance. We saw lots of farms, fields and meadows. I couldn’t help but wonder if the people who live along this road ever get “used” to the views.

    Our first stop was when we saw an old barn that had been put on steel beams, ready to be moved. A little research later, told us that it had been lifted last month. It was going to be moved about a half mile away, to replace another historical barn which had recently burnt down. Inclement weather had stalled the move, enabling us to see the barn before it’s gone. The barn dates back to around 1910.

    Of course, we had some geocaches to find on our journey. The first couple were hidden near to the cast iron mileage markers spaced out along the road, like the one in the first photo.

    Coming down off of one of the numerous hills, we came across an old camper with a grand view. It was a 1967 Corvair powered Ultravan, placed on top of an old silo. The view would be wonderful, but that first step…that’s a doozy.

    Just past Beallsville, we came to a Madonna of the Trail statue. This is one of 12 statues like this in the United States. It is the only one in Pennsylvania. They were placed along roads that travelers used to go west, to honor the women that made the journeys. This one was put up in 1928; it is nearing its 100^th anniversary.

    We crossed the Monongahela River and entered Brownsville, which used to be a riverboat building center and a major trading post. It is also the birthplace of John Brashear, a fact that is more important to me than the numerous other historic things in this town. John Brashear grew up to be an astronomer and a premier telescope and optic maker. He captured the hearts of Pittsburghers, often being called Uncle John instead of Mr. Brashear. His and his wife's ashes are interned under one of the telescopes at Alleghany Observatory. One of his telescopes sits at the AAAP’s Wagman Observatory in Deer Lakes Park. A telescope that I have had the pleasure and honor of using many times! Every time we come through Brownsville, I have to stop by his birthplace, just to pay my respects!

    A stop was made near an old house built in 1796 according to the cornerstone. It was the Peter Colley Tavern, serving the tradesmen and travelers on the road. It was a part of the Underground Railroad. The back section was added on to the building in 1842. There was a geocache near-by; this was another interesting spot that caching brought us to! I read that there are or were coke ovens near-by but the roads were gated so we didn’t attempt to see them.

    Another cache was found near the gravesites of the Searight family. A little under a half mile down the road, we came to the Searight Tollhouse. Unfortunately, we couldn’t visit it because of “bees”. At least that is what the sign said. Situated on a rise in the roadway, it had a good view in either direction. To continue one, you would have had to pay a toll.

    This is one of six toll houses on the Pennsylvania section of the National Road. The road originally went between Cumberland, Maryland and Wheeling, West Virginia. It was built between 1811 and 1818. The government gave the road to the states in 1839 when it became too expensive to maintain. The states then erected these tollhouses, and the road became the first interstate toll road.

    Nearing Uniontown and seeing it was closing in on noon; we started looking for a spot to stop and eat lunch. We find that it is often best to just leave it to chance when we pick a spot. We drove past the Titlow Tavern and Grille and it looked like “our” spot. We circled the block and pulled into their parking lot.

    We had just walked in the door and sat down when a storm hit, complete with thunder and lightning. We had timed it just right! We both had delicious fried fish sandwiches. By the time lunch was finished, so had the storm. Timing is everything!

    Leaving Uniontown behind, we climbed Chestnut Ridge, stopping at the observation pull off to check out the view of the city below. We continued on to make a quick stop at the Wharton Iron Furnace. This was built in 1839, finally shutting down in 1873. During that period, it went out of blast for a while due to the difficulty in shipping its products to its customers. The Civil War brought it back with the need for cannon balls and such.

    From the furnace we headed over to Jumonville to see the huge cross erected on Dunbar’s Knob. 2480 feet above sea level, it can be seen from three states. It is 60 feet high, and was erected in 1950. We had to do some walking to get there. (I did mention that it was on the top of a hill, right?) We aren’t as sprite as we used to be, I admit, we/I took a couple breaks on the way up. I noticed large black birds circling above and sitting in the trees…watching us maybe?

    It was a beautiful view from the base of the cross. We could easily see the road (rt.119) that we’d be traveling on in the near future. We took a nice curvy, scenic back road to the bottom of the ridge. We made one more caching stop, this one in a Polish Cemetery. It was an easy find in a nice, peaceful setting.

    After that, to top off our journey, we stopped for an ice cream cone and a banana malt milkshake at Tastyland. This wasn’t the first time we stopped at this spot, and it probably won’t be the last! We drove home happy and content. It is always fun revisiting places we’ve enjoyed before. It was a great way to start the coming Labor Day weekend!

A Good Start

 

It seemed like a good day to stop alongside the stream. I had just picked up some books at the library and while the weather forecasters were warning about high temperatures and the need to stay indoors, I chose the stream.

    Really, it wasn't a tough decision to make, stay at the air-conditioned library or sit beside the quiet stream. In the end…it was a rather easy choice to make. I pulled up and parked in the shade of a small sapling. On a day like this, even though it was still morning, every little bit of shade was appreciated.

    It was quiet; the stream was low and wasn’t making any sounds as it slipped between the rocks. The wind wasn’t blowing and so, the weeds sat still, no rustling noises came from them. The birds were quiet; there was no chirping. Even in it’s quiet, the spot was a comforting place to be.

    Picking up one of my books I started reading, seeing if it would be any good. The book was written by Harry Harrison back in 1966. Its name is Make Room! Make Room! It was later made into a movie that many of us probably remember, Soylent Green. Chances are you still remember the famous catch phrase of the movie!

    Before I knew it, I was 20 pages into the book and pretty sure I was going to like it!

    Setting the book down for a minute, I glanced out the windshield of the car just as a heron flew over. It was low and looked huge! I had an idea of what it was but since it was flying away from me in a straight line, I wasn’t sure. It arced to the left, circling back around and I saw its legs hanging behind it. It flew over the stream and towards a tree flying around it rather than landing. It flew lower to the water, following its course and then disappeared behind the weeds and trees.

    What a great thing to see! The Egyptians viewed herons as symbols of resurrection. The Greeks thought of them as divine messengers as did ancient Irish folklore. The Native Americans viewed herons as a symbol of patience and good luck. I myself also think of them as good luck; I always consider myself lucky to see them!

    I just had a dream last night where my brother Ralph and my Mother came to visit me. Hmmm… perhaps there's a message here that I should be aware of!

    The day is off to a good start, visits from two people I miss and love and a close sighting of a heron. Plus…I also got some new (?) books to read! Oh yeah, it’s off to a good start!