Interpreting History of Rusyn Villages based on Church Schematismus Data

Have I mentioned how much I love Archive.org lately? It's so good! There's so much incredible information for those willing to sift through it. I don't remember how, but I found a number of Schematismus books for the Diocese of Munkacs, Hungary. The Diocese of Munkacs is now known as the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo, and is in today's Ukraine. It used to include parts of eastern Slovakia, but today only includes Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine. These books detail information on each of the Greek Catholic churches, the village, etc.

Research Subjects

Both of my Rusyn ancestors attended churches in that diocese, in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I thought it would be interesting to see what I could learn about their villages from these church records.The villages are 50km apart (approximately 30 miles):

• Kalna Roztoka, Slovakia - Current population: 615 ^[1]
• Lyuta, Ukraine - Current population: 2412 ^[2]

Data Collection

In total, I found 32 books on Archive.org, ranging from 1814 to 1915. On average, there were 3 years between each book. I set up a spreadsheet to collect data for each village, including the following:

• Year
• Link
• Village Name
• Page #
• Priest's Name
• Administrator's Name
• Cantor's Name
• Church Name
• # of People 
• # of People in Other Branches
• Total # of People
• Church Name (Other Branch)
• # of School Children
• Other Notes
• District

This is the majority of what can be found in the books. A comprehensive look would want to translate the descriptions and capture additional data, such as whether the village had a train station or post office. Amenities like these were identified with a symbol.

Results

I found it interesting to learn the names of the priests in each village. The priest in Kalna Roztoka in 1915 was Basilius Lyachovics. I have a 1933 letter from him to my great-grandmother, providing the birth and death dates for my great-great-grandparents, and asking her to send money to help care for her sister. In a separate post, I might look into the average length of time priests stayed at these two villages.

One of the most interesting, quantifiable changes over this 100 year period is the population of each village. This chart highlights the largest changes. The image below has the population colorized on a scale of red-yellow-green, where red is lowest and green is highest.

This raises the question: what happened circa 1856, that Kalna Roztoka lost 50% of their village population, and Lyuta lost 17%, in the prior 9 years. Or in 1836 when Kalna Roztoka lost 28% of their village population, and Lyuta lost 25%, in just 1 year.

Here's another view of the population changes:

Data on European Epidemics, Famines, and Weather

I'm writing this blog post while under a Stay At Home order for the COVID-19 pandemic, but I started work on this post in Fall 2019, before the virus was on anyone's radar. At that time I found it interesting how much information there is on historical climate-related disasters, pandemics, and famines. Now I have a different perspective, as we are living through a modern-day pandemic. The situation is eerie.

While I was unable to find any documentation of specific disasters, famines, or epidemics in either Kalna Roztoka or Lyuta, I did find some related information.

Lyuta is on the other side of the mountain crest from Austrian Galicia. It seems logical that a famine in Galicia could indicate difficult times on the other side of the mountains as well. The Wikipedia article on Famines in Austrian Galicia ^{[3, 4]} notes famines in 1832, 1853-1855.

The Wikipedia List of Epidemics ^[5] shows a global epidemic from 1855-1860: the 3rd (Bubonic) plague pandemic.

I looked into potential climate-related disasters, but had a hard time finding specific data. This website has some interesting climate observations: https://www.tambora.org/index.php/grouping/event/list?g%5Bqt%5D=&t%5Byb%5D=1800&t%5Bye%5D=1954&s%5Bcn%5D=9934&sort=t.begin&mode=search&page=14 If anyone has climate data for the 1800s, let me know!

Sources

1. Kalna Roztoka Wikipedia Article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaln%C3%A1_Roztoka
2. Lyuta Wikipedia Article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liuta
3. Famines in Austrian Galicia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famines_in_Austrian_Galicia#Chronological_occurrences
4. Excerpt from "Oil Empire" by Alison Fleig Frank mentioning Galician famines: https://books.google.com/books?id=jNaFc1OdN-QC&pg=PA45#v=onepage&q&f=false
5. List of epidemics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_epidemics

An Interesting House in Bethlehem, PA or I'M BACK!

Hellooooooooo. I’ve been away from my blog for a while (about a year?), but I finally found a topic that has inspired me to post once more!

What’s this all about?

There’s a house on Linden St in Bethlehem, PA that I’ve always been curious about. Have a look:


Pretty unique, right?  That giant stained glass window, the stone porch beams carved to look like trees, that crazy looking peaked roof on the back part of the building: it doesn’t look like any other house in the area. Since the outside is so ornate, I’ve always wondered what the interior looks like. Well we are in luck - the house is currently for sale, and several real estate companies have photos!

Links to real estate listings:

• http://www.weichert.com/65126340
• http://www.trulia.com/property/3239906425-3300-Linden-St-Bethlehem-PA-18017

Note: If the photos are taken down from the real estate websites, just leave a comment and I’ll try to get in touch with you.

The realtor’s (Weichert) description of the home provides more information (emphasis mine):

“This stone gingerbread house with walls of old mosaics, carved stone porch columns and stained glass windows has tremendous historical and artistic value and is listed by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. It was built by Tilghman Fogel from 1899 to 1906 and every exterior wall is a work of art. The hand-crafted blocks have a menagerie of story telling and each are an artistic expression, with blown glass, Chinaware, and many artifacts built by hand in an artistic tale. This is a large estate style property with what was a stable attached in the rear, which is now a 4+ car garage and workshop, with a 3 bedroom apartment on the top. This is surrounded by almost 3 acres of prime, flat, partially wooded land. Originally designed all 29 rooms for active air flow and natural light for most of the day. Much of the 100 year old architecture has been preserved. This house must be valued as "artwork" and it will captivate your artistic imagination immediately.”

Who was Tilghman Fogel?  Google Books to the rescue!  Tilghman Fogel (1850-1935) was a member of a seemingly prominent agricultural family in Lower Nazareth Township, Northampton County, PA.  If you’d like to learn about his family, check out pages 413-414 in this Google Book:

Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical  and Personal Memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania

Fun fact: I also found another Tilghman Fogel (1842 - 1915), from Lehigh County, who was a well-known blind musician.  The two men do not appear to be immediately related.

But what about the house?!

Now that we know a little about the family, let’s talk about the house.  Why would a prominent farmer decide to build such an eccentric home?  Google Books comes to the rescue again, with two articles containing details about the home itself:

Technical World Magazine, Volume 10

Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality, Volume 66

In summary, Tilghman Fogel built the home after he traveled around the United States, collecting souvenir rocks, broken glass, and other scraps along the way.  He decided to incorporate his plethora of souvenirs into the facade of his new home, embedding his creativity into the house itself. 

While looking for information on Tilgman Fogel and his “Souvenir House”, I came across a photo of some unknown young men on the home’s porch:

As such a unique home with an interesting history, I hope someone buys this home and really makes it shine.

Photo Phriday - 2015 07 31

The Ghost Building in downtown Denver!  In my blog about Denver's Chilled Water Plant I mentioned that a historic building was disassembled to make room for the Chilled Water Plant in 1979, and that said historic building was reassembled 6 years later at 18th & Stout.  This is that building.

Welby Manor: An Old Building Just North of Denver

One evening, driving around the northern Denver metro area, I drove past a really cool old house.  I always enjoy seeing interesting old buildings; remnants of days past.  My excitement turned to sadness when I saw a notice posted on the door.  It was dark and the house was set back pretty far from the road, so I couldn't read the notice.  I assumed it was a demolition permit or something similar.  I picked up my phone* and started searching for nearby addresses to see what was going on.  Why would someone tear down such a cool building?!  I know it's often cheaper and easier to scrape a lot and build some new, trendy, giant mixed-media thing, but... I prefer the character of old buildings.  They tell a story of the people who lived in the community.

As it turns out, the family that owns the building and surrounding land have been in that area since the late 1800s.  They aren't demolishing the building, they are renovating it and turning it into a focal point of the Welby community!  They are even hoping to turn it into a local museum.  Great news!

I went back a few weeks later and took some photos:

You can read more about Welby Manor here.  I'm glad that this building is being preserved, and I can't wait to see how the renovation progresses!

*I wasn't driving; I was a passenger. Drive safe!

Exploring Rural New Mexico: Raton, Capulin Volcano, Folsom, and Clayton

As some of you may know, I recently bought a new camera (comment below if you want the backstory).  What better way to learn and test the new camera than a road trip?  The boyfriend has recently been working on a project regarding the Santa Fe Trail, and heard about an extinct volcano in northeastern New Mexico.  Let's go!

We left Denver Friday evening, stopped at our favorite Jamaican restaurant in Colorado Springs (Jamaican Flavor, go there!) for dinner, and spent the night in Trinidad, CO.  Saturday morning we left Trinidad in search of breakfast in Raton, NM.  It appears as though Raton has seen better days.  Most restaurants and businesses along the main drag are either out of business, boarded up, or open with very limited hours.  Fortunately, there is one place that is definitely open: the Oasis Restaurant.  The Yelp reviews may be iffy, but I will tell you that breakfast is delicious!  Homefries, egg sandwich, ham, green chile*... all good!  The staff is very friendly.  Next time I'm in NM I'd like to spend some time in Raton learning about its history.

*Colorado likes to pretend that it knows what's up with green chile, but the truth is that green chile is a New Mexican dish.  I'm just going to throw this out there: New Mexico makes better green chile.  Now you know.  :)


Capulin Volcano National Monument

Full of delicious breakfast we set out towards the Capulin Volcano.  A volcano in New Mexico?  Yes!  It is very well preserved, thanks in part to the plants that now live on the volcano and help prevent erosion.  There are trails around the rim of the volcano and down into the vent (remember: extinct volcano).  The rim trail provides an excellent view of other volcanoes in the area, as well as nearby towns, roads, and railroads.

Approaching the volcano	Inside the vent!
Volcanic New Mexico	Lichen on volcanic rock
Grasslands on the extinct volcano	Baby Capulin

If you are at all interested in geology, volcanoes, or historic land forms, check out Capulin!


Folsom, NM

After spending some time at Capulin we decided to drive through Folsom, just to see what was there.  We heard it was a ghost town, but there was a lot going on!  We stopped at the Folsom Museum to learn about the town's history.  For a town that might fit the description "the middle of nowhere", there's actually a lot of history.  There was also an arts/crafts sale going on outside of the historic Folsom Hotel, and they were preparing for a concert later in the evening.  As with any town of this size (56 people!), the locals quickly noticed that we were outsiders.  We talked to a few people, all of whom were very friendly and wanted to share their town's history with us.  Several people asked what brought us to town, and we told them that we stopped because we heard about the old historic district and were curious.  We were told that one resident volunteered to fix up (paint, rebuilt, clean, etc) the historic district.  If you compare my photos to others on flickr, you can see that she has done a great job!

A train in Folsom	Switchboard used to warn residents of the deadly 1908 flood
The Folsom business  district is looking good!	The Folsom Hotel

For comparison, here is a photo (by Flickr user CourtHouseLover) of the Folsom business district in 2009:

To read more about Folsom's history, check out this site: Folsom Museum - Folsom Area History and these Wikipedia articles about George McJunkin and Black Jack Ketchum.


Clayton, NM

Our next stop was in Clayton, which is about an hour away from Folsom.  With a population of nearly 3000 people, Clayton is much larger than Folsom.  We weren't planning to stop, but decided to check it out when we saw the Herzstein Museum in an old church.  The museum's curator was very friendly, and told us about some of the exhibits.  The museum covers Clayton's shared history with Folsom as well as some things unique to Clayton.

The Herzstein Museum	Hooray for New Mexico!
A shorthand dictionary	East of Clayton

The Rest of the Trip

From Clayton we continued on to Amarillo.  We visited Cadillac Ranch, Palo Duro Canyon, and made friends at a restaurant/wine bar called Crush.

On Sunday we headed north, stopped at the TX/OK state line, visited a grocery store in Boise City OK, and continued onward.  Of course we had to stop at my favorite restaurant in Lamar (List: Things I Never Thought I'd Say): Thai Spicy Basil.

Overall, a fun weekend of exploring!


Map

Typically I'd embed a map here, but the new Google Maps won't allow me to do so without changing my map to "Public".  So instead here is the not-public-but-viewable-by-anyone-with-the-link map.  Sorry it isn't embedded; go complain to Google.

Buildings That Aren't What They Seem

Brooklyn Subway Vent

Back in 2011 I read BLDGBLOG's article about a house in Brooklyn that is a disguised subway vent.  It was a residential brownstone that was converted into a subway vent and emergency exit in the early 1900s.

As luck would have it, I was scheduled to be on the east coast a few months later and built a visit into my itinerary.  We found the house, and it was as odd as I'd imagined.  Hidden in plain view.  How much of the neighborhood is really aware of what lurks behind those doors?


As I walked up to the front door a lady walking down the street said to me, "they make it look so real, don't they".  She knows!


Denver Chilled Water Center

I wasn't planning to blog about the Brooklyn brownstone/vent because BLDGBLOG and others have already done so, and I have no additional information to provide.  But then I read about a building in downtown Denver.  Disguised as an office building, it is really a facility that serves cold water to nearby buildings.

An excerpt from District Energy - Denver’s Historic System: Still Full Steam Ahead:

"A dedicated Chilled Water Center was built in the heart of downtown Denver, ‘disguised’ to look like an eight-story office building. The first cooling customer was served in August 1998. The Chilled Water Center incorporates two ice tanks with storage capacity of 75,000 ton-hrs of cooling. Ice is made at night and melted during the day to provide cold-water service to the buildings, while reducing the electrical requirements on the downtown grid during the peak daytime hours."

In addition to the Chilled Water Center, Xcel Energy also owns/operates Denver's steam system, which is the "oldest continuously operated commercial district-heating system in the world" and has approximately 130 customers.  For comparison, ConEd's steam system in New York City serves approximately 2000 customers.  Denver's Chilled Water Center serves approximately 40 customers.

Unlike the brownstone/vent in Brooklyn, the Chilled Water Center was built for its current purpose.  Prior to the Chilled Water Center, the Ghost Building occupied the space at 15th & Glenarm.  In 1979, it was dismantled so the Chilled Water Center could be built, and re-built in 1985 at 18th & Stout.

Sources

Brooklyn Brownstone Subway Vent: http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/brooklyn-vent.html

ConEd's Steam System: http://gothamist.com/2005/11/28/superhot_steam.php

Xcel's Chilled Water Center in Denver:

• District Energy - Denver’s Historic System: Still Full Steam Ahead 
• http://www.xcelenergy.com/staticfiles/xe/Regulatory/Regulatory%20PDFs/CO-Rate-Case-2012/3/Exhibit-No-JW-1.pdf
• Xcel Energy XTRA - District Heating and Cooling 
• http://www.xcelenergy.com/staticfiles/xe/Corporate/Corporate%20PDFs/Xtra_May2012.pdf

Denver's Ghost Building: 

• DPL - Ghost Building 
• http://creatingcommunities.denverlibrary.org/content/ghost-building
• Denver Post - Ghost Building Made Its Way To 18th Street 
• http://www.denverpost.com/pennyparker/ci_17446853
• Railroad Glory Days - Denver's Ghost Buildings
• http://railroadglorydays.com/GhostBldgs/

Photo Phriday - 2014 09 12

I took this right after I arrived in Bergen (via ferry from Stavanger).  Bryggen is the Hanseatic fishing/trade port neighborhood in Bergen.  There are a lot of interesting wooden buildings in Bryggen, and one of them houses a museum.

Norwegian Stave Churches

As part of my recent trip to Norway last August I was fortunate enough to visit a number of stave churches. I'm not going to provide a lot of background information here; you can find that on a number of other websites.  So for now we'll just say that stave churches are medieval wooden church buildings, and though there used to be 1300+ scattered around Norway, there are only about 30 that remain today.

Any good blog needs a map, so here's a map of the remaining stave churches:

View Stavkirker in a larger map
The stave churches I'll be discussing in this post (ie: the ones I visited) are:

• Hopperstad
• Øye
• Hegge
• Høre
• Lomen
• Reinli 
• Gol

Hopperstad
My group was driving from Bergen to Vang when we saw our first stave church.  We were on a pretty tight schedule, so we didn't get to go inside.  I quickly purchased a book about stave churches, took a few photos, and hopped back in the van.  Onward.







Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopperstad_Stave_Church
Year Built: 1131 (Source: stavkirke.info)

Øye
Before setting out on our activities of the day, we decided to stop by the Øye stave church.  Located just outside of Vang, where we stayed at the Bøflaten campground for a few days, I was hoping I'd finally have the opportunity to go inside one of these awesome structures.  Unfortunately, the Øye church was closed that day, so we could only admire it from outside.  Still impressive!





Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Øye_stave_church
Year Built: Around 1200 (Source: stavkirke.info)

Hegge
The stave church tour continued for part of our group (the injured few), while the rest of the group hiked Besseggen.  On our self-guided tour (ie: geography nerds in a van with a map!) we found the Hegge stave church, which features a carved figure that resembled the Norse god Odin!  Hegge is just one of many stave churches which incorporates pagan and Christian elements into a single building.  We struck out again; Hegge was not open for tours on the day of our visit.



Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegge_stave_church
Year Built: 1216 (Source: stavkirke.info)

Høre
Next up on the self-guided tour was the Høre stave church.  The next day, with the entire group present, we returned to Høre.  I gave a short lecture to my classmates on stave churches, their history, their preservation, and their geography in the cemetery beside the church.  There is no better place to learn about and discuss such structures.









Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Høre_stave_church
Year Built: 1180 (Source: stavkirke.info)

Lomen
The last stave church in the area was Lomen.  The road to the church was a little tricky to find.  A few wrong turns and iffy multi-point-turns on narrow roads and private driveways, and we figured out where to park.  The church had beautiful carved portals around the entrances.





Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomen_stave_church
Year Built: 1192 (Source: stavkirke.info)

Reinli
FINALLY, a stave church we can tour!!  Our guide was an older Norwegian woman, who shared some of the church's history with us.  There is an old manual organ from the 1800s, and our guide actually let two people from our group play it!  Then she proceeded to sing us an old Norwegian folk song, a cappella, so we could hear the acoustics of the building.  Incredible!  Back at the church's office/store she let us hold the church's original key from the year 1023.  A replica is used to open the church today.











Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinli_Stave_Church
Year Built: 1326 (Source: stavkirke.info)

Gol
Gol was much less impressive after our tour of Reinli.  There were no awesome Norwegian ladies singing folk songs to us at Gol, and there were TONS of tourists.  I find it interesting that the Gol stave church was moved from its original location to the Norsk Folkemuseum / Norwegian Museum of Cultural History in the late 1800s, after its original village replaced it with a more modern church, and the King purchased it with the intent of preserving it.  Since the church is in a museum, rather than a historic building being preserved within a small community, I felt more comfortable taking interior photographs.  I did take photos in the Reinli stave church, but I was a little uncomfortable doing so.  Anyway, here are my photos from Gol:









Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gol_Stave_Church
Year Built: 1216 (Source: stavkirke.info)


Odds and Ends

The UNESCO site references 1300+ stave churches that have been "indexed".  I'd love to map the locations of former stave churches, but I can't find much information on the buildings or their locations.  When UNESCO says "indexed", I think they may be referring to sites mentioned in a collection of sources (folk stories, old literature, etc), rather than an actual list that someone has compiled of these sources.

As we visited each stave church, I searched for the oldest headstone I could find.  I was hoping I'd find something from the 1300s, but the oldest headstones were from the mid- or early-1800s.  What's the deal?! Apparently, Norway lets you have your cemetery plot for free for 20 years.  Someone (family, estate, friend, organization) needs to sponsor it after the 20 years are up, or else they'll reuse it for someone more recently dead.  While it  may be a creepy thought, this article brings a lot more creepy thoughts to mind: Grave Problem, Nothing is Rotting in the State of Norway.

Airmail Beacons

If you've been on the internet in the past week or so, you've probably seen one of the following stories:

• Dead Media Beat: US Mail airmail arrows (Wired)
• These concrete arrows point the way across America (io9)
• This Really Exists: Giant Concrete Arrows That Point Your Way Across America (CN Traveler)
• The 80-year-old concrete arrows hat helped deliver the mail (The Verge)
• The Forgotten Giant Arrows That Guide You Across America (Messy Nessy Chic)

My first thought?  Road trip!  Fortunately, there is a great website that catalogs the locations (and former locations) of these beacons.  Since I live in Denver, I looked at nearby counties in Colorado and Wyoming, and was pretty happy to find two arrows that still exist nearby, according to Google's satellite view!  Here's the map (red = gone, blue planes = still visible):

View Air Beacons Near Denver in a larger map

A comment on PlanetZhanna said that MO1218 is on private land, so I figured I'd give MO1245 a try.  Not too far off of I-80, and not too far from Denver.  Let's go!

Airmail Beacon MO1245

About 1 mile down a dirt road (W Pilot Peak Rd) and a little further down USFS Road 703B (not 703A!) we found the site.

W Pilot Peak Rd

Where's the arrow?!

Look closely!

Oh, there it is!

Generator building

What a view!!

The site itself was beautiful!  The beacon arrow was still there, and though the tower was gone, the generator building was also still standing.  Definitely one of the better remaining sites!  Very cool!

More Beacons?  More Arrows?
Of course since I'm from PA, I had to see if there were any of these concrete arrows still around there.  I went back to PlanetZhanna's site and mapped all of the locations in PA.  Here's the map (red = gone, yellow = couldn't tell from satellite view):



View Air Beacons - PA in a larger map

Sadly, it appears as though there are no remaining beacon arrows in PA.  Several were on roads named "Beacon Rd" or similar.  I always wondered where these roads got their names!  One of my favorites was KX2026, located on "Old Airport Rd" with no airport nearby.  It's fascinating to see how much the landscape can change in 50 years, when many of these were still visible!

State High Point - Pennsylvania!

I've never really been a highpointer, but I do like heights!  So a fascination with highpointing may have been inevitable.  Without further ado, here's the first in my series of high point adventures!

Pennsylvania's Highest Point
Casselman Wind Project
On the way home from Pittsburgh in July, Jimmy and I decided that we should stop by PA's highest point, and since Ken was in the car with us, he came too.  Not long after we got off the turnpike and started taking some of Somerset County's winding roads, we saw some wind turbines in the distance.  We agreed that if we came anywhere near them we'd try to find a way to get closer to explore.  Fortunately, we ended up driving right past a service road for the Casselman Wind Power Project!  And so we had some fun taking photos and admiring the turbines.  :)  Most of them were spinning, but it seemed that they were powered to slightly spin even if there wasn't much wind.  I suppose it uses more energy to start them up again from a dead stop than it does to keep them a little powered all the time.  Anyway, here are my photos!





Mt. Davis
Having had our fill of wind energy, we continued on towards Mt Davis.  The elevation change in our drive to the highpoint was very gradual, and we were almost surprised when we saw the "High Point" sign. We pulled over for the obligatory photos, and found a path going back into the woods to what turned out to be Baughman Rocks.We found a really nice deck with some benches, and on the other side of that, the actual rocks.  There is also a plaque that shares the creepy story of the family the rocks were named after.  And as seems to be the case in most rural areas, the high point sign seems to be a target for shooting practice.

Path to Baughman Rocks	Baughman Rocks plaque
Sitting area at Baughman Rocks	The rocks!

Jimmy + Mt Davis sign

Bang bang

We continued a bit further, turned down what looked like an access road, and found a parking lot.  There were a bunch of hiking trails that we opted not to test, as it nearly 100°F, and we were melting.  We did climb to the top of the observation tower, and admired the large relief map and the beautiful surroundings.  The plaque at the top of the tower even went so far as to explain the optical illusion of other mountains looking higher than the highpoint, when viewed from the tower.  I was particularly fond of one tree that we saw towering over the rest of the scenery.

The Mt Davis lookout tower	Relief map and description
Highest tree in PA?	My favorite tree again!

According to the DCNR brochure:

"Mt. Davis was named after John Nelson Davis, an early settler and former owner of the site.  He was a Civil War veteran, land surveyor, and naturalist.  It is said that he could readily identify all the wildlife and wild plants in the region, and was familiar with the various rock formations. 

This area is unique in that the central feature is a rock, 3,213 feet above sea level.  This rock is the highest point in Pennsylvania. ..."

Mt. Davis is beautiful, and I'd definitely like to visit again this spring and check out some of the hiking trails!

Maps and Links
All state high points can be found on a map here, and further information on state high and low points can be found listed here.  Of course I need my own map to track my visits, so here is my map of state high points.  I promise I'll keep it updated. :)

View US High Points in a larger map

For more information on Mt Davis:

• Wikipedia - Mt Davis 
• DCNR Brochure

Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike

Special thanks to Jane at Desolation Travel for posting a link to this article!
Be sure to check out her awesome site!  Woo!

In the summer of 2008 two friends and I rented a truck, threw our bicycles in the back, and drove about 3 hours west... to Breezewood, PA.  Breezewood itself is an interesting place, but it wasn't the purpose of our trip.  What was?  The 10+ miles of Pennsylvania Turnpike that had been abandoned 40 years earlier.

I had come across a few websites about the Abandoned PA Turnpike earlier in the year, and immediately decided that I needed to visit.  I was completely fascinated by the idea of such a large abandoned segment of highway, now available for the daring hiker or bicyclist to explore.  That, and it was close enough to do in a day trip. 

The Journey 

Breezewood
Upon taking exit 161 off of the PA Turnpike (I-76/I-70), we found ourselves in Breezewood, PA.  Having been a popular travel route since only a Native American trail passed through the valley, Breezewood caters to the traveler passing through. The main stretch (Lincoln Hwy/US-30) is absolutely PACKED with motels, fast food restaurants, quick-marts, gas stations with plenty of overnight truck parking, and a travel center with shops to pick up anything an interstate traveler may need (including a rogue Radio Shack, which produces receipts that other Radio Shacks won't recognize for exchanges).  And traffic.  Breezewood has lots of traffic.  And everyone is in a hurry to get back on the road.

A peek down Rt 30 (via flickr user Sean_Marshall)

To say Breezewood caters to travelers is not to say that it is a very hospitable place.  In fact, most of the motels/restaurants/gas stations/etc are pretty run down looking, or quite outdated to say the very least.  Take for example, the Breezewood Motel:

$29/night is a steal, but I can't say I'd want to sleep there.  

The ladder on the right is a nice touch.

Onward to the Abandoned Highway
Eager to get to biking, we continued a few hundred feet east on US-30 and found what looked like as good a parking spot as any.  We found a car parked in a gravel area between US-30 and Tannery Rd, right at the base of a hill.  The hill was the bank for the overpass that had since been torn down, and at the top was our entrance to the Abandoned Turnpike!

"Pike2Bike is closed.  You can still use it, but it's your own fault if you die."

Welcome to a former highway!

After about 1.5 miles of old highway with the occasional ambitious plant growing in a large crack, we found what may be the abandoned highway's biggest draw: a tunnel.  This is the Ray's Hill Tunnel.  It's about 2/3 of a mile long.  When it was in use, it was the shortest of the Turnpike's seven tunnels.  And now here it stands.  Forty years after its closure, and becoming more and more overgrown by nature.

My friend Matty in front of Ray's Hill Tunnel

Looking into the tunnel, the only light was the tiny dot of sunlight we could see at the other end.  The air was cool and moist, and smelled of mold.  I took a photo using a flash, and quickly saw that the air looked as unpleasant as it smelled.

Delicious.

We found a rusty chair near the tunnel entrance, and the requisite amount of graffiti, but not much else.  As for the doors to the left, locked.  Since we had to pass through this tunnel again to get back to the car, we decided to try our luck with the doors on the next tunnel and save breaking and entering for later in the trip if necessary.  We still had a lot more of the highway to explore!

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Exiting Ray's Hill Tunnel                      |             Photo from Chernobyl?  Nope!

And so we biked onward.  The highway segment between the two tunnels isn't very different from a typical limited-access highway.  Sure the road condition is a bit sub-par, and in places it's overgrown with plants, but it otherwise feels pretty much like a ride on a highway in rural PA - complete with occasional glimpses of farms.  The highway has been used off and on for testing... testing new fuels, testing new paint, testing new reflectors, testing rumble-strips.  So we encountered a bunch of changes in the road as we biked along.   

   

Next up is the Sideling Hill Tunnel.  At around 1.3 miles long, it is the longest tunnel on the PA Turnpike.  The door to the room next to the tunnel entrance had been torn off, so we poked around with flashlights.  The floor was flooded with about an inch of standing rusty water, but past that we found the stairs leading up to the ventilation shafts.  Awesome!!  Several stairs were missing, and many more were completely rusted through.  Maybe this was a bad idea?  No going back.  Upon reaching the next floor, I noticed something was missing... a bunch of the floor.  Not sure why or how, as it's a concrete structure.  We managed to not plummet to our collective death.  The next room housed a bunch of old equipment, which is apparently now a popular restroom for birds.  Past the rusty equipment is an attic area that seemed to span the length of the tunnel.  With lots of little circular holes in the floor, I'm guessing it was also used as access to change light bulbs in the tunnel ceiling.  There was another room off to the side, but my friend entered and quickly exited, notifying us that there was a rotting vulture just inside the room, and not much else.  Pass.  Back around the missing-floor, down the rusty stairs, through the flooded room, and outside we go. 

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 First floor sludge                     |                     Poopy equipment

 Ventilation attic with light bulb access

Since our flashlights had already endured one tunnel and a bunch of building exploration, the batteries were pretty drained.  We made it maybe 1/5 of the way into the Sideling Hill Tunnel when our lights went out.  We could still see the end of the tunnel we came from, but only darkness the direction we were heading.  So we decided turning back was a better option than continuing into complete darkness with concrete falling from above us and holes in the road.  Back to Breezewood for lunch, and a little driving around to charge the flashlights.  We drove over to the other side of the Sideling Hill Tunnel, and attempted it from the opposite direction.  Some cool road signs, graffiti, and a surplus of concrete medians were there. As the flashlights didn't hold up for more than a few minutes, we had to leave the tunnel uncompleted.

The History

Why was the turnpike abandoned?
All seven tunnels on the PA Turnpike were originally single tunnels through the mountain.  The highway is two lanes in each direction, but at each tunnel it would squeeze down to one lane in each direction.  An increase in vehicular traffic meant that there were frequent bottleneck issues.  So in the 1960s the four tunnels that are still in operation were "twinned", meaning an additional tunnel was added right next to the existing one, to provide two lanes in each direction.  The other three tunnels were bypassed, as I assume they thought it would be easier to go over and around the mountains, rather than through them again.  The current rumor on the internet is that the third bypassed tunnel (Laurel Hill) is being used as a shed for road salt by the Turnpike Commission.  So it's off limits.

Maps and Sources

I've created a map that may help if you ever visit:

View Abandoned PA Turnpike in a larger map

Sources:

• Wikipedia - Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike
• Wikipedia - Pennsylvania_Turnpike: The "Tunnel_Highway."
• http://www.abandonedturnpike.com/
• http://www.pahighways.com/toll/abandonedturnpike.html
• http://briantroutman.com/highways/abandonedpaturnpike/trip.html
• My Flickr Photo Set

No Turbot in Turbotville, PA

While en route from Bethlehem, PA to Williamsport, PA, I passed signs on I-180 for a place called Turbotville.  I was amused by the name, but didn't think much beyond that.

View Larger Map

Last night, while looking at a website about Iqaluit (yes, I'm still obsessed with Nunavut's capital), I read something about a "turbot fishing industry".  What?!  Turbot is a word outside of the tiny borough in Pennsylvania?!

Interwebz to the rescue!  Turbot are a type of fish!  More specifically, a flatfish.  They're related to flounder and halibut!  I assume they're similarly delicious.

 My, why lovely eyes you have!

Despite how cool this fish looks, Turbotville is not named after it.  In fact, it appears that the fish lives nowhere near Turbotville, PA.  It lives in the North Atlantic (hence, Iqaluit), the Mediterranean, the Baltic Sea, and the Black Sea.

So then what was Turbotville named after?!  Wikipedia has this to say:

"The original name was Snydertown, but the name was later changed for Turbot Township (originally Turbutt). The borough now lies completely inside Lewis Township. The first settlement was made by Philip Reifsnyder, a blacksmith, who built a house near the corner of Main and Paradise streets."  

So the borough was named for the township it used to be part of, but I can't find anything about the origin of the township's name.  It was probably the name of one of the early settlers in the area.

Also, Turbotville has their own bank: Turbotville National Bank!

Quakake!

Another installment of "What? This is really a town name?!", Pennsylvania.

To begin, I've never been to Quakake. I've driven very nearby, but never stopped. Honestly, until writing this blog I wasn't even quite sure how to pronounce it. Quay-Cake? Quake-ache? Qua-ka-kay? So many fun possibilities! I think it's really Quake-ache.

Despite me having no idea how to pronounce it until today, this word has existed much earlier than today! It appears in the names of several things in northeastern[ish] PA. What kind of things, you ask?

• A Town
• A Railroad
• A Creek
• A Lake

• Probably other things Google isn't telling me about
  

Really? Tell me more!
Ok.

Quakake, The Town
Quakake is in the northeastern part of Schuylkill County. Its status of U6 tells me that it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere. A quick look at a map proves my theory!

View Larger Map
Sure, it's 12 minutes from Hazleton, but... it's Hazleton.

A look at that map will also reveal a pretty cool looking rail system! Which brings me to...

Quakake, The Railroad
Well, it used to be the Quakake Railroad. Then they went bankrupt and became the Lehigh & Mahanoy Railroad. According to the Wikipedia article, the tracks have been abandoned for several decades, but since they're still on the maps I wonder if they're still there? Maybe I'll find out one day.

Quakake, The Creek
It's a creek, and eventually meets up with the Lehigh (from the west). Not much else to tell you here...

Quakeake, The Lake
Yeah. It's called Quakake Lake. :) It's pretty funny looking too!
It's about 20 minutes from Quakake, PA.

What does it mean?
The coolest book ever tells me the following:

A corruption of Cuwenkeek, "pine lands". Cuwen-hanna would signify, "pine stream".

So there you have it, kids - Quakake.