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Westmoreland Heritage

Driving the Lincoln Highway in Western Pennsylvania: A review of sights from Stoystown to Ohio

May 20, 2013 by Cece

To all my faithful readers out there, I apologize for the delay in posting this. Between server troubles and a lack of internet access, this post has been re-written over 5 times. Argh! But I won’t let that get me down.

The fun continues in the Keystone State for this post! I was in this section of Pennsylvania for about ten days and did two shows, and I have to say I loved my time in this part of the state too. What also made this part of the journey so wonderful for me was all of the great support that I got from local Lincoln Highway enthusiasts. After my short time there, I feel I can now call them good friends, which is the best gift anyone can have.

One of these people is author and local history buff Jennifer Sopko, who not only wrote a wonderful article about me for the Latrobe bulletin but she also talked about our day out and about in Westmoreland County on her website. Click here to read that post. I won’t replicate all of what she wrote, but I will definitely include a few pictures of our adventure below. She mentions Louise with Westmoreland Heritage, who is another valuable resource for the area. Do check out her website if you plan to explore this part of state.

I actually did two performances in this area, one in Ligonier at the Town Hall (an amazing place to perform), and the other was for the Lincoln Highway Festival in Latrobe which were both fantastic performances. The new Lincoln Highway Experience museum is a must see for any Lincoln Highway fan, so plan to make a stop if you are driving in the area.

After staying in Greensburg, I then went to Pittsburgh for several days to get caught up on all of the wonderful things I had seen so far on this journey. I had the honor of not only having lunch with Jennifer but also with two great Lincoln Highway giants: Brian Butko (one of the foremost experts on the road) and Rick Sebak (Producer of the show “A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway“). I did some more Lincoln Highway exploring and all in all took stock on this great part of the trip.

Now, without further ado, here’s some photos from this part of the tour. Enjoy the pictures, and I’ll be posting about my time in Ohio very soon!

This is the outside of the Ligonier Town Hall, which is right off the Lincoln Highway in downtown Ligonier.
Right outside of the town hall is a Lincoln Highway marker, telling you to head straight ahead.
Here’s the front of Ligonier’s LH marker, which is still in pretty good shape.
Here’s me performing at the Ligonier Town Hall! My accompanist is Aaron Gray, and the song I’m performing is (Preparing for) The Lincoln Way by Nolan Stolz. This piece and one other were composed by him specifically for this tour.
While I was staying in Greensburg, I was able to go to the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. There’s a lot of great exhibits there, so definitely check it out! This is painting is of course President Lincoln himself, this time without a beard.
As Jennifer talked about in her blog post, our first stop on our adventure was at Hanna’s Town. Here’s a picture of one of the original cabins from the late 1700’s.
Hanna’s town not only has structures from the 1700’s, but tour guides dress and live from that time period as well. They grow an extensive garden in raised beds, which was common practice for that time period. Our tour guide noted the new resident in one of the beds-a toad. Louise’s daughter named him Frank, and in my mind he will always be Frank the toad.
Louise with Westmoreland Heritage and her family have been active with Hanna’s town for several year. This is her daughter showing off her awesome stilt-walking skills.
This was the opening day for Hanna’s Town this season, so there were some extra fun things going on, including some re-enactors showing off military drills for the late 1700’s.
As Jennifer noted, we stopped by the Lincoln Highway exhibit in the Ligonier Library on Saturday. There were so many wonderful things to the whole collection, including this collection of vintage clothing. It’s there until the end of June, so make sure you go down to basement to check it out!
This awesome barn mural is located outside of Stoystown, PA. I love the middle section; it shows that women were taking to the roads just as quickly as the men did a century ago.
There’s a lot of cool Roadside Giants along the Lincoln Highway, but I think this one is my favorite. You can find this one near where Route 30/219 Interchange.
I couldn’t find this mural on my initial expeditions in the area, but Jennifer and I found it! This mural you can see driving Eastbound through Stoystown.
This Pop-Art gas pump can be found by the Mountain Playhouse/Green Gables in Jennerstown.
This giant sculpture can be found just outside of Ligonier.
This gas pump is across from Idlewild Park, which is the oldest amusement park in Pennsylvania and the third oldest operating amusement park in the United States.
This is the back of the gas pump found at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. Every single pump was painted on every side, and I personally like the back of this one better than the front of the pump.
This pump is at the Lincoln Highway Experience museum.
The Ship Hotel was an important fixture along the Lincoln Highway in this part of the country until it was destroyed by a fire. Many artifacts and souvenirs were donated to the Lincoln Highway Experience Museum, including this chair from the restaurant within the hotel.
I had an awesome time at The Lincoln Highway Festival! I met Michaela, who has dressed up for school as W.A.C. woman. The day of the festival she wore her awesome “civilian” gear, shoes and all.
I had a great time having lunch with these folks. From left to right: Me, Brian Butko, Jennifer Sopko and Rick Sebak.
This Mural can be found in the Strip District of Pittsburgh.
This is statue of Abraham Lincoln, which can be found at the intersection of the William Penn and Lincoln Highways in Wilkinsburg. It was erected in 1918, stolen in 1982, knocked loose in 1992, and then restored and returned to its rightful place in 2002.
This old firehouse is in Pittsburgh along the Lincoln.
This part of the Lincoln Highway in Glenfield is a yellow brick road (about 1.5 miles). It had rained that day, hence why it has the extra shimmer.
Here’s a close up of the bricks.
Thanks to Jan (my friend and host for the week while I was in town) for bringing me to this spot. Watching the city turn from day to night was pretty amazing.
No more brick in this section of the highway! This was shot right outside of Ohioville.
“The Beginning Point” is a monument at the border between the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, on the north side of the Ohio River. It is significant as being the point from which would open what was then the Northwest Territory for settlement in 1785. It is located near the three-way intersection of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the northern tip of West Virginia.

 

Filed Under: Driving, Lincoln Highway, Music, Pennsylvania Tagged With: Brian Butko, Gas Pump, Greensburg, Jennifer Sopko, Ligonier, Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor, Mural, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Rick Sebak, Roadside Sculpture, Stoystown, Westmoreland Heritage, Yellow Brick Road

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