Exploring and photographing southwestern PA's abandoned mines, industry, homes...and whatever else we may find. A little history, a little legend...from the most massive structures to the minute details we walk past every day.
Back in 2009 I posted some shots of the sign and steps of the old Monongahela Hotel that was located in Rices Landing,Pa. I promised 'more on this soon'...but it took awhile longer than I thought. Sorry about that! Evan and I are trying to bring the old blog back to life, so we will be trying to post some more in the near future.
As you will soon see from MANY upcomming posts, I recently recieved a large ammount of 35mm slides of the Rices Landing area and its events throughout the years. The shots range (mostly) from the 70s and 80s, even into the 90s. I discovered that peppered throughout this collection are some very old shots dating back as far as the 50s. Some are original shots and some are pictures of older photos. They are all amazing and a fantastic look into our local history.
I found these photos of the old hotel and figured it would be a good intro into both the revival of this blog and a taste of what is to come. Although Evan and I don't do as much physical exploration these days, a dive into the old photos proves just as interesting. I'll be doing a post on the origin of the treasure trove of photos soon but for now, as promised, more on the Monongahela Hotel.
As the sign says, the Monongahela Hotel was built in 1855 and was a three story structure located near the location of Lock 6 on the Monongahela river at Rices Landing. it was near the railroad underpass which takes the road under the former railway ( now rail trail). The road T's to either Millsboro road or Horseshoe Bend...infamous home of Stovepipe! The Hotel was in close proximity to the river, coal mines and the railroad, so I would imagine it saw its share of visitors. Its hard to imagine a town the size of Rices Landing once needed a hotel! I'd love to see some inside shots. Maybe we will find some one day.
The sign states the Hotel was built from bricks baked right in Rices Landing. Some of which can still be found in the weeds and dirt along the trail. Although the sign states the hotel was razed in 1957, I believe the shot below was dated 1959..I will double check as my vision isnt what it used to be. Either way, it was gone long before I was born.
My sister Debbie told me she remembers walking past the Hotel as a child with my aunt, and remembered it as 'creepy'. That would have been in the days close to its destruction, as in the color photo, so her memory is probably pretty accurate. The Hotel was, in her day, a beatuiful building that I'm sad to not have seen. We are lucky to have these old shots to remind us what was once there, which has always been the spirit of this blog, If I discover any more photos or information I will add it to this post. Stay tuned to the blog for a LOT more Rices Landing content!
If my Dad were still around, he'd have told us not only about the Hotel, but the car in the foreground! Listen to those old stories, gang. The people that tell them wont be around forever!
Looking North. Monongahela house on left
My family and I will be moving back to Rices Lading soon. I can't wait to get back to my home town! A lot has changed in the 24 years I've been gone.
I'm glad some of it is the same! Stay tuned for more!
Sent to us by Facebook follower Shaundra Bissett, these amazing old photos of the Crucible ferry " Nekoda" give a rare glimpse of the ferry in action. Many people have fond memories of the ferry and their family members who relied on it every day! Shaundra writes: "I came across your blog and videos the other day. The crucible ferry was always an interest to me. I am 47 and as a young girl my dad would take my brother and I down to the ferry and we would play. This was around 1982 when it was lateral washed on shore. I can remember it was tethered by huge thick cables. Anyway I can remember my grandmother telling me my grandfather worked on the ferry, I don't know what year but I was able to find the two pictures I have. They both have pictures of them with cars on them. One has a picture of my grandfather standing on the ferry. The young boy sitting on the waters edge is my uncle so I am guessing these pictures are around the 1950's. I was so excited to see your blogs about the ferry. I remember going down to the river after each of the major events to check on it. Until it was gone."
And here is the current location from the above pictures.
Thank you, Shaundra! If anyone else has any more great old photos, please let us know! We'd love to feature them!
Check out THIS LINK for some additional pictures of the ferry in action, and sitting underwater. We have tons of ferry related posts here, so don't forget to use the search box and type in ferry.
Back in May 2010, I ventured into Pumpkin Run Park in my hometown of Rices Landing, Pa to find the remains of some former small scale coal mines I'd been told of. I shot this video that day but promptly lost it in my less than efficient file storage method. But I've rediscovered this short video and decided to post it up. The original post is here.
As always, I must insist that anyone who knows the exact whereabouts of this mine or comes across it, to STAY OUT! These places are very dangerous. If I learn more history on the mine, I will edit the post. Look for more Rices Landing, Pa this week.As always comments are welcome!
What we have here is the demolition of Lock 6 on the Monongahela river at Rices Landing,Pa.I believe these were taken over time rather that in one shooting. Stay tuned...
One of the types of pictures/series of pictures I find really interesting are before and after shots. This first one is of the Rices Landing National Bank Building in Rices Landing, PA, taken around 1915. Note how there were buildings behind the bank, and look at all the people!
And as it looks today from basically the same spot.
Thanx to the good people at the River Walk Cafe (current business in the old bank) for the first image. You guys make a great Filet Mignon!
Today, Chip and I left out early and headed to Fayette County. Our original plan was to take the Fredericktown Ferry,
but that was quickly snuffed as it was closed for some reason, so we headed on down 88 to go the long way over the Mon at Brownsville. Brownsville, a once thriving river community, predicted to be at one time larger then Pittsburgh, has fallen into tough times.
The good old days......
.....and now. Same view, different century.
Two of the now closed banks in Brownsville bookend the middle building, I believe a former hotel.
In the truck on the way to Brownsville, Chip and I talked of how this would just be a day of exploration or scouting future places to visit. Either Chip or I had really spent anytime walking around Brownsville so we decided that theres no better time then a snowy, 12 degree winter day, so we parked and looked.
As it was cold, we stopped in the local landmark Fiddles Confectionery for some coffee and conversation.
The ladies behind the counter talked and talked about the "old" Brownsville and the "new" much less improved Brownsville. They spoke of how they have just finished filming a movie in Brownsville, and used Fiddles for a lot of location work. One of my favorites filmed locally was Maria's Lovers, a small film most are unaware of, staring Natassja Kinski (she is beautiful in this movie), John Savage and Robert Mitchum. Brownsville was dressed up nicey for this film.
"Maria's House"
Another cool place they used for this movies filming was High Point bar, just up the hill overlooking California PA. In the film, the bar had a certain old charm to it, sort of like Fiddles place, but right after they made the movie, they extensively remodeled it....I guess a dump truck load of cash for movie making makes you forget your history. Its still an OK place, made even better by the spectacular view of the Mons horse shoe bend at Newell
But I have digressed.
Back into the truck we went and set off on a mission to take a photograph of Rices Landing PA from the Fayette side for Chips dad. There was a house across the river, and not much else. We would find it. Oh, along the way and during the day we filmed a few videos, now mind you, they are mostly rambling efforts, but there is some good scenery included in them. Pardon the sometimes shaky nature of the camera as it was quite cold and I need to find a rig w/ image stabilization. The video below begins w/ The Fredericktown Ferry, the last operating ferry on the Monongahela river, and quite possibly further. I have recently secured a vast quantity of pictures of the ferries past, and soon as I get more, there will be a entire post devoted to this subject.
.....So, I could just type forever about the long, good day, but I won't seeing as it's Christmas eve day, but to sum it up, we found the house, met the owner Dave Watters who merits a trip back in non 12 degree weather where he stood outside and talked history w/ he and his wife for 40 minutes (he worked w/ Chips grandad, small world) took the picture from Daves gas well..........
(Chip here.I spent my entire life looking across the river at this one house on top of the hill and swore one day I would visit it.We found it! Evan and I discovered its not only the places you visit but the people you meet that make this project fun.The best history lessons are from the folks that live there everyday!)
We got directions to the old Crucible ferry, Fayette side, and after a few wrong turns, landed on its ramp.
A short time later, we were rolling back to Greene, hungry and cold, but chip needed to make a special request stop....
Chipper at one time fancied himself a "skater" and he showed me the "full pipe" he and his "crew" used to skate on in the mid 80's. Its a big concrete tube that just sits (and has sat) behind the Shop-N-Save in Masontown Pa. Graffiti he and his buds did 25 years ago still shows thru. Back into the truck, over to the former Crucible mine site.
Crucible shut down operations in I believe 1961 and there it stood deserted and abandoned up until 2006.
And now.
You can see its current state in the video here.....
Hungry, we decided to wrap it up for the day and get a hoagie, so we headed up the steep hill to Crucible to the former Crucible company store.....Stan-Lee's
For a better look inside Stan-Lee's check out this video....again, we ramble a bit, but its all so clever...
Thats my friend, Holly in the video, the new owner of Stan-Lee's. We rode bus 4 together, Mrs. Kings bus. She makes one heck of an italian hoagie as well. Stop by, grab one.
Even if we really didn't do any heavy duty exploring, we had fun, met some good people and it was a great day altogether, and we found a lot of "return to" spots....
