History and Herstory

Lower Humbolt covered bridge (1865)

We had a fantastic final day in Connellsville, PA, while waiting for our train.  When we woke up it was pouring with rain, and the thought of waiting around till 9:45pm for the train, half of which time we'd have no car, wasn't good. So while we still had our rental car, we set off into the wilds of Fayette county to find some covered bridges.  We were prepared to get HORRIBLY lost, after the experiences yesterday with the lack of road signs, but nope - got to find 3 bridges with not a hiccup, apart from the horrendous driving conditions - driving rain, mountain mists and road surface flooding.  The bridges we found are really lovely, and date from 1806 or so.  There they sit as solitary sentinels from the past, and I'm sure you could hear the echoes of horses' hooves and wagon wheels in the rafters if you listened hard enough.  Then it was time to drive to Uniontown, hand the rental car back, and get driving back to Connellsville by the congenial driver (who chatted to us about mountain lions and bears in them thar hills).

This part of Pennsylvania used to be rich, full of coal and steel barons, dozens of banks, department stores and all the service industries there to cater to the thousands of workers who manned the hundreds of coke ovens and coal mines.  Now, however, the counties in this area are extremely poor and depressed; brought to their knees by the gradual closure of all the big industries and now just shadows of their former selves.  Our wonderful B&B hostess, Lucille, was a child in this area, and in the afternoon she took us on a wonderful historical tour of the place, full of reminiscences about the end of that fabulous era. First off were the remains of the once-proud town of Connellsville, where we stayed.  Dozens of houses that used to be great, now either boarded up or let run to seed, taken over as 'Hud' houses (government housing for the poor).  She took us through the good neighbourhoods and the not so good, and on occasion you could see some houses where people have taken pride to restore them.  Churches by the dozen used to serve the large community. I wonder now about the size of their congregations.

Leisenring patch town company store

Lucille used to live in the 'patch' town of Monarch, near Connellsville; these were the small satellite communities that were built to house the coal mine and coke oven workers and their families. These 'patches' were remarkably spacious, with 2-bedroom duplex houses for the workers each given half an acre of land to grow plants or raise animals.  Each patch had a grander foreman's house, and also a company store, primary school and community centre, which housed a library, dance hall and other free time activities. Workers and their families lived, shopped, studied and celebrated in their own patches, with only occasional visits to other patches by trolley if there was a fair or other big event.  Lucille told us some great stories of living in a 'patch'; by the time she was a kid there, the end of the coke and coal era had come, but workers' families still lived in the communities. She can remember a few lit coke ovens but the grand era had gone.  We also visited Dunbar town, another place fallen into disrepair, full of boarded up buildings and lost dreams, to see a replica of a honeycomb coke oven.  I wonder if this area can ever climb out of the depressed state it is in now and find some of its former glory. It's such a pity to see it falling into decay.  But with people like Lucille around, the past can come alive for visitors to the area.

By the time we went to the train station, we had learned so much about the history of this area; we had visited a real down-home bar in the middle of nowhere and surprised the hell out of the locals ('dang, we had foreigners in our bar!'); eaten fresh, organic raspberries from a roadside community garden in Connellsville and chatted to the Vietnam vet in charge of it, who now grows organic produce for the local foodbank, and marshalls his gardening volunteers to take pride in their community; and had seen our first lightning bugs (fireflies) - which were very cool indeed!  All-in-all a very special day, mainly thanks to our wonderful hostess, Lucille.  If anyone is wanting to cycle the Great Allegheny Passage, or visit Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob, then please stay at the Connellsville B&B with John and Lucille - wonderful people and a great historical area.
For more photos from the day, click here.

Tony and Lucille, in front of a replica honeycomb coke oven, Dunbar township.