Pike Day consists of parades, tours and a wagon train. Last weekend, we saw it all!
Wagon Train- In 1806, President Thomas Jefferson signed into law an act authorizing federal funds to build a road from Cumberland, Maryland to Ohio. This act set the stage for federal support of our transportation system, as we know it today. Many counties in Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio celebrate this 300-mile route with authentic wagon trains and other old fashioned activities.
When you live in a small town, everyone is famous! Anyone could be in the Wagon Train and the elementary, Jr. high, and high school led the parade. I guess when you live in the city and there are tons of high schools nearby, you almost never get to be in the parade. Am I right or am I right?! All the churches in the area had booths of free cookies and drinks or 75 cent hot dogs. When was the last time you paid 75 cents for a hot dog?!
The next day, we hit all the nearby historical sites for tours.
We started off at Mt. St. Macrina, formerly known as Oak Hill, which is where all our outside photos from our PA reception were taken. 1902- Oak Hill was the palatial estate of former weathy coal baron, J.V. Thompson, one of the leading figures in the great coal and coke boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Thompson had dealings in coal lands all over Southwestern PA (Friendship Hill was once his summer home), but financial reverses eventually forced him into bankruptcy. In 1933 the Byzantine Catholic Order of Sisters of St. Basil acquired the property. The Thompson mansion, visible from Route 40, is now the Sister's retreat center.
From there we headed to the Toll House. Searight Tollhouse recieved its name from its location near the village of Searights, named for its most prominent citizen, William Searight. Built around 1835, this is one of six tollhouses authorized by the State to aid in the collection of tolls needed to maintain Pennsylvania's section of the National Road. With the coming of the railroads to Western Pennsylvania in the 1850's, traffic over the road declined, and after the Civil War it was used chiefly for local trips. Tolls were collected until 1905. The advent of the automobile in the early twentieth century rescued the road from disrepair, and by the 1920's the National Road was reincarnated as U.S. 40.
Finally, our last stop was at Nemacolin Castle. In 1789, Jacob Bowman, a pioneer merchant from Hagerstown, Maryland, built a frontier trading post on the approximate site of Old Fort Burd. In 1795 President Washington named Bowman Brownsville’s first postmaster. In the years that followed, a mansion was built around the simplistic trading post. When Jacob died in 1847, he left the house to his son Nelson. Nelson married late in his life and had 6 children. Only two of the children survived until adulthood. When Nelson died in 1892, he left the house to Charles Bowman who lived there until his death with his wife Lelia. After Lelia died in 1959, her wish was that the house become a museum. The house is now maintained as a museum by the Brownsville Historical Society.
All these historical sites are along our famous National Road aka Rt. 40. If you're ever in PA, take a drive down it and you might find something magnificent!
Check out our friends Matt and Maggie! They participated in the Wagon Train and rode their own horses =) You guys rock!
