When my daughter Elizabeth and I attended Erntedankfest at Old Economy last year, we vowed to return and check out all the things we missed the first time. Erntedankfest is the Autumn Harvest Festival celebrated each year at Old Economy Village, the impressive historical site in Ambridge that celebrates the heritage of the long defunct Harmony Society, a pietist communal organization that flourished in the nineteenth century. Located in Ambridge, Old Economy Village is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission with massive volunteer support by the “Friends of Old Economy Village”. The village consists of seventeen soon-to-be-two centuries old buildings…

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I was fortunate to receive an invitation to the Reception for the Second Annual Sculpture Exhibition at the Bridgeville Public Library. The exhibition is a cultural project of Bridgeville Public Art, with the Library serving as location sponsor for an impressive collection of works by members of the Pittsburgh Society of Sculptors. My daughter Elizabeth was planning to take me to a Pittsburgh Symphony concert that evening; it was convenient for us to revise our schedule to include a stop at the Library to gorge on hors d’oeuvres and wine and rub elbows with Bridgeville’s Cultural Elite, while inspecting some…

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The Bridgeville Area Historical Society kicked off its 2023/2024 program season with an interesting presentation by Bitsy and Guy Bellaver on sculpture and particularly this year’s Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition. Despite some technical problems with the projection system, the Bellavers were able to improvise and present their information without a hitch. They began by reviewing Guy’s impressive career as a professional sculptor. It began by producing works of art and then selling them, then progressed into producing sculptures on commission. His most prominent public work is “Ēkwabet”, a massive sculpture of a Potawatomi Native American chief, in St. Charles, Illinois. Researching…

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Last week we reported on an enjoyable Saturday spent in Beaver County at Fort McIntosh. The next day we stayed closer to home and had an equally enjoyable experience with visits to two local historical sites – Old St. Luke’s Church and Woodville. Located less than half a mile apart on opposite sides of Chartiers Creek, they are closely linked in the monumental historical events that occurred in Western Pennsylvania in the late eighteenth century. In 1765 Captain David Steel was dispatched from Fort Pitt to establish an outpost in the Chartiers Valley to provide an early warning against attack…

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The third weekend in September presented a challenge to local festival-goers. Close to home was the Bridgeville/South Fayette Rotary Chili Cook-off at Fairview Park. Traditionally this weekend is reserved for the Washington-Greene Counties Covered Bridge Festival; this year they had events scheduled for nine different sites. It also is the weekend for Canonsburg’s very popular Pennsylvanian Bavarian Oktoberfest and Stahlstown’s Flax Scutching Festival. Overwhelmed with difficult decisions, I chose to go instead to Beaver for Fort McIntosh Days, and was rewarded with a delightful experience. The Festival was located on a long, linear park between River Road in Beaver and…

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I have been aware of the Deprecation Lands Museum for a number of years, but never was able to visit it until this summer. Located in Hampton Township on South Pioneer Road, it is an impressive collection of historic buildings staffed by enthusiastic, knowledgeable docents. The complex is owned by the Township and maintained and operated by a volunteer organization, the Depreciation Lands Museum Association. It replicates a local settlement in the early 1800s, in a locale that was known as Talley Cavey. Access to the museum is through the original 1837 Pine Creek Covenanter church building. The Covenanters were…

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I had the opportunity to tour the historic Samuel T. Brownlee House late last month when the Washington County Community Foundation sponsored a rare Open House there in honor of the 175th anniversary of its construction. Located in Eighty Four, Pa., on the southwest side of Route 519 just north of the roundabout with the Thomas-84 Road, the mansion is a well-known district landmark. The Brownlee family moved to this area in the period between the French and Indian War and the American Revolution and quickly developed a prosperous farm on this site. Twenty-one year old Samuel T. Brownlee took advantage…

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August 20 was “Native American Day” at Woodville, and visitors were treated to an excellent presentation by authentic re-enactors “Ghost in the Head” and “Otaes”. “Ghost in the Head” is the Huron name for Todd Johnson, a resident of McKeesport who has been educating the public regarding Native Americans of the Late Woodlands period for several decades. I have seen him numerous times previously and am properly impressed with his knowledge and sincerity. “Otaes” is the Cherokee name for Dianne Anestis, a biomedical researcher at Marshall University, and a legitimate expert on the use on native plants for food and…

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Bridgeville is in the process of updating its long range Comprehensive Plan, for the first time since 2005. I have been involved in long term planning in both the commercial and academic worlds, and am a firm believer that it is a constructive concept, assuming it is updated regularly. I have been following Bridgeville’s efforts in this area for several years, dating back to the Covid era when Bridgeville Planning Commission meetings were available via Zoom. The foundation for the  process was laid then, and it is interesting to me to see how it has progressed. The current effort began about…

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Last week while listing the many pleasures of my life, I included “watching the seasons change in our woods”. “Our woods” is a block of land directly across the street from our house. One hundred years ago it was part of a farm; since then it has attempted to follow the laws of natural succession and revert back to the forest it was before the settlers arrived. It runs east and west for about half a mile and averages about one thousand feet wide, north to south, all told, about twenty-five to thirty acres. For the past fifty-five years I…

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