Noblemen in Scotland employed ghillies as caretakers of the forests and streams on their extensive estates; that seems like an appropriate description of the role I have assumed in my regular visits to the natural park adjacent to my home. Part of my responsibility is to inspect all parts of the park. It is a distorted rectangle, running roughly east and west. The east/west length is about one thousand yards; the north/south width varies from five hundred to one thousand feet. Its area is just over fifty acres. Most of it is a hillside, sloping up several hundred feet in…

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One of the most rewarding things about being an amateur historian is researching an unknown person or event successfully and ending up learning a little bit more about life in an earlier era. I recently had an inquiry from a lady named Nancy Komatz with a question regarding her great-grandfather, Richard Biddle Davis. She knows he had a sawmill and lumber business in Bridgeville in the late 1800s and wondered if I had any information regarding him. My immediate reaction was that I had never heard of any Davis family in Bridgeville, but would be happy to do a little…

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I have just returned from a delightful week’s vacation at Chautauqua with my daughter Elizabeth and her family. We have visited there off and on for many years; last year we decided to rent a house for a week inside the Institution, a pleasant experience although the pandemic had eliminated nearly all of the regularly scheduled activities. This year was a different story. The Institution had decided to present a full slate of lectures, concerts, and other interesting events. Consequently, we found our days filled with things to do. Each week the Institution chooses a theme and presents a morning…

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Representing the University of Pittsburgh, my daughter Elizabeth was the co-sponsor of a short course this month in conjunction with Konan University in Kobe, Japan. Its subject was “Global Cities: Pittsburgh and Kobe – Livability, Resilience, and Sustainability”; its objective was to explore the future potential for the two cities. When she first discussed the project with me, I volunteered to help out and was rewarded by being permitted to provide one lecture, focusing on Pittsburgh’s resilience heritage. After all, how many times have we boasted of our ability to overcome major problems as “the Comeback City”? I gave my…

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It has been thirty years since my last visit to the Arden Trolley Museum. An old friend, Kevin Abt, here for a visit, suggested we remedy that omission. It was particularly appropriate for me; my recent column on trolleys in this area has peaked my interest in them. Kevin was one of my first students when I began teaching at Pitt in the mid-1990s, and has become one of my best friends in the ensuing years. He currently lives in Virginia Beach where he is functioning as Project Manager for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel Commission, managing the construction…

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Twenty-five years ago, when she was in high school, my daughter Sara wrote an eloquent paper on John Steinbeck, terminating with the conclusion that he was America’s greatest writer. Knowing full well that that honor belonged to William Faulkner, I corrected her, initiating a heated disagreement. Since then, every time I read something by Steinbeck, I am tempted to call Sara and acknowledge the logic of her argument. When I learned that we were going to vacation in the Monterrey area, I immediately announced that we had to include a visit to the Steinbeck museum in nearby Salinas. I have…

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One of the highlights of our recent family vacation in California was a trip to Felton and a ride on the Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad (RCBT). This was a nostalgic journey for me; my wife and I had ridden this train twenty years ago, with our daughter Elizabeth. This time our entourage numbered nine, eight of whom were humoring my passion for railroading. The RCBT is unique in that it was constructed in 1963 as an historic replica of a California logging railroad. It is located in the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. In 1867 San…

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I have just returned from a delightful family vacation in California. My ninetieth birthday occurred in the middle of the month; that was sufficient excuse for us to justify an extravagant experience. It was the first time we have all been together in several years, and the opportunity was greatly appreciated by all. The venue was the Seven Coves Resort in Carmel Highlands, right on the ocean about three miles south of Carmel-on-the Sea, at the northern end of Big Sur. The lodge has an interesting history. Thirty years ago many scenes from the movie “Basic Instinct” were filmed with…

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July 4, 2021, turned out to be a red-letter day for me. I had not visited the Oliver Miller Homestead since the pandemic, so I decided to take advantage of one of their special events, the re-enactment of Independence Day. For once the weather cooperated, giving us a bright sunny day with the temperature being just cool enough to be comfortable on a summer afternoon. I was pleased to see the event well attended, particularly with so many families with small children. In addition to the well-preserved stone house built by the Millers early in the 1800s, the Homestead has…

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Every so often the subject of Bridgeville’s absence from the network of streetcars in this area pops up, usually as part of a story of a young man stranded in Carnegie late at night and being required to walk home. Somehow the trolley-building boom at the beginning of the twentieth century got no closer to Bridgeville than Heidelberg. We have discussed this general subject in this column before, but at this point we have enough additional information to develop it further. We know that the Pittsburgh and West End Traction Company ran its first cars into Carnegie on Memorial (Decoration)…

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