All About A Road – Fort Necessity National Park, Farmington Pennsylvania [October 13 & 14, 2018]

Fort Necessity stockade and earthwork fortifications

In 1754, the fertile land around the Ohio River was contested by both the English and the French.  The English saw it as a desirable location for westward expansion from their Eastern colonies.  The French saw it as a chance to connect their colonies in what is now Canada and Louisiana.  The English tried to establish a fort at the forks of the Ohio, near what is now Pittsburgh, but were unable to move enough men, munitions and supplies through the densely forested, steep mountain terrain to support it.  The undermanned British stockade was overtaken and the French built a larger fort at the site, calling it Fort Duquesne.

21-year old Lt. Col. George Washington of the Virginia militia (and thus part of the British army), was dispatched to what is now southern Pennsylvania with a few hundred Virginia frontiersmen to open a road suitable for moving troops and supplies to the area.  The mountains are really steep here, and the work must have been slow and arduous.  They established an encampment to store their supplies at a rare level spot, in the center of a marshy meadow near what is today Farmington PA and named it Fort Necessity.  They heard a rumor that the French were encamped just seven miles away, so a small group of British soldiers and their Indian allies went and surprised the French.  The French took many casualties including the commander, Joseph Coulon de Villiers.

Knowing that there would be retaliation, Washington built a stockade and fortified Fort Necessity in the middle of the meadow that was surrounded by forest.  He had just a few hundred men, many of whom were sick or exhausted from the back-breaking effort of building the road.  Perhaps sensing that things were not going to go well, his Indian allies left.  The French and their Indian allies in a force of about 700 men, and lead by de Villiers’ brother, encircled Fort Necessity shooting from the woods surrounding the meadow, killing many British soldiers.  Washington surrendered.   

These were the first battles, in very inauspicious locations, of a global war fought in North America, Europe, India and Asia that would be named the French and Indian War in the US and the Seven Years War in other countries.  The outcome of this war would determine what European nation could dominate North America.  The site of Washington’s ill-fated stockade is now memorialized in Fort Necessity National Battlefield.

Mount Washington Tavern on the National Road

The following year after the battle, Washington returned with British General Braddock to continue working on the road as part of the French and Indian War.  Many years later, after the Revolutionary War, Washington returned again to the area, eager to open a navigable pathway for pioneers to move west of the Appalachian Mountains.  He and subsequent US leaders shepherded an effort to designate national funding to build the road.  In 1811,  construction began on the National Road that would connect Cumberland MD and Vandalia IL, eventually stopping in 1839.  This first national highway was the precursor of our current national highway system.  

Tavern barroom

Tavern parlor

The road was heavily used by stagecoaches, pioneer families and to haul goods from farms in the West to cities in the East.  Taverns were set up along the National Road where stage coaches could switch out fresh horses and travelers could spend the night.  Mount Washington Tavern is a part of the Fort Necessity National Park.  It had a barroom for the men and a parlor used by the women.  Travelers ate meals family style at a big long table and retired to rooms crowded full with beds with 3 or 4 people sleeping to a bed. 

Tavern dining room

Tavern kitchen

Use of the National Road declined with the coming of the railroad.  The later advent of automobiles restored some prosperity to the road.  Today, Route 40 travels the same route through the mountains.  As we were grinding our slow way up the steep inclines (and down the steep inclines too, for that matter), we saw two of the old National Road stone markers still standing along the side of the road marking how many miles you were away from the previous city or still had to go to the next city.  To think, that a young George Washington helped clear the land for that original road, and an older George Washington set in motion the plans for the creation of a National Road.  And to also think, hostilities between the British and French that escalated into a global war, were precipitated by a small group of soldiers trying to build the original road.

Lotsa strangers sleeping in the same room

We didn’t know this interesting story until we visited Fort Necessity and the Mount Washington Tavern.  Did you?  We left Pennsylvania driving along the National Road with new appreciation for the history around everyday places.

A Masterwork, A Marvel, An Inspiration – Fallingwater – Pennsylvania [October 14, 2018]

Fallingwater

It is almost impossible to describe Fallingwater, the incredible home that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for the Kauffman family in the early 1930s.  First of all, it is cantilevered over a waterfall.  It is attached to a huge boulder of rock on the side of the Bear Run stream and parts of that boulder are inside the house in the kitchen as a shelf and in the living room as a hearth for the fireplace.  Most of the walls (inside and out) are constructed of locally quarried stone, or made of glass.  The many levels of the home all have outdoor patios overlooking the stream and the waterfall.  The patio railings are walls of rounded concrete painted the creamy yellowish color that nearby rhododendron leaves turn in the Fall.  This magnificent creation feels as if it is part of the forest where it sits, and at the same time feels like a piece of whimsy that was somehow placed in the forest to surprise and delight us.

Approaching Fallingwater through the woods

To reach the house, you walk along a gravel path carved out of the forested rocky hillside.  As you walk, the house slowly comes in to view.  You see glimpses of light color between the sea of green leaves in front of you.  As you get closer, the light patches shape into horizontal lines that echo the strata of the brown and grey rock on the hillside next to you.  Finally, the house comes fully into view, and you just have to stand there and wonder at it.  It looks odd and strangely beautiful; a rushing stream with a beautiful waterfall, with a series of round edged patios, a glass tower, and stone structures above it.  Oh, how wonderful it would be to live in a house that like and have nothing to do all day but stand on the porches looking at the view, or sit inside and look outside through the floor to ceiling glass windows and doors!

Stairs from the living room to the stream, note the "quick dip" pool on the right

Fallingwater was designed and built for the Kauffman family, owners of the prosperous Kauffman’s department store in Pittsburgh.  They owned this piece of mountain and had used a primitive log cabin on the property as a weekend retreat from smoky, industrial Pittsburgh.  They replaced the cabin with this home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  Fallingwater has a large great room with living and dining areas and an enormous fireplace, a kitchen, 4 bedrooms and baths, a guest house and servants quarters.  There are many pieces of Wright designed furniture including a clever sideboard that can be repurposed as extra tables for dinner.  Two built in desks have half-moon shapes cut out of them to allow the windows next to them to swing open.   

A place with running water and soap to wash if you get muddy in the woods

There are steps from the living room down into the middle of the stream.  There is a walled off pool area in the stream for a quick dip on a hot day, and a foot bath (with soap) by the front door for rinsing off, if you got dirty hiking in the woods, before you enter the house.  There is a six-foot deep swimming pool.  This is a big step up from a log cabin (without electricity or water) in the woods.

Attached to a boulder and cantilevered over a stream

Close up of where the building is attached to the boulder

You need to plan ahead to visit Fallingwater.  When we looked online on a Thursday in October, the earliest we could get tickets was for Sunday afternoon.  Tickets are $30 each.  You are informed to arrive 30 minutes before your ticket time, and that the time of your tour may be up to 20 minutes after your ticket time.  When you arrive, you are checked in at a gatehouse, where they verify that you have already purchased a ticket online.  The sign at the entrance said that there were no more tickets to tour the house for the day, but tickets to walk on the grounds were still available.  From there you drive to a parking area near the Visitors Center.   

Walls built of stone quarried from the property

The folks here have a well-choreographed way to handle the large number of visitors to the site. The schedulers at the Visitors Center give you the number of the small group you will be touring with.  Groups are called every 5 minutes and our group would not be called for 20 minutes, so we had plenty of time to visit the museum shop, café, restrooms and art gallery there.  When your group is called, you are met by a greeter who gives you the history of the home and directs you to walk down the path to the house.   

There you are met by your well-informed guide.  The time that you spend in each location in the house matches with the timing of the other groups so that 4 groups are inside or passing through the main room at the same time without bumping into each other.  You head up narrow stairways, into bedrooms and out onto balconies without ever seeing the other groups.  You work your way up the house from the lowest level to the highest, and up the hill to the guest house, and are finally met by a fundraiser for the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (the group to whom the Kauffman family gave the house and property) with a pitch for financial support.   

View from an overlook

From there you are free to roam the grounds and take photos of the exterior of the building.  Well-marked locations have been constructed along the hillside with the best views of the house.  It is a very well thought-out visitor experience.

A House as a Work of Art – Kentuck Knob, Pennsylvania [October 12, 2018]

Kentuck Knob

Frank Lloyd Wright is a very famous architect, and two of the homes he designed are located not too far from each other in Western Pennsylvania, near where Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania intersect.  Fallingwater is the most famous of these homes.  Our first visit was to the other house, Kentuck Knob.

Back side of the house

Kentuck Knob is a mountain home built in the early 1950’s for the Hagan family.  The Hagans were friends with the Kaufmann’s and had admired their home, Fallingwater.  They commissioned Wright to design a home for them as well. It was late in Wright’s career and he had 12 other projects going at the time.  He designed the house using topographical maps, and aerial and ground photos of the property, only visiting the site once, at the time that it was under construction. 

Porch roof overhang with hexagonal skylights

During the tour, the guide highlights the areas where Wright's original designs were adjusted to meet the requests of the owners.  That was an interesting insight.  The Hagans lived in the house for 28 years.  It was then bought by the current owners who have opened it to the public as a museum.  We were only allowed to take photographs of the exterior of the house and the grounds.  The grounds have sculptures from the current owners’ collection and the interior has some more of their art pieces, as well as some Wright designed furniture from other locations.

Patio off of the dining room and along the bedrooms

Designs carved into the wood over some of the windows

Wright designed Kentuck Knob using hexagons.  Except for two corners, all of the corners are 60 or 120 degrees.  It makes for some very interesting shaped rooms.  The two 90 degree corners are in the bathrooms, and were allowed to accommodate plumbing.  The walls inside and out are made of local sandstone, with upper panels of the walls and soffits under the eaves made of red tidewater cypress wood.  The cypress is often carved in geometric shapes based on the hexagonal shapes in the house itself.  The floors throughout are field stone.

Front entry and drive.  Carports on the left.

Looking at the outside of the living room.

The house is quite lovely inside with a large friendly living room, a long narrow, dining room, a central hexagonal shaped kitchen, 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.  There are original furniture pieces that were designed for the house.  It would be hard to imagine living in a house like this, it feels almost like a work of art instead of a comfortable place to live.  After all, where would you leave your knitting bag and other detritus of life lying around?

Inviting porches overlook forested grounds.

The intention was for the house to look like it is part of the hillside, and it does come out of the side of the hill near the top of the knob.  Porches surround a good bit of the house, and glass doors draw you outside into nature.  There are interesting openings in the roofs over the porches that let in light and air.

Interesting angles in walls and roofline

Kentuck Knob is a very short walk away from a gorgeous view of the Youghiogheny River Gorge with cultivated fields and forest covered mountains.  It is a lovely location and home and well worth the visit.  Plan to reserve a spot on a tour online prior to your trip, walk-ins are limited by availability. There are tours every half hour and each tour only allows 14 people.  Tours cost $25 per person.  The tour starts at the Visitors Center/Gift Shop/Café.  You are driven up to the house in a shuttle bus and can elect to walk back to your car through the grounds or take the shuttle back down after the tour.

And what a view!