Pennsylvania – Page 7 – The Parnassus Pen

5 Tips to “Weather” the Longwood Gardens Rain

In June 2015, I made my pregnant sister K. take me (and our sister E.R.) to visit Longwood Gardens during a torrential rainstorm.

Longwood Gardens is a botanical garden and conservatory in suburban Philadelphia. (It’s in Chester County, PA.) It originated from Pierre S. DuPont’s estate.

That day’s weather reports for that part of PA – the eastern part – called for several inches of rain. The National Weather Service nailed that forecast! It rained so much that on our trip back from Longwood to my sister’s house, we avoided the PA Turnpike. In fact, we stopped at a Wawa on our trip back. We were the only customers in that Wawa. The Wawa clerk asked us why we were out traveling.

In my prior blog post, I mentioned that on my one visit to Longwood, I liked Longwood’s parking options much better than the parking options at Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh.

Longwood Gardens provides free on-site parking. On peak days, they also offer free off-site parking and provide transportation to their Visitors Center. My one visit to Longwood took place on a rainy day without many other visitors. So, we didn’t have to share the parking lot with many other cars.

So, here are my tips for visiting Longwood Gardens on a rainy summer day:

1.) You might see cats, and you might not see cats.

Multiple cats live at Longwood Gardens. During our visit, we read signs alerting us to the existence of the cats. The signs asked us to contact a staff member if we saw any of the cats hanging out in the parking lot. Here’s a link to the website information about Longwood’s Cats. Unfortunately, we did not see any cats during our visit.

2.) Wear a long, light raincoat and bring a golf umbrella. Resign yourself to getting wet.

Longwood Gardens includes over 1,077 acres of space to visit. We walked in the rain a lot that day, and we didn’t even see all of the outdoor gardens.

I stood in the rain and photographed the outside water lilies and water platters.

3.) Spend time indoors in the Conservatory.

The Conservatory is the name of the building that includes four acres of indoor gardens in multiple wings.

We still needed to have the umbrellas for our walk from the Visitors Center to the Conservatory.

4.) Explore your meal options ahead of time.

Longwood offers a full-service restaurant and a cafe. You can check its website for details about restaurant reservations.

However, we ate at a favorite fast-food restaurant in a local shopping center before we arrived at Longwood.

5.) Be prepared to walk a lot.

Longwood does NOT offer any shuttles around the gardens.

I need to mention that in addition to working cats, Longwood Gardens also has award-winning restrooms.

My sister K. sometimes blogs about restrooms at tourist attractions.

Check out my sister’s blog shout-out to Longwood’s restrooms.

What places do you like to visit in inclement weather? Can you name any tourist attractions that have working cats?

Is “30,000 Pounds of Bananas” the Most Pennsylvanian Song Ever?

If you’re not familiar with the the folk song 30,000 Pounds of Bananas by Harry Chapin, then go listen to it before you read the rest of this post. Be sure to listen to Chapin’s live recording on his 1976 album, Greatest Stories Live.

Chapin based 30,000 Pounds on a real tractor-trailer accident in 1965 outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Just as the song claims, the tractor-trailer actually did carry a load of bananas when it wrecked. The wreck actually did kill the truck driver, a real person, Eugene Sesky. Even worse, Chapin himself died in 1981 on the Long Island Expressway. A (supermarket-owned) tractor-trailer collided with the car that he drove. So there you have it: Harry Chapin wrote a song about a fatal truck accident in Pennsylvania, and then he died in a truck accident in New York. (Chapin died on his way to a concert. Did he plan to sing 30,000 Pounds of Bananas that night?)

So now that we are clear about all of that:

The live version of 30,000 Pounds helped me through this week. I listened to it – well, more than once. You see, my Aunt Sue is a Harry Chapin fan. She drove us nieces on road trips through various parts of Pennsylvania. She played her well-loved Harry Chapin cassette when she drove. So when I hear 30,000 Pounds, I think about traveling down the snow-covered Pennsylvania Turnpike in my aunt’s car.

In honor of my aunt’s road trips, here are 7 reasons why I argue that 30,000 Pounds of Bananas is the most Pennsylvanian song ever:

1.) mention of Scranton, Pennsylvania (the future home of Dunder Mifflin, the fictional company in the television show The Office)

2.) reference to a “coal-scarred city”

3.) reference to children playing in slag piles

4.) reference to a curving road on a hill that leads into town

4.) reference to a road sign at the top of a hill that says “shift to low gear”

5.) reference to a “two mile drop”

7.) reference to an old man on a bus who likes to talk

Which song do you consider the “most Pennsylvanian song ever?”

Thankfulness at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh

My last “play date” with my mom happened at one of the “haunted” places in Pittsburgh – The National Aviary.

First, here’s the elephant in the blog post: Why is the “National Aviary” located in Pittsburgh?

Well, this aviary started its existence as “just” the city aviary. However, in the 70’s / 80’s, the steel industry collapsed in Pennsylvania. I watched this happen because Mom grew up in Pittsburgh and we visited family in the city during my early childhood. My own relatives left the city for job opportunities outside of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania. During this time, Pittsburgh’s tax base suffered. Pittsburgh cut its funding to its aviary.

Local citizens raised funds and campaigned to save the Pittsburgh Aviary. The United States Congress designed this as the honorary national aviary in 1993. (You can read more about this on Wikipedia.)

That Thing about the Ghosts

Per the National Aviary’s own website, the aviary sits on the site where the Western Penitentiary sat from 1826 to 1880. Did you ever hear of the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia? Well, this Western Penitentiary housed inmates in the western part of our state. (Western Penitentiary later moved a short distance downriver.)

Per Wikipedia, this original prison location at the site of the current aviary housed over 100 Confederate soldiers who were captured in 1863 during the Civil War. Several of these soldiers passed away at the prison.

Local folklore says that these soldiers still haunt the aviary.

Our Aviary Visit

I visited the National Aviary for the first time in August 2018.

See, in the past when I wanted to see animals, I visited the Pittsburgh Zoo. I live closer to the zoo. The zoo has more available free parking. The adult ticket price for the zoo matches the adult “base” ticket price for the aviary. (I will elaborate more on this shortly.)

In August, my sister, E.R., reached out to me about Mom. We knew then that Mom had cancer. We didn’t know that she would get significantly sicker in just a few weeks. E.R. drove up from Virginia that week in August to visit Mom and to take her on a “play date” in Pittsburgh.

Mom chose the aviary.

You see, Mom used to baby-sit the son and daughter of a woman who grew up with my sister K. The little girl for which my mom baby-sat talked about her family’s trips from Somerset County to Pittsburgh to visit the aviary. The little girl spoke often about a particular aviary penguin, Tribby. She drew my mom a picture of Tribby the Penguin.

E.R. offered to drive Mom to the aviary and also to pick me up along the way. So, the three of us visited the aviary in early August.

I shall mention here the things that irritated me about my only trip to the aviary:

The Parking

As I mentioned above, I like the parking options at the Pittsburgh Zoo much better than I like the parking options at the National Aviary. We had trouble finding the aviary’s designated parking lot. We got confused by a road closure caused by a bridge replacement. E.R. had to drive around the aviary several times in order to find a parking spot on the street, and then she had to pay for the spot.

The Aviary’s Not-Subtle Efforts to Raise Funds by Looking under the Couch Cushions for Loose Change

The “base” price for admission does NOT include a laundry list of special shows and feedings that occur during the day. These each require individual special tickets that must be purchased at the front admission desk.

For instance, after we bought our regular admission tickets, we walked almost to the other end of the facility. Mom then mentioned that she really wanted to see that day’s free-flight raptor show. I looked at the aviary schedule of events and realized:

1.) The free-flight raptor show started in five minutes, and;

2.) The free-flight raptor show required an additional ticket that cost $5 per person.

So, the three of us hoofed it across the aviary back to the admission desk. The attendant at the admission desk radioed the staff that ran the raptor show. They agreed to delay the start of the raptor show until we three showed up for it. We purchased our additional tickets, and a staff member escorted us to the raptor show to ensure that we would find it before it started.

I really appreciate the staff’s extra effort so that we were able to watch the raptor show. At that moment, I didn’t fully realize that our day out at the aviary would be my very last “field trip” with Mom before she passed away. Mom enjoyed the raptor show. This is the most important thing. And honestly, I am privileged enough that an extra $5 per person on top of the regular ticket price won’t kill my finances.

The key word being: privileged.

But I am the oldest of my parents’ five kids. I remember when my parents had to carefully budget for every family outing. Even a trip to the county fair was a notable expense for my parents when they had to purchase tickets and food for multiple kids.

I got a little bit irritated that the aviary staff constantly advertised the “extras” that all required extra tickets as part of their speeches during the free events. I imagine that parents with multiple children and limited funds might get frustrated explaining to their kids why they can’t purchase tickets for the multiple “extra events” that the staff peddle.

I understand that the aviary most likely has limited funding sources and significant expenses. It can’t be cheap to provide food and medical care for all of those birds! However, when I visit Phipps Conservatory or the zoo, I don’t receive constant sales pitches. For instance, I have an annual membership to Phipps and I KNOW that Phipps rents out many of its rooms for special events. However, the staff at Phipps don’t tell me about this every time that I visit Phipps. I heard all about the aviary’s availability for event rental as I watched free events.

(My husband used to work for a Catholic school where we heard parents and alumni complain that they felt nickel-and-dimed for every school event. During this very first trip to the aviary, it seemed to me as if the aviary has the same business model.)

This rant makes me sound cranky. However, some of my siblings and siblings-in-law have multiple kids each. Some of these siblings read my blog. So, you just read my thoughts on how the aviary’s pricing model could affect families.

(LOL: Tribby the Penguin is named after a corporate sponsor!)

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day.

I am thankful that E.R., Mom, and I had such a good trip to the aviary back in August, before Mom ended up in the hospital for pneumonia.

I am thankful that the aviary staff slightly delayed the start of the raptor show so that we could take Mom to it.

I am thankful for the aviary’s free penguin feeding. Mom got to see Tribby the Penguin eat. On the way home, Mom talked about Tribby as if Tribby were a celebrity.

I am thankful to E.R. for driving Mom to Pittsburgh that day.

Here’s Part 2 of my trip to the aviary.

Quakertown Train Station and the Month of Turnpike Baptisms. Mural by Jared Badder.

Mural by Jared Badder. Quakertown, Pennsylvania. Eastern Pennsylvania, across from the Train Station. September 2018. (Photo: Jenny Gaffron Woytek)

Jonathan and I returned to Pennsylvania at the end of July. Then, in a three-week span, we witnessed the baptism of two brand-new nephews, on opposite sides of this state. (One baby belongs to Jonathan’s sister, and the other baby belongs to my sister.)

I joked to Jonathan that August was the month of turnpike baptisms.

(FYI if you’re not familiar with our family or with Pennsylvania: Jonathan and I live in a suburb of Pittsburgh, in Western PA. The first baptism that we attended was also in Western PA, and thus on the western end of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The second baptism that we attended was in Eastern PA, and thus on the eastern end of the turnpike.)

For this second baptism, we stayed in Quakertown.

The temperatures during each day of our trip hit the 90’s. We spent our “free” time before and after the baptism enjoying the hotel pool and air conditioning.

Thus, we only explored and photographed one thing: The Quakertown Train Station.

I linked the train station’s official website above so that you don’t have to witness me poorly regurgitate the website. To paraphrase the website, the station was built in 1902. At some point before 1989, the building stopped being used to service rail passengers. In 1989, a fire significantly damaged the building. Non-profit restoration efforts saved and repaired the building. The public can now rent the train station for private events.

The train station sits at an intersection. When we pulled into the train station parking lot, the first thing that I noticed was a classic car with a “for sale” sign at the edge of this parking lot. A mural promoting Quakertown landmarks covered the building on the other side of the intersection. The photo that I took of this car is the first photo in this blog post.

Then, I took the second photo of this blog post. Now, these are the only two photos of this blog post that I took.

Jonathan took this photo of the restored train station:

Now, Jonathan also took these photos of the non-restored freight house next door, as well as the surrounding tracks:

The freight station brought to my mind the Stephen King short story “Willa.”

The Relict

This grave marker at Trinity Cathedral in downtown Pittsburgh reads:

In Memory of

ANN

Relict of

Maj. Geroge McCully

of the Revolutionary Army

who departed this life

Oct. 7, 1836

in the 78th year

of her age

Corpus Christi Sawdust Carpets

Holy Martyrs Parish in Tarentum marks the Feast of Corpus Christi by creating sawdust carpets in their parking lot each year.

It would not be fair of me to regurgitate the information that I just took off of another website about these sawdust carpets. So, if you want to know why and how the parish does this, you should Google it. I just did.

I live across the Allegheny River from Tarentum. However, I found out about these sawdust carpets less than a week ago, when my sister-in-law shared a Facebook post about this.

Here is what I personally noted about the tradition:

This past Thursday (May 31) was the Feast of Corus Christi. So, on today – Sunday – the parishoners of Holy Martyrs labored over their sawdust carpets. They worked all morning and afternoon on these in order to hold their vesper service in late afternoon.

I took my sister-in-law and her two small boys to Holy Martyrs at around 2 this afternoon. We chose this time because this was after the last Sunday mass.

We parked on the hill above the church since the parish makes its carpets IN their parking lot.

Then, we walked around the parking lot and looked at all of the finished and work-in-progress beauties.

From what I understand about the tradition, the church held its vesper service in late afternoon. Then, they brushed over all of their sawdust masterpieces!

What traditions does your church celebrate?

Aaron Burr and the Two Logan Inns

Vice President Aaron Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton.

Did he then hide out at the Logan Inn, mere blocks from present-day downtown New Kensington? Here in the land of Sheetz and the Black & Gold?

Or, did he flee to a different Logan Inn, in present day Flyers & Eagles Country?

Here is the link to Mrs. Luella Rodgers Frazier’s “The Early Years of New Kensington, Pennsylvania.” Halfway through this history, Frazier wrote that Alexander Logan owned the land that became Parnassus.

Frazier wrote that Aaron Burr stopped at Logan’s property “for a few days” after he dueled Alexander Hamilton. Per Frazier, “the Logans did not know about the duel and did not recognize Mr. Burr.”

As Frazier noted, Burr proceeded (by way of Pittsburgh) to Blennerhasset Island in the Ohio River.

Harman Blennerhasset owned the island and he allowed Burr, General James Wilkinson, and others to store men and supplies on the island in their bid to create a new nation in the southwest.

Burr’s accusers arrested Burr in Alabama. They chained him. (This, during a time when men chained their slaves. During a time when Burr’s own son-in-law owned a plantation.) The accusers brought Burr to Virginia in these chains. They tried him for treason.

Burr won his freedom by acquittal.

This follows the history and lore of Aaron Burr.

History buffs know about the Logan family’s prominence here. I even added to this blog post the photo that Jonathan took of the former Logan Trust Company in downtown New Kensington.

However, ANOTHER Logan Inn on the opposite side of PA – along Ferry Street in New Hope – also claims that THEY hosted Burr after the duel. The OTHER Logan Inn markets itself with Aaron Burr lore.

Perhaps Aaron Burr did in fact shelter at two Logan Inns, on opposite sides of the state. Perhaps both ends of the Pennsylvania Turnpike own this story.

What do you think?

Here’s my post from my other blog about the novel My Theodosia by Anya Seton.

The First “Roller Coaster” of Mauch Chunk

Have you ever heard of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania?

Well, then. Have you ever heard of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania?

In the 1950’s, the officials of Mauch Chunk renamed their borough “Jim Thorpe” after Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe. That whole story deserves its own blog post. (Or its own blog.)

The humans cognizant in the 1820’s still spoke of this Lehigh Valley town as “Mauch Chunk.” Many earned their livings from the coal mined above this town. In the 1820’s, they built the Switchback Gravity Railroad from these coal mines.

The railroad used gravity to transport the coal down the mountain, past Mauch Chunk. This “railroad” used mules to haul the empty coal cars back up the mountain.

Eventually the railroad offered rides to tourists on this gravity railroad. This inspired the first roller coaster at Coney Island.

If you want to read about Mauch Chunk ghosts, check out this post that I wrote on my other blog:

They Saw the Bloody Handprint – and Orbs

Here is a blog post that my sister wrote:

5 Reasons To Visit The Jim Thorpe This Halloween Season (or anytime)

Pittsburgh Sunrise

Good morning! Here’s the sunrise view from the window closest to my desk at my job in downtown Pittsburgh.

So, many years ago, a woman from my employer’s Manhattan office came to visit my co-workers here in our Pittsburgh office.

(I shall henceforth call her “the Manhattanite” even though she may live in Jersey, for all that I know.)

The Manhattanite looked out of our office’s windows onto downtown Pittsburgh.

( Maybe the Manhattanite looked out of this very window.)

The Manhattanite said, “My, my, my. That’s a regular little city out there!”

Why, yes, it is.

Do outsiders ever damn a place that you love with faint praise?

The Day The Johnstown Flood Came To The Allegheny

After the Johnstown Flood of May 31, 1889 killed at least 2,209 people, tourists took picnic lunches to Johnstown so that they could sight-see the damage.

People who lived along the Allegheny River (including the people of Parnassus) didn’t have to make this trip, though. The Johnstown Flood came to them.

You see, the South Fork dam upstream from Johnstown failed. The deluge wiped out several communities including downtown Johnstown and its surrounding neighborhoods. The debris washed downstream on the Conemaugh River.

Now, if you look at a map, you will see that we residents of Parnassus actually live downstream from Johnstown. Here’s why:

1.) The Little Conemaugh and Stoneycreek Rivers merge in downtown Johnstown (at Johnstown’s own “Point”) to form the Conemaugh River.

2.) The Conemaugh flows into the Kiski at Saltsburg.

3.) The Kiski flows into the Allegheny.

4.)About ten miles later the Allegheny flows past Parnassus (the city of New Kensington wasn’t founded until 1891), then past numerous other river towns such as Verona.

5.) Eventually the Allegheny meets the Monongahela at Pittsburgh to form the Ohio.

Here’s a passage from Chapter IX of Pulitzer Prize-winning (and Pittsburgh native) David McCullough’s “The Johnstown Flood,” about the aftermath of the flood:

The Allegheny River, with its endless freight of wreckage, also continued to be an immense fascination. Children were brought from miles away to watch the tawny water slip past the shores, so that one day they might be able to say they had seen something of the Johnstown Flood. The most disreputable-looking souvenirs, an old shoe, the side of a packing box with the lettering on it still visible, were fished out, dripping and slimy, to be carried proudly home.

There were accounts of the most unexpected finds, including live animals. But the best of them was the story of a blonde baby found at Verona, a tiny river town about ten miles up the Allegheny from Pittsburgh. According to the Pittsburgh Press, the baby was found floating along in its cradle, having traveled almost eighty miles from Johnstown without suffering even a bruise. Also, oddly enough, the baby was found by a John Fletcher who happened to own and operate a combination wax museum, candy stand, and gift shop at Verona.

Fletcher announced his amazing discovery and the fact that the baby had a small birthmark near its neck. Then he hired a pretty nineteen-year-old, dressed her in a gleaming white nurse’s uniform, and put her and the baby in the front window of his establishment. Within a few days several thousand people had trooped by to look at the Johnstown baby and, it is to be assumed, to make a few small purchases from the smiling Mr. Fletcher. Then, apparently, quite unexpectedly, the baby was no longer available for viewing. The mother, according to Fletcher, had lived through the flood and, having heard the story back in Johnstown, rushed to Verona, identified the birthmark, and went home with her baby.

So if this story is true, in the aftermath of the Johnstown Flood somebody fished a live baby out of the Allegheny River at Verona. (Verona is downstream from Parnassus and upstream from Pittsburgh.)

So, voyeurs may have stood on the ruins of Fort Crawford in Parnassus or on the adjoining grounds of the Presbyterian Church as the debris of demolished towns and demolished lives discharged past them. Perhaps a looky-loo climbed down the river bank here to fish a souvenir out of the Allegheny. Perhaps bodies washed ashore here.

I worked in downtown Johnstown for several years. Buildings there include plaques showing 1889’s high water mark and the downtown park features makers honoring the victims from Johnstown’s three deadliest floods (in 1889, 1936, and 1977). I often drove under the stone bridge that trapped many of the 1889 flood’s victims.

How sobering that the ruins of Johnstown coursed down the Allegheny, past all of these river towns on the way to Pittsburgh, in 1889.