Covered Bridges at Mingo Creek Park, Washington County, PA

We went for an autumn drive this weekend down to Mingo Creek Park in Washington County, PA, near Finleyville. This county park has two of the most well maintained and beautiful covered bridges around. For any people who love covered bridges, at 23 total, Washington County is a destination that you should check out. The first bridge from Mingo Creek Park, shown here, is the Ebenezer Bridge. 

Ebenezer Covered Bridge Coordinates: 40.1911° N, 80.0411° W

The date and builder associated with this bridge are lost in time. It was originally built in Charleroi at the Ebenezer Church, an area that was bulldozed during the construction of the interchange between the PA 43 Mon-Fayette Expressway, and I-70. It was rebuilt on the abutments of a previous bridge in this location in Mingo Creek Park. It now serves as a popular destination for picnickers, sightseers, photogs setting scenes for photo shoots, and as an overall beautiful centerpiece for an especially scenic section of the park. 

 It is said that the waters throughout the park are excellent for trout fishing. As a casual trout angler myself, I may have to get back down here at some point.

 The autumn colors though were so stunning in contrast with the barn red color of the bridge. This 32 foot long and 15 foot wide span is pretty cool.

 It is easy to see that this park is a very popular community gathering place. They even had a hayride going.

 Here is the Henry Covered Bridge. This bridge was built in this location in 1841. It is 36 feet long and 12'6 wide. As with the Ebenezer Covered Bridge, this span is also open to vehicular traffic.
Henry Covered Bridge Coordinates: 40.202222, -80.016944

If you want to take a nice autumn drive, be sure to take some time to check out Washington County's Mingo Creek Park. The scenery is gorgeous and their two covered bridges are beautiful. Below you can see the location of Mingo Creek County Park.

 

Chautauqua Lake and Ellicottville, NY

One of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen in the autumn season is the Lake Erie and Chautauqua regions of New York and Pennsylvania. We spent last weekend in the region and had an awesome time as always. Here is the view from Mayville, on the western end of Chautauqua Lake. The ominous clouds did not produce any rain, just some awesome views.

Here is Webb's World Resort, a regional staple for 50 years, classic americana at its best. We ate at the restaurant that evening and food was delicious and the views were stunning.

In addition to a dining experience, there is mini-golf and there are numerous shops, including their famous candy shop. 

Aside from all of the natural beauty, my favorite aspect of the Chautauqua region of New York is just how quiet it is.

These pictures were taken in Mayville, a quiet town on the western end of Chautauqua. The whole lake area is absolutely stunning, with small towns up and down the 17 mile long lake.

On the next day we headed a little east to Ellicottville, to go to their Fall Festival and ride the Sky High Mountain Coaster at Holiday Valley. You can read more about the coaster here.

One of the Holiday Valley lodges

Mountain coaster goodness!

Brit having a blast on the Mountain Coaster!

Now we head into the village of Ellicottville for their fall festival. Hundreds of food and merchandise vendors set up and the entire town gets shut down for this event. Local businesses such as Ellicottville Brewing Company, open their doors in celebration for the event.

This charming town is an awesome place for a community gathering. 

The town square is so beautiful.

We will continue on our trip through the beautiful Lake Erie and Chautauqua regions of Pennsylvania and New York with our next installment. 

Here is the location of Holiday Valley and Ellicottville

Allentown Lil' Le-Hi Trout Hatchery

Allentown's Lil' Le-Hi Trout Hatchery, one of my favorite places to spend some time relaxing, feeding the fish, watching the beautiful native fish jump for flies in the creek, watching people fly fishing in the creek, and just the overall beauty of the area.

The neighboring Museum of Indian Culture is an excellent facility that is the oldest museum on Native Americans in the state. The museum focuses upon the Lenni Lenape tribe that traditionally inhabited parts of modern day northeastern Delaware, eastern Pennsylvania, all of new Jersey, and most of eastern New York State.

The grounds are an excellent place to walk around and relax. Brit is on the left, my sister Taryn is second from the left, my mother is second from the right, and my father is on the right.

 The Little Lehigh Creek flows adjacent to the fish hatchery.

I borrowed Brit's camera when we went here and did not have the feel to catch the trout jumping up to catch some flies. There were some fly fishermen out. This is a catch and release "heritage area,"  that I believe is for fly fishing only. The Little Lehigh Creek has some of the best trout waters in the state, but this part of the creek is especially excellent for the trout. 

 These fish were fierce, jumping up to catch the flies as the sun was dipping. The colors on these fish were spectacular.

 The ducks were pretty funny as well.

 The hatchery has about a dozen of these troughs where trout at different stages of life are raised. There is Brit having a great time.

 There is my father and Taryn.

 This is a great place for families of fish and people to mingle.

The Lil Le-Hi Trout Hatchery is one of my favorite places to go and relax. The Little Lehigh Creek itself is a pretty awesome place to spend some time, between the Trout Hatchery, the Museum of Indian Culture, and the Little Lehigh Park just downstream, the crown jewel of the Allentown Parks System. Little Lehigh Park is home to Allentown's holiday Lights in the Parkway, the historic Bogert Covered Bridge, in addition to some more excellent trout waters. As with many of the awesome community attractions throughout Allentown and the Lehigh Valley, Henry Clay Trexler, funded the completion of both the Trout Hatchery and Little Lehigh Park. Be sure to check out the often overlooked natural side of Allentown for some relaxing fun.

Here is the location of the Lil' Le-Hi Trout Hatchery. Within close distance you can find the Little Lehigh Park along with the historic Bogert Covered Bridge, and the many other things that Allentown has to offer.

Bethlehem Steel Blast Furnaces: Hoover-Mason Trestle

Today we climb up the Hoover-Mason Trestle at the old main Bethlehem Steel plant in Bethlehem, PA. All of these photos were taken by Brit. The trestle is where the old rail cars would carry different loads such as coke and iron ore to the towering blast furnaces that men and women poured their sweat, blood, tears, and even lives, into fabricating the steel that built the majority of the New York Skyline, the Golden Gate Bridge, protected us during World War II, and so much more.

This stairway carries you up to the 46 foot level of the old trestle to see these spectacular relics of a time gone by. This combination of a museum and public park is beautiful and oddly serene. The blast furnaces exceed 200 feet tall and the five remaining furnaces lie on a plot of land that is over 1100 feet long. These hulking machines are absolutely stunning. They last operated in 1995 and look seemingly untouched since that point. Great pains appear to have been taken to leave the remnants as they are, seemingly frozen in time.

 There is an elevator as well, making this pathway fully accessible.

 Here you can see the large lift system for the "A" furnace.

 This is one of the most awesome things that I have ever seen at night. 

On the left you can see one of the hopper car trains. These vehicles carried iron ore, coke, and limestone to the blast furnaces. Once they arrived at the correct hopper, the workers would open the bottom of the train cars and dump the materials into the appropriate hopper for use in the steel production process. This was an extremely dangerous job that many people either lost their lives or were seriously injured in the midst of doing.

 Here is what the operator cabin of the rail cars looks like. You can see how nature has started to reclaim the vehicles. For anyone in the know with these cars, what were those old air tanks used for?

 These cars were electrified and worked like trolleys.

Here you can see where the hopper dropped into the next hopper upon delivery.

 Here is the next rail car

 The walkway on the trestle is made up of grates, so you can see what is directly underneath you. Different features are illuminated to show how the steel making process worked.

 The blast furnaces are pretty spectacular.

An illuminated hopper along with Brit's feet

 There are immense pipelines throughout for the massive amount of water that was used in the operation

 On to the next blast furnace

 Some sort of a control room with different valves and releases

 Spider time!

 Imagine having to be the repair person walking along the top of that pipe.

 Stairway to the top! Not open, but that sure seems like a climb

 Giant hopper!

 This is where the trains would dump their payloads. Notice the short gauge rail track.

 Another view. Doesn't it almost look like a face?

 I can only imagine what all of this looked like when it was in operation.

A view of the walkway and the machine shop is behind that, once the largest in the world. I would like to see some lighting in the old machine shop at some point, for it is pretty spectacular as well.

 Another giant hopper abyss

 Old telegraph equipment on the side of the machine shop

 There are dozens of these giant hoppers along the trestle. This one is seeing new life in the form of vegetation.

 Everything at this place is on an enormous scale

 It is pretty fascinating to see how all of the rail cars were pretty different. You can also see the various improvements and modernization projects they did on these throughout the years.

 I think that it is pretty safe to assume that this was car number 5. If you are looking for a preview of what the world might look like after an apocalypse, this is certainly pretty awesome place to go.

 Some spare iron ore scattered from the bottom of one of the trains.

 Car 6

This is what would have been the walkway along the railway. You can see different names welded into the plated steel. The names of workers that died in some of the many accidents at the plant, other employees that spent as long as 30 or 40 years at the plant, and the names of some of the people that built the trestle back in 1905 are included on the steel plates.

 The name "Bonser" seems to be from a family of people that worked at the plant for many years. 

 This is truly a stunning place. For those of you into ghost hunting, I have heard that this is a place that people often find paranormal activity. I am not someone who sees that kind of thing, but for those of you that do, this is definitely a place to check out.

 The view in the darkened machine shop. I would like to see some more lighting in this building at some point.

The end result? The newly opened Hoover-Mason Trestle in Bethlehem is a world class attraction and one of the coolest things that I have ever seen at night. The lighting is exceptional. The execution of where the walkways were put on the trestle, even to the point of building around a tree that had grown through the trestle, is nothing short of spectacular. The trestle is an excellent monument to the many people that poured their hearts, souls, and even lives, into the growth and advancement of society. This, coupled with the rest of the SteelStacks complex, makes for an excellent cultural and recreation center. Where so many parts of our industrial heritage were torn down for big box store expansion, Bethlehem has managed to turn its iconic blast furnaces into a world class attraction, showcasing our heritage while providing a gathering place for the arts. 

The Trestle is open daily and admission is free. The Levitt Pavilion at SteelStacks is an excellent entertainment venue located at the base of the blast furnaces. The location provides a dynamic backdrop that is also shared by the ArtsQuest center, a modern facility that houses concerts, a movie theater, art exhibitions, and public events.