A Very Necessary Fort

Sunday's adventure continued after Fallingwater as I headed back south through Ohiopyle, PA. Ohiopyle is a very small community of about 77 people. It barely registers on the map. Now imagine my surprise when I enter Ohiopyle to find it full of hundreds of people. Turns out that despite its small size and population, it is a major hub for whitewater rafting, kayaking, hiking, cycling, and camping. According to a promotional brochure, 14 miles of the Youghiogheny River pass through the small town, which seems to be an awful lot. Any which way, it looked positively awesome and will be a weekend destination come spring next year.

My next stop was Fort Necessity National Battlefield. Fort Necessity is known as the site of the first battle in which George Washington participated. I had in my mind a fort similar to those the French built along the Mississippi River during the same time period, but was greatly mistaken. As you can see from the photos below, the fort was incredibly small. It consisted of a sole storehouse structure surrounded by a palisade, which was primarily to keep Washington's own men from getting to the rum stored inside.

 The area within the palisade is only a few hundred square feet. It was also crudely built, offering little protection from attackers.

 Very small cannon mounted on posts aided the defenders. In the background, you can see part of the earthenworks that served as the fort's primary fortification.

The crudely built storehouse with a canvas roof housed the powder, shot, rum, and flour that sustained the garrison.

About a third of a mile up the ridge from the fort is the Mount Washington Tavern, my next stop. I decided to hike over to it up a steep incline. The tavern was once a major stop along the National Road, our first federally funded highway. The tavern dates to the 1830s, twenty years after the National Road originally opened to traffic. The tavern has been restored to serve as a museum, and is furnished with period pieces meant to depict the standard features of a tavern/inn of the time.

 The stately brick building has been modified somewhat over the years, as can be seen by the difference in the brick along the side wall. The front rooms did not originally exist in the 1830s.

 The tavern was built on land that George Washington purchased in 1770, hence its name.

 One of the first floor rooms was the bar, where travelers would knock back a few before heading upstairs to one of the rooms like that below.

To fit as many guests in as possible, the tavern owners crammed as many beds as possible into each room. Some rooms had up to four beds.

I finished my trip by taking US 40 (the old National Road) west to Uniontown, PA for some lunch, then headed south back to Morgantown. The weather was beautiful for the trip. Hopefully I'll have another opportunity this year to get up into Pennsylvania for another round of sightseeing before the weather turns bad. Stay green, my friends!

Fallingwater Isn't Always Rain

After a long hiatus during which I didn't do any sightseeing on the weekends, I spent Sunday in Pennsylvania exploring back roads, viewing the fall colors, and seeing what Fayette County has to offer. Turns out, the answer is "a lot." From historic homes to battlefields to hiking to whitewater rafting, Fayette County has endeared itself enough to entice me back next spring when the outdoor activities can better be enjoyed.

My first stop on the whirlwind tour was Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. Finished in 1939, the home was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966 and hailed by TIME Magazine as Wright's "most beautiful job." Situated above a waterfall on Bear Run, the house is indeed a stunning piece of architecture. The house is largely constructed of glass, so I opted to take the walking tour of the grounds rather than the house tour, which is considerably more expensive. I was still able to see the interior from the terraces by looking in the windows.

The grounds were crowded, as the day was absolutely beautiful, so it took some time to get shots that weren't blocked by a person standing in front of me. The shot above was taken from the driveway bridge over Bear Run.

 

 Continuing up the driveway, the decorative concrete beams above the drive create a shaded area.

 The guesthouse overlooks the main house, resting on the bluffs above it.

 These terraces overhand the waterfalls on Bear Run and give the house its distinctive look that Wright fans treasure.

The iconic view of Fallingwater, taken from the same scenic overlook that the professionals use when photographing the house.

After touring the grounds for an hour, I returned to the visitor center and checked out the gift shop, purchasing a book on the history of Sears homes. My adventures did not stop with the historic home that day, but my time has run out, so the tale will continue tomorrow. Stay green, my friends.

More to Pennsylvania than the Liberty Bell

I have been in Pennsylvania for about six weeks now and have run across some photographic occasions. Sadly, I don't often photograph such occasions, but here is a collection of some of the places and things I've seen while here.
Situated on a high hill in Dushore, this church is built almost exclusively of locally quarried stone. It sits on one of the highest points in town and can be seen from anywhere within the small town.
The Cell Block in Williamsport is the old Lycoming County Jail dating from the late 19th century. After it closed, it was converted into a restaurant and nightclub. Although it looks gloomy and daunting, it is really quite nice inside.
As the sign says, this is the historic Sullivan County Courthouse in Laporte. I spent most of my time here in the records room. It was built in the late 19th century, but has been extensively remodeled and restored over the last two decades.
Traveling on US 15 into Williamsport, there is a scenic overlook that offers views of both the Susquehanna River and the town of Williamsport, seen in this photo. The Endless Mountains can be seen behind the town.
US 15 runs alongside the Susquehanna River for most of its length and offers stunning views of the river. North of Harrisburg, the Susquehanna is virtually non-navigable because of currents, rapids, and the fact that at many points the river is only a foot or two deep. Thus, it makes an excellent river for canoers and kayakers and the park service maintains campsites along the river and on some of the islands for campers.
The Pennsylvania Capitol Building seen from across the Susquehanna in Wormleysburg. Harrisburg is a fairly drab town and aside from the capitol, most of the Commonwealth administrative buildings are built in the '70s concrete bunker style. I visited the State Archives one day and got to see the dinginess and bleakness first hand.
Pennsylvania is full of historic old barns that have been well maintained by farmers through the last two centuries. This particular barn is on the grounds of the Gettysburg Battlefield and most likely predates the battle.

Pennsylvania offers some wonderful historic sites and outdoor activities that I look forward to exploring further on a future vacation to the area.

We Are Met on a Great Battlefield

July 3, 1863 - Considered by many historians as the turning point of the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg raged for three days and cost nearly 8000 lives. Many of the casualties from both sides remain in Gettysburg, interred in the cemetery consecrated by President Abraham Lincoln several months after the battle. Established as a national battleground shortly after the war, Gettysburg was transferred to the National Parks Service in 1933. There are 1320 monuments scattered throughout the park, as well as 410 cannons.

On Sunday, I visited the park and took a ton of photos on the auto tour of the park. Due to the number of monuments and the historic points on the drive, it takes about five hours to complete. The auto tour takes you into the town of Gettysburg and to each of the landmarks of the battle - Little Round Top, the Peach Orchard, the Wheat Field, Culp's Hill, Cemetery Ridge, the Seminary. There are also observation towers scattered throughout that allow for excellent views of the entire battlefield, which consists of several hundred acres.

A lot of the photos of the battlefield itself are fairly boring. Battlefields are not glamorous, they don't make for extremely scenic vistas. Armies fought in clearings and in farmers' fields. They don't look like much. The power of the sight is in the history, of which Gettysburg has plenty.
The view from atop Little Round Top looking down at Cemetery Ridge. The area is relatively rugged with a lot of hills and boulders scattered throughout the fields. Imagine trying to cross the low ground while being bombarded by cannon fire from where I'm standing.
This small farmhouse was both a Union field hospital and General George Meade's headquarters. Meade was in overall command of the Union forces and operated from this house, which for a time was in the center of the battle.
General Robert E. Lee occupied this larger farmhouse in the northern part of the battlefield. The house is across the road from the Lutheran Seminary that gave name to Seminary Ridge.
This castle structure, which has an observation deck atop accessible via a spiral staircase within, is a monument erected by the State of New York to commemorate the New Yorkers who fought in the battle from atop Little Round Top, which is where the monument is located.
The Pennsylvania State Memorial is the largest of the monuments at Gettysburg. Erected in 1910, it commemorates the nearly 35,000 Pennsylvania soldiers that fought in the battle and has an observation deck around the dome. The photo of me waving from the deck didn't turn out unfortunately.
No battle would be complete without its cannons. This one was placed McPherson Ridge by Confederate forces, overlooking the town of Gettysburg. On the first day of the battle in 1863, it was 80 degrees. On Sunday it was hovering around freezing with 20 mile per hour winds.
Abraham Lincoln looked a little lonely sitting by himself outside the museum, so I decided to keep him company for a little while. I believe that the statue was of his actual height, which just goes to show how short I am comparatively.
I could post dozens of photos of museum exhibits, but they are not nearly as interesting as the battlefield and monuments, so I'll just show you this one. There were display case after display case of period arms - both rifles and revolvers. The museum was interesting, especially the cyclorama, a 42 foot by 365 foot oil painting depicting Pickett's Charge.
The Gettysburg Address Memorial commemorates Lincoln's speech dedicating part of the battlefield as a burial ground for fallen soldiers from both sides.
I was expecting the type of headstones normally found at military cemeteries, but instead found these - small square stones with numbers instead of names. Many soldiers were never identified and are identified only with a number. The last remains were discovered on Seminary Ridge in 1997 and interred in the cemetery.

The visit to Gettysburg was very moving and one that I would like to make again when the weather is warmer, for there are many miles of walking paths throughout the entire site to explore each and every location in which fighting occurred.

The Bridges of Sullivan County

Okay, really just one bridge, but it is very neat. Sullivan County, Pennsylvania is home to three historic covered bridges. Two of the three were heavily damaged last year during a flood. This is the Sonestown Bridge, which I pass by everyday on my way to the Sullivan County Courthouse in Laporte, Pennsylvania, one of the smallest county seats in the entire country with about 300 people.

A few miles from Laporte, there is also a scenic overlook. The photos I took don't do the view justice, but I did the best I could.

I plan a trip to Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania sometime this week to take some photos of the beautiful old lumber baron mansions and the lake. Eagles Mere was founded as a luxury resort for the crème de la crème back in the mid-19th century and has basically remained such to this day.

Skipped Projects: Woodpile Shelter

Continuing to take a look at old projects that were skipped for one reason or another, today we focus on the woodpile shelter that dad and I built near the three-sided shed featured in 2011. On what felt like the hottest day of the year in 2010, dad and I travelled to rural Belleville to disassemble a carport that was being used to shelter several horses in the middle of a small paddock. It took a few hours to take it down, although in the sweltering heat it seemed much longer.

Several months later, we reassembled it behind the potting shed as a shelter for the woodpile. This winter was the first time we actually filled it, although it has been used over the last year to store building supplies, straw bales, and the horse trailer.

Having used the neighbor's tractor to dig the post holes, we used seven foot two-by-fours and stakes to stabilize the four posts. If I remember correctly, the dimensions are about fifteen feet by twelve feet. We then filled the holes with dry concrete and followed with water.
Next, we bolted the cross beams into place, ensuring that they would support the weight of the roof, the beams, and would hold the posts steady. It appears that we didn't take many photos of the progress, because the next photo I found was of the finished product...
After bolting in the four exterior beams, we attached the roof beams to the exterior beams using brackets for additional support, seeing as they are rather heavy. Once done, I climbed up onto the beams and, balancing precariously, nailed the roofing panels down to the roof beams. So far it has upheld some fairly strong winds, so I guess I did a fairly good job.
Once finished, we laid a few pallets underneath and began stacking wood for winter. They burn a lot of wood over the winter - several cords worth - so every fall, the shelter has to be completely filled with wood to last long enough. Believe me, chopping and splitting wood in the middle of the winter is not fun, as evidenced by the photo below...
It's much more fun to push the old man down a hill...
It's winter again, and there will be more opportunities like this ahead. Before I left for West Virginia, I helped dad split enough wood to last through most of the winter, so he and Shawn should have plenty of time to go sledding. Despite the snow on the ground, stay green!

Skipped Projects: Rabbit House

There have been a few projects over the last two years that I have missed including in the blog for one reason or another. I'll admit, I haven't been all that good at regularly maintaining it, especially recently now that I am in West Virginia living in a hotel. One nice thing about living in a hotel, though, is that you are forced to significantly downsize. All of my belongings can fit in the trunk of my car and if need be, I can be completely packed and moved in about a half hour. And you know what? I don't even miss all of my stuff. Sure there are a few books and clothing items it would be nice to have, but aside from that, I really couldn't care if I never see it all again.

Accumulating stuff overcomplicates our lives in an unhealthy way. We get tied to the stuff and even if we don't ever use it, we also can't bring ourselves to dispose of it. I had fallen into that habit. There were a lot of things I kept simply because I could think of something "I might be able to use it for someday." It is much easier not to have it all laying about to have to worry about.

However, I digress. This post is supposed to be about project oversight.

As winter 2010 approached, we knew we would need shelter for the rabbits. Their hutches simply were not well enough protected from the weather to enable them to survive through the worst of winter. Ultimately, we made three attempts at a solution before finding one that worked well.

The first attempt utilized some of the metal fence posts we had accumulated via craigslist and a tarp. The problem was that the tarp simply would not stay in place. It gets extremely windy at Blue Spruce Farm and the tarp simply ripped where it was connected to the poles. Plus, as you can see from first glance, it doesn't really protect the rabbits from anything except direct wind. Not a workable solution.

Solution two really wasn't any better. It involved a wood frame on the west side to better withstand the wind, but we still didn't have a solution to protect the rabbits from ice and snow. Time to return to the old drawing board...

We began to construct a post and beam shelter. Using the manual post hole diggers, we dug out holes to sink the posts into. The tree roots, compliments of the tree in the background, made this a difficult task.

Construction more or less followed that of our previous projects - rushed and lacking a specific plan. Despite that, though, the shelter shaped up rather well.

Roof supports weren't all that strong, but they did the trick.
Dad doesn't particularly care for heights, so it was my job to climb up and secure the roofing panels, which were just leftover scraps of tin from other projects. We ended up having just enough to finish the whole roof.
Now that the rabbits were protected from above, we had to decide what to do about walls to protect them from wind and sideways snow/rain.
Attempt one wasn't all that successful, but it did give us the basis for our final solution.
Straw bale wall construction! Using the extra length of the tarps, we basically folded the first two rows of bales into the tarp to protect them from moisture from the ground. To do this, we did have to attach tarps around the entire structure, but it ensure that the walls stayed strong and dry all winter. The following spring when we took the bales down, the expose bales were riddled with worms, mushrooms, and rot, but the ones that had been wrapped in the tarps were almost all dry.
The rabbits much appreciated the bale walls because it made the temperature in the rabbit shed comfortably warm all winter. After the walls were up, we didn;t even have to worry about frozen water dishes any more. It was a good thing that we finished when we did too, because the very next weekend, it looked like this...
Brrr! The rabbits stayed warm and dry all winter, though, which is more than I can say for dad and I when we went out every morning to feed and water them. Well, that's one project caught up, more will follow in the next few days since I'll be trapped at the hotel while my car is in the shop. Stay green, folks!