Altoona and Back

 A friend, Byron Smail recently released a new book that he wrote (Blair County Iron) and was going to give a talk about it. Ann Marie and I were going to go and also spend a little time roaming around the area. His talk was taking place at the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum, being a railroad fanatic; I wasn’t going to miss that! We had been to another of Byron’s talks when he had printed his first book and we enjoyed his talk immensely. We were looking forward to both the talk and the trip!

    As is always the case, when we are going somewhere, I look for a few things to do on our trip, a couple little things which might make the ride a bit more enjoyable.

    Of course, there were a couple geocaches on our route. Since we were going to hear a talk about iron furnaces, I also added 3 furnaces that we hadn’t visited yet to our itinerary. We also would stop at a couple quilt shops and a new to us, restaurant. Then, there were the sites we would just run across, we never know what we will find!

    Our start was a little after sunrise, hoping to avoid some of the heat of the day. We ended up in Gallitzin around 9. There was a cache that we hadn’t found a few weeks ago and we were going to try to find it again. Unfortunately, after 15-20 minutes of searching around, we couldn’t locate it. We weren’t too concerned, it is only a game, chances are, we will be back.

    About a mile or two away, just below the railroad tracks coming out of Altoona, there used to be a furnace. The town of Bennington sat here, now all that remains are a couple foundations and a cemetery. My hopes were to find the stack from the furnace. I had only a rough idea of its location; it was below the tracks and above a large slag pile. A couple friends had been there but we hadn’t…yet.

    We drove along a dirt road, searching for where a path/road might have once been, leading down to the site.  We passed a long line of coke ovens; we counted over 40 of them. Hundreds used to be here. The fronts are all broken. I’ve heard that the owners would take the doors and fronts off of them after they were no longer used to avoid taxation.

    We got out of the car and walked back and forth searching for a possible route down to the furnace. At one spot, the slope was extremely steep and almost all of the edges were covered in thick, high Bind weed. Driving back I found what I believed was the trail, I stopped the car and went down over the hill. Fighting through high weeds and jagger bushes I went down a couple hundred yards. AMB stayed in the car and not wanting to continue on by myself and possibly get hurt, I returned to the car. I marked the spot with my GPS, I WILL be back to explore further!

We meandered around the Hollidaysburg area, checking out a couple quilt shops, a roadside veggie stand and then stopped for lunch at a Pennsylvania Dutch style restaurant. A little further down the road we came into the town of Woodbury. The Elizabeth Iron Furnace used to sit here. Peter Shoenberger had a furnace built here in 1827. It operated through 1843 and then it was dismantled and moved. We looked at the field where it once stood but didn’t bother going over to explore. There are no ruins there.

The furnace was moved to Bloomfield Township where it became the Bloomfield Furnace. After operating for a few years, it was once again dismantled and moved to Rodman where it became the Middle Martha Furnace.

    I stopped in a small business and asked if they knew anything about the furnace. Bryan, the owner didn’t know anything about it but he did give me some directions to a near-by limestone kiln. We drove over and stopped to take some pictures.

    Limestone kilns were used to burn limestone to produce lime which was spread on fields to help improve crop yields. They were operated much the same as iron furnaces. Limestone and charcoal, or a similar heat source was loaded from the top and the finished product sunk to the bottom where it was taken out. These kilns can be found all over the state.

    After looking around the kiln and photographing it, we drove to the outskirts of Bellwood, a bit north of Altoona. There we searched for a set of ruins, another Elizabeth Furnace. The first one we looked for was in Bedford County, this one was in Blair. Once again, I only had an idea of where they might be located. I tried coming in from one side of Sandy Run Creek but saw nothing, the land was too flat. The furnace had to be on the opposite side of the stream, up against the hillside.

    We drove across a near-by bridge and tried again. Ann Marie decided to hang out in the car while I searched. My “search” took me through thick weeds and across hundreds of fallen trees. I walked through mud bogs and had mosquitoes feeding off me. I tried my best to avoid the poison ivy. I had shorts on, not the best clothing for bushwhacking and my legs were bleeding from scratches. I followed the stream and didn’t see anything and eventually backtracked. I found a small deer trail and followed it in closer to the hillside and then... all of a sudden, it appeared in front of me. Like a vision it became apparent to me, I could discern between the trees and leaves and the rock ruins behind them.

    The furnace had partially collapsed though one corner was still standing sharp and straight. I didn’t see any openings; they had been covered when the sides collapsed. Older pictures show that there were 3 openings. I climbed up the hillside to the top where I could see the chimney. Looking in, I could see the bricks which lined it and some trash that other “explorers” had tossed inside. Parts of a wall connected the top to the hillside. Numerous animal holes were visible between the stones. After taking a few more pictures, I took the easy way out by sneaking through the yard of a house above it and returned to the car and Ann Marie. She told me that 2 people had stopped to inquire if she needed any help. Nice people in this area!

    We then returned to Hollidaysburg where we checked into a “low priced” motel. We showered and got dressed for the lecture.

    Held in a lecture room in the Railroaders Memorial Museum, Byron kept us enthralled for about an hour and a half. He told about the various iron furnaces situated around Blair County and showed us pictures, both old and present day. He explained some things about how the iron ore was mined and also about some of the limestone quarries in the county. A little bit about the Portage Railroad and the canals was presented also. A little over 50 people were in attendance.

    Leaving the building after the talk we were presented with a wide rainbow that stretched across the sky. The sun was just setting and that added even more color to the view. Driving back to Hollidaysburg, we watched the sky turn orange. The mountains above Altoona showed all the various hills and valleys, all dark, underneath a spectacular reddish orange sky. There was no place to pull over and take a picture, but there is no doubt, it will always be in our memories.

    The next morning, I was up at dawn and went out to find a couple geocaches before I returned with coffee. We returned to Altoona for breakfast at a great diner called Tom and Joes. Opened originally in 1933 it reflects the way diners used to be. The tables and chairs are vintage styled, a counter is available and the food was both flavorful and plenty. Best breakfast I’ve had in a long time!

    We walked down to the RR tracks and watched the east-bound Amtrak train pull into the station. We found another geocache and then headed up towards the Horseshoe Curve. We did another cache there and then went under the tracks, past the coke ovens located in the ghost town of Glen White and then to Gallitzin where we attempted again to find the cache we couldn’t find the day before. NO LUCK! I’d like to think it is gone, how could we have missed it, THREE TIMES?

    We did one more cache in the town and then got onto rt.22 and headed west towards home. We had only been here for two days but we kept saying that it felt as if we’d been on the road for a week. We managed to squeeze a lot into this short little trip; I’d have to say it was another complete success!

Some More Pennsylvania Treasures

 Ann Marie and I had the opportunity to drive cross state again this past weekend. My Grandson Nico’s 2^nd birthday was on Saturday and we didn’t want to miss the party! As is always the case, our journey wasn’t a “straight to and back” trip. We took a few stops along the way to see some of the scenery, history and wonders that our state has to offer.

    The moon was just rising in the eastern sky as I loaded my gear into the back of the car. Checking my list, I was pretty sure that there was nothing left behind. Being early in the morning, the work day traffic was rather light as I made my way over to Ann Marie’s house. It wasn’t much longer and we were on rt.22 with the sun still hidden by the hills. We were on the road about 20 minutes before we saw it off to our left. The clouds had moved in and all we saw of the sunrise was a bright spot, but we still called it sunrise. Our “day” had started.

    We stopped first in Gallitzin, a community on top of the hills west of Altoona, a few miles up from the Horseshoe Curve. The stop was above the RR tracks which lead into one of the tunnels. Though trains were always in mind, it was a small metal container hidden in the woods which brought us here, yup, a geocache.

    Our journey took us to a dirt road that entered a state game lands. The road wasn’t bad but we had to be careful where we were going, the recent rains left lots of ruts in the road. We pulled over in a handy spot and went and scoured the woods. We had a real good idea of where it was, but there was nothing there, at least as far as we could see. That’s part of the game of geocaching; you don’t always find what you’re looking for, even when it’s there!

    Further down the road, we passed over 20 coke ovens, lined one after another. I know there are more in this area having seen them before. The fronts were broken, giving us views of their insides, though the spring brush and weeds were rapidly hiding them. I am only guessing that these may have been used to help fuel the iron furnace in Altoona. There are also many coke ovens situated behind the Horseshoe Curve in a place that used to be called Glen White, just a few miles away.

    A little further down from Gallitzin, we found a cache hidden in the ruins of an old stone house. Located almost beside rt.22, it escaped destruction by mere yards as the road was being built. It's something cool, hidden in the woods that very few people know about. Thousands of people pass beside it daily without ever knowing it’s there.

    Going through Blair County, we were only a mile or two away from the Etna Furnace so we drove down a side road to where the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River runs. The Pennsylvania Canal used to be located here. We passed the Iron Master’s house, and three log cabins which housed the furnace workers families. There are other buildings in this area all used during the time the furnace was in operation along with a cemetery. There are lots of beautiful stone walls behind the furnace and in the surrounding woods. The furnace was falling apart and has had some rather poor looking repairs done to it to help keep it standing. An ugly looking wooden top sits on it and steel tie rods connect large I-beams in the front and back. It isn’t very photogenic.

    A stop was made in Coopersburg at the Inside Scoop Ice Cream Shop. Going inside the shop is like stepping into a Happy Days episode. After finding a near-by cache we got a couple milk shakes to fuel us for the rest of the trip.

    Less than a mile away from the ice cream store was a book shop. Of course we had to visit it! It was actually the book store that brought us to Coopersburg. Medina Books and Coffee is owned and run by Joselin, a wonderful woman who was happy to discuss books and life with us. Located on the first floor of a building offering a few other services, it was homey and filled with nice decorations, not to mention, lots of new and used books!

    Saturday morning we took a ride to Boyertown, where my father had grown up. It was a fairly short visit, we browsed through The Book Nook, a book store on the bottom floor of the building that has a bit of family history. Back in 1908, on January 13^th, a fire started in the Rhoads Opera House. A show was being given on the 2^nd floor and once the fire started, a jam against the inward opening doors caused many to die. 170 people died that night, including my grandfather and aunt.

    After visiting the book store we strolled around for a bit and then had lunch at a nice little coffee shop. The Brakeman’s Café was crowded since it was nearing the lunch hour. We got a couple BIG mugs of good coffee and a tasty lunch while we were there.

    Across the street from the café were the tracks and ticket booths of the Colebrookdale Railroad. My sister used to live in one of the houses facing this area. Back in those days there was nothing across the street except a few railroad tracks. Now, they have changed it into a nice Edwardian style park with brick sidewalks, gardens and statues. The railroad offers “elegant” rides in beautifully restored carriages. They also offer self propelled carts that you can rent to ride a mile or two down the line.

    Sunday morning after Church we headed back towards home. We took a western route through the “back roads” until we were a bit below Pottstown. There we stopped at the Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site. The day was rainy and since we hadn’t brought any rain gear, we stayed under roofs as much as possible. There was a lot we missed because of the weather, looks like we will have to return again, on a dry day.

    The Hopewell Furnace was built in 1771 and was one of many furnaces built in this area. It worked for 112 years before finally shutting down in 1883. The condition of the furnace deteriorated until the late 30’s when the C.C.C. rebuilt it. The rebuilding continued over the decades, passing from one organization to another. Since the furnace had constantly changed over the years, it was decided to rebuild it to match when it was in its most prosperous time, the 1820-40’s.

    Another near-by furnace is the Cornwall Furnace. This is also a complete “whole” complex, with the furnace and buildings still standing from over 100 years ago. Both this and Hopewell Furnace (and the Etna furnace) give us an idea of what the facilities in the early iron industry looked like. All that is missing is the the people, the noise, the smoke and the smells.

    The rain continued until we reached Harrisburg where we stopped at the Red Rabbit Drive-in, situated not far from Duncannon, where the Appalachian Trail crosses the Susquehanna River. The stop was well worth it! We had fresh made hamburgers, fries and milk shakes, made to order. Making the experience even better, the man who waited our car, Dan, was from New Kensington. What a small world!

    Other than a couple stops for drinks, the rest of the trip was continuous. We were home well before sunset and we had left the rain behind in Harrisburg. We had beautiful skies with occasional dark clouds which brought out the colors, making the Pennsylvania landscapes even more dramatic. Our state has so many interesting sites to see, it’s filled with little treasures, all you have to do is look for them.

    We enjoyed the road trip, especially the visit with family, but one of the nicest things about any trip, is returning back to home to our familiar beds!

Twos

 

Originally there was supposed to be three of us going on this trip but a queasy stomach dropped the total to two. Heading to the farm market in Ligonier, the day looked great. A nice orange sunrise greeted me as I swung my feet out of bed and as I left the house, the sky was blue.

    With two cups of freshly brewed coffee in the cars cup holders, Ann Marie and I turned onto rt. 22 and proceeded towards the east, into the sun. Coming into the hills of the Laurel Highlands, the sky turned a bit hazy. What normally was a great view of the mountains ahead was muted; the hills seen weren’t as numerous as usual. It really didn’t matter, the windows were down and the breeze flowing through the car smelled good and fresh.

    We turned south onto rt.982 and stopped for, of all things, a geocache. (didn’t see that coming, did you?) A nice easy find, hidden hanging behind a sign. The next one was about a mile or two further down the road. If found, it would be my 2222^nd find! It wasn’t to be. We looked all over the place without any luck. I wasn’t worried, I had a few more programmed into the GPS.

    We stopped next on rt. 30, at a pull off on the section where the road is divided by the Loyalhanna Creek. Sitting behind a large rock was my 2nd find of the day, my 2222^nd find since May of 2007. The only thing special about it was the number, not much else. (Of course, they are ALL exciting, some more than others!)

    Next stop was the Farmers Market. Held every Saturday in the summer it draws thousands of people into Ligonier. They have a huge police department to handle all the cars and the crowds. They also need police to direct traffic a few miles away at Idlewild Park.

    Coming into the entrance of the market area, we found another cache. We pulled it out of its hiding spot and signed the log and replaced it while we were 7 or 8 feet away from a policeman. None of the crowd noticed what we were doing…

    We went up and down the aisles looking at all the goods that were being offered for sale. We got a couple things to nibble on as we looked but other than a bunch of radishes and a hunk of cheese, we didn’t make any purchases. (I passed on the $5.50 donuts!) We saw some friends while we were there. You never know who you’ll see when you’re out exploring! After we left I got to pet some beautiful dogs in the parking lot and then we turned the car towards the north.

    We re-visited some coke ovens that were just a few miles off of our route. These ovens aren’t the “standard” beehive shaped coke ovens so often seen. These were loaf shaped, a vault style with openings on either side. There are easily a hundred or more ovens on the side of this road, the majority were hidden by the weeds. You get a much better view in the wintertime. 

    These ovens were used to make coke out of coal; coke is a much cleaner burning fuel, it is also an important part of making iron. The coal would be put in ovens and after being ignited, the doors were closed and it was left for a couple days. What remained in the chamber was coke. Coke ovens are scattered all over the Pennsylvania hills, often in long lines, one after another.  If you find one, chances are there will be more near-by! When they were being used, the areas around them were noisy, hot and smoky, nothing like the areas where they stand now. Today, they sit quietly in the woods with birds chirping and plants growing on top of them, looking like ruins of a past civilization. Quite a difference! Hardly any of them retain their doors. I had heard that taxes were charged on usable ovens and by removing the doors, they became un-taxable. 

    After taking a few pictures, we followed some dirt roads which crossed hilltops with views that seemed to go on forever. We eventually ended up in Seward and then finally back on rt.22.

    Returning back home, we were back before 2 with time left for chores. Another fun trip out into the Pennsylvania countryside, it was a great way to start the day!