2021-06-21: Driving Through History Along the Lincoln Highway in West Virginia and Pennsylvania

Welcome back family, friends, RV'ers, Jeepers, Geocachers, and fellow travelers. On this Day 2 of our little road trip in the GeoJeep while the motorhome is getting serviced, we're continuing eastbound on the Lincoln Highway / US-30 through West Virginia and Pennsylvania. We're picking up new geocaching counties to complete our map. And made an unexpected and unplanned stop when we passed the entrance of the September 11th Flight 93 National Memorial. So join us as we drive through history.

Leaving Ohio this morning and crossing over the Ohio River, we entered the northern tip of West Virginia and a needed geocaching county. Located in Hancock County was the World's Largest Teapot (GC21926). You can read the full history of the Tea Pot on the geocaching page, but here's a summary. It was originally constructed as a hogshead barrel for Hires Root Beer in Pennsylvania. In 1938, a pottery store owner named William Devon purchased it and moved it to Chester, WV. Here he added the handle, spout, a tin exterior, and a glass ball knob for a lid. Several ownership changes and locations later, it was last restored in 1990 and placed at it's current location at US-30 and Highway 2. Now whether or not it really is the largest teapot, I couldn't tell ya. Because I've also seen one in Texas making a similar claim.

Crossing over into Beaver County, Pennsylvania now and getting closer to Pittsburg, I had no interest in driving through the big city. And US-30 just happens to go through the middle of it.

So in the town of Harshaville I turned south on Highway 18 and headed towards the Racoon Creek State Park. There we went on a short hike for a virtual geocache (GCFF06) at some old CCC buildings and an earthcache at the Frankfort Mineral Springs and Falls (GC1K7NZ). Those copper color stains on the rocks are where the spring waters come out through the rocks.

With all the trees, shade, and spring water, I think the temperature down here was probably 10-15 degrees cooler. It was a beautiful area. This is Candy and her granddaughter taking pics of each other.

I continued south down to I-70 east to bypass the big city. I then pick back up on the Lincoln Highway southeast of the city in Westmoreland County. The next geocache was called the Giants of the Lincoln Highway (GC2XHWZ). The "Giants" are the oversized roadside attractions created to advertise businesses to the numerous automobiles traveling the Lincoln Highway, such as the giant teapot I wrote about earlier. This one here was an oversized gas pump statue. The 1940's Bennett Gas Pump is 25 foot high and weighs over 4900 pounds. This Giant was installed at the future site of the Lincoln Highway Experience. The students chose the gas pump design because the installation site is the former home of Donato’s Filling Station (1930s-1940s).

Continuing our way eastbound, the original plane was to drive non-stop through Somerset County as I had already had that one completed on my geocaching counties map. But as we were driving along there's a sign that says "Flight 93 National Memorial." Two seconds later as we passed by the entrance it finally hit me to the significance of Flight 93. U-Turn!

I'm sure we're all familiar with the tragedy that happened on September 11, 2001. So I'll just describe the photos. Above is the view from the memorial looking out towards the crash site.

The next photo below is from the crash site looking back towards the memorial at the top of the hill.

Next photo highlights the panel of names of the passengers down the one side of the sidewalk. Todd Beamer is the passenger who spoke those famous words "Let's Roll" before they took on the hijackers.

A closer look up the hill towards the memorial.

Below: The Tower of Voices is a 93-foot-tall musical monument about halfway between the Lincoln Highway and the landscaped memorial of Flight 93. Forty chimes represent the voices of the 40 courageous passengers and crewmembers who took a vote to come together and fight terrorism on that flight. There is no other wind chime tower in the world like the Tower of Voices.

After an hour and a half at the Flight 93 Memorial, it was time to get back on the road.

Bedford County is next down the road and the town of Schellsburg is on the list. Centuries before the Lincoln Highway, this old trading route passing through here was used by the Indians crossing the rugged mountains. As settlers began pushing west, the British Army made improvements to the trail in 1758 during the French-Indian War and it became the Forbes Road.

A German immigrant named John Schell settled in the valley in 1798. A few years later in 1806 the old Historic Church (GC8XJ1E) was built and the first burial outside the church. It wasn't until 1860 when Peter Schell, the son of John Schell, formed the Chestnut Ridge and Schellsburg Union Cemetery (GC8XJ11) was created. The town of Schellsburg was chartered and became official in 1908.

 

A few miles down the road and we turned north on I-99 heading towards Connecticut. The next county to the north is Blair County. My last geocache of the day was in Altoona, PA. Out in front of the Veterans Administration building is the Vietnam War Memorial which also includes a replica of the Wall. The Wall was also a virtual geocache (GCG5X5).

Well it's just after 7 PM and it has been a long day. Time to go find some dinner and a place to crash for the night. It was a great day with that historical unexpected stop. Time to get some rest and looking forward to tomorrow.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Twitter, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-03-25: Day 3 of Turning a 1400 Mile Road Trip into a 3404 Mile Adventure!

Hello again friends, family, RV'ers, Jeeper, Geocachers, and Roadtrippers! Welcome to Day 3 of our adventurous road trip where we turned a simple 1400 mile drive from NC to TX into a 12 day 3404 mile sightseeing tour! On the third day we traveled through Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, finding some really cool historic places like this very first toll booth in the country. So come ride along with us as I share our geocaching adventures with you.

So for our first stop today, we were passing by the very northern tip of Mineral County, West Virginia. It was one of the needed counties on my geocaching map. We took the exit off of I-68 in Cumberland, MD and crossed the bridge over the North Branch Potomac River into Ridgeley, WV. It was a quick stop for a quick find near the rail yards along the river (GC3HYE8).

Back across the bridge into Maryland for Allegany County. We start with a virtual geocache at Riverside Park (GC37CB). A couple of things here in this park to see. First we'll start with a historical highway. Probably the most famous of the highway's and byway's is Route 66, which we'll highlight in an upcoming blog as we travelled on it later in this adventure.

But here in Cumberland, Maryland at Riverside Park is a monument which marks the starting point of the very first federally funded road project. Envisioned by George Washington, the "Cumberland" or "National Road" as it was called, was a means to develop the continent and to unite the country. The highway was promoted by Thomas Jefferson and authorized by Congress in 1806. Construction work began in 1811 and this monument was erected in 2011 at the 200th anniversary. The flags that surround the monument represent each state the road traverses and one for the U.S. flag of 1811.

Also located within Riverside Park is George Washington's Headquarters. From the historical marker: "Our founding father spent much of his time in this vicinity while a young man as a surveyor, ambassador, aide-de-camp to General Braddock, and Commander of the Virginia military forces. This cabin served as his headquarters during part of this time."

"During the French and Indian War, a 23-year old Lt Col Washington studied military customs and tactics from this cabin while General Braddock's army encamped at Fort Cumberland in May-June 1755. As aide-de-camp to Braddock, he marched with the ill-fated expedition against the French. His advice to Braddock concerning backwoods warfare was ignored by the arrogant General. Washington led the retreat of those left from the field."

"George was made commander of all Virginia forces in August of 1755 and in the next three years spent much time in this area with his forces. He wrote ardent love letters to his future bride from this cabin at Fort Cumberland. He was with General Forbes in the successful campaign against Fort Duquesne in November of 1758. As President, in 1794, Washington reviewed troops gathered here to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania." George Washington's headquarters is the only remaining structure left of Fort Cumberland.

Up on the hill overlooking downtown and the river, the Emmanuel Episcopal Church was built on the site where Fort Cumberland once stood. Constructed from 1848 to 1851, beneath the floor of the church sanctuary are portions of the cellar, magazines, and earthen works of the fort. Research shows that tunnels beneath the church were used as a station on the Underground Railroad in the 1800's.

It was common for forts of this period to have rifle pits or trenches outside the walls as a line of first defense. Two water gates were along the palisade walls near the point of the fort. Trenches, tunnels, or both ran from these to the creek below. They were necessary to protect men going for water or to the storehouses located down the hill from Indians.

At the west end of Cumberland is the Rose Hill Cemetery (GCM8C3). With nearly 8,000 interments, the oldest dates all the way back to 1754. Col Joshua Fry was a surveyor, adventurer, soldier, map maker and a member of he House of Burgess, the legislature of the colony of Virginia. He was educated at Oxford and upon arrival he was made a professor at William & Mary College. He created an important map of Virginia along with Peter Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson's father. In the early days of the French and Indian War he was given command of the Virginia Regiment and ordered to take the French Fort Duquesne near present day Pittsburg. In May of 1754, during the advance he died at Cumberland, MD and George Washington succeeded him in command.

Built into one side of the hill is a row of family mausoleums. This one belongs to the Shriver family and contains nine of its members from 1863 to 1890.

Crossing over the state line north into Pennsylvania, we stopped for two geocaches in Somerset County. The first was in the town of Addison off of US-40 at what used to be the Old National Road that I mentioned earlier. Here is located the countries first toll booth (GC2TVCN). After several years of construction, the National Road officially opened in 1818. Decades of debate over the constitutionality and expenditure of an 800 mile road and it was eventually turned over to the various states through which it passed in 1831-1834.

Pennsylvania, like other states, erected 6 toll booths to help pay for the expense of maintaining the new highway. The Petersburg Toll House was constructed in 1835 at a cost of $1,530. Toll keeper William Condon collected $1,758.87 from Nov 10, 1840 through Nov 19, 1841 and received a $200 salary and the use of the building for his family. The toll collections ended in 1906.

Iron toll gates were added in 1836. Leading into the park across the street is a walkway between two columns. These may have been the ones that held the gates in place.

Posted on the toll house is an old "Rates of Toll" sheet listing the prices for all the various horses, wagons, pedestrian combinations that may be passing through the gates. The Petersburg Toll House underwent a complete restoration in 1997.

Just down the road was our next geocache at the Newbury Cemetery (GC15N55). The geocache highlighted the grave of Captain Black. Son of James and Catharine Black, Milton Black enlisted as 2nd Lieutenant on November 12, 1861 in Company H, 85th Infantry Regiment, Pennsylvania. He died on June 23, 1862 at White Oak Swamp, Virginia. According to his grave marker, he died in Camp Richmond of typhoid fever.

Upon finding the geocache and opening the lid, I was all excited seeing two $100 bills inside. I've heard stories about cachers finding cash or valuables inside geocaches. But with further inspection of the bills, I noticed the "For Motion Picture Use Only" printed on the front and back. Oh well, I found the cache but not the cash. So I left them in the container to surprise the next cachers.

Continuing west on the National Road and US-40 just before crossing the Youghiogheny River Lake and the Great Crossing Bridge, I saw this old abandoned building on the side of the road and had to pull over for a closer inspection and photos. After doing some research, I still don't know what this place actually was at one time. It kinda looks like it might have been a restaurant. If any of you might have some information on this place, please leave it in the comments below.

Continuing a few miles over into Fayette County, we grabbed a quick stop and go cache near the sign of a nursing home (GC3PFBR). Trying to continue momentum and putting some miles behind us, another quick park and grab for Greene County (GC7WMEG). This one was a pretty cool container hanging in a tree like a bird house.

Crossing over into the narrow top of West Virginia, we made a quick exit off the Interstate 70 in Ohio County for fuel, lunch, and a quick geocache (GC4191Z).

Now in Ohio, we're back following the National Road in Guernsey County. One of the great things I like about geocaching is that some of them bring you to some historical places I wouldn't otherwise know about. This is the "S" Bridge which was built around 1828 (GC71EA). Where the National Road crossed a creek at an angle, this stone arch bridge was built at right angles to the stream flow. "S" shaped walls were then built to guide traffic around the jog from the direction of travel across the bridge and back onto the road line. An arch parallel with the stream flow and in line with the road would have been more difficult and costly to build.

With time running out this afternoon, we quickly made it through some more Ohio counties grabbing easy caches to put the county on our map. The first was a cemetery geocache (GC1JV08) in the town of New Concord and a gas station geocache (GC2339T) in the town of Sonora for Muskingum County. I didn't spend much time in the cemetery looking for a story like usual, but I did spot a Harley Headstone.

After that it was dropping down into Perry County for a roadside park and grab (GC1WPEB). And finally passing through the very NW corner of Fairfield County, it was enough for a quick LPC (light post cache GC48ZFH) in a shopping center parking lot to complete that spot on the map.

That was it for this day of our North Carolina to Texas via the LONG WAY around geocaching adventure. I hope you have enjoyed virtually riding along with us and maybe inspiring you to go and visit some of these places too. Tomorrow we finished up Ohio and made it into Indiana visiting more sites along the historic National Road. So join us again for more of our adventure.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, RVillage, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2014-06-12: Road Trip Day #6 Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia

So this morning we're still in Western Pennsylvania, we have four days left to get back to Florida and no specific things to see or do. But I do know that it's time we must be heading south. If we just hit the Interstate, we can be back in two days. As I'm looking through Google maps trying to decide which route to take, I noticed US19 just south of Pittsburgh. US19 goes all the way down to Tampa, FL. So I decided we'll just follow US19, stay off the Interstate, and see what we'll find.

Throughout the day we managed to find 13 Geocaches at various stops along the way. Mostly during food or gas stops and nothing really to note about. We saw some small towns and scenic views of hills and mountains. For most of the day it was overcast and wet, so not many photos either.

The first place worth mentioning was this old US-19 bridge crossing over the Birch River from 1916. Located in Birch River, WV, it has long been replaced with the current 4-lane bridge that makes the US-19 highway. It's nice they kept this old piece of history in place.

Further on down the highway, we did cross over the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia. Even though there was a lite rain, we did stop for a quick look from the rest area. The New River Gorge has become a National Park. The bridge is the longest steel span in the western hemisphere and the third tallest in the United States. It is one of the most photographed places in West Virginia. Too bad the weather wasn't cooperating.

After crossing the border into Virginia, we got a bite to eat, found a hotel and called it a day. Thanks for following along with our adventure. See you tomorrow.