Pennsylvania - part 2

July 12, 2019 - July 15, 2019

Confluence, PA to Beaver Falls, PA

It's never easy finding a campground near most big cities but we managed to position ourselves in Beaver Falls which is relatively near Pittsburgh.  It was also near the town of Ambridge which now encompasses Old Economy Village, the former home of the Harmony Society and originally a town in and of itself.  

The Harmony Society was a group of Lutheran separatists who followed the teachings of George Rapp.  They established Economy in 1824 building a substantial town while they waited for the Second Coming of the Messiah.  Economy village was their third home in the US, following after Harmony, Pennsylvania (1804) and New Harmony, Indiana (1814).  Their experience building the first two towns gave them a clear understanding of what the group needed and what they built here is really quite impressive.  80 of the original member homes still exist in the town today along with the homes of their leaders and many of the business buildings they created.  They were extremely successful, managing to accumulate several million dollars in assets by investing in coal, oil, railroads, etc.!  They were also very involved in philanthropic efforts in the area.  Their businesses provided jobs for many outside their community.  Their self sufficiency and financial success attracted the attention of economists and social reformers in both the U.S. and Europe and many came to observe for themselves how their community operated. 

  

Some of the buildings in Old Economy Village.

The Society's church with a typical home at the left of the picture.

The back side of the homes of their two leaders - George Rapp and his adopted (as an adult) son Frederick Rapp.
Frederick was the driving force behind the society's business ventures.

Part of their extensive vegetable and flower gardens.

The feast hall (capable of holding over 800 people) which is on the second floor of a huge building holding
a 3 room museum, a school room, a music room, a Dr's office, and a room where paintings were exhibited.

The Granary which housed a year's supply of grain plus a storage cellar for cider,

Above and Below: The Economy Store which served members as well as others living in the area.

The wine cellar

Other buildings included a community kitchen and bake oven, a cabinet shop, a blacksmith shop, a warehouse, a shoemakers shop, etc.  Really a very impressive place.

We visited Pittsburgh to see the Cathedral of Learning (seen below), part of the University of Pittsburgh. 

Entrance into the center of the ground floor - aka the Common Room.

The ground floor consists of the "Common Room," a place to study, eat lunch, chat with friends, etc.
Surrounding the common room on the first and second floors are "nationality rooms" which were gifts to the
University from the various ethnic communities around the Pittsburgh area. The rooms are authentically created of stone, iron, brick, stained glass, wood and period furnishings in order to recreate cultural periods prior to 1787
when the University was founded. These rooms serve as actual classrooms from Fall - Spring.

Here's a look at 12 of the 30 Nationality Rooms.

The Russian Room

The Syria-Lebanon Room

The Norwegian Room

The French Room

The English Room (laid out like Parliament)

The Yugoslav Room

The Scottish Room

The Greek Room

The Chinese Room

The Irish Room

The German Room

The Italian Room
The date associated with each city on the back of a chair represents the year a University was formed in that city.
They are in order beginning with Bologna - 1088!

Pittsburgh from the Monongahela River

The Monongahela Incline - built in 1870 it's the oldest continuously operating incline in the U.S.
There are two inclines operating up the side of Mt. Washington - the Monongahela and the Duquesne.

Downtown Pittsburgh from Point State Park.
This is the spot where the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers meet to form the Ohio River.
Through the years many forts were built by the French and British on this strategic location. 

A couple of Pittsburgh's many bridges.