Exploring Coudersport, PA

Potter County Courthouse

Nestled among the tree-laden hills of Potter County, Coudersport is a quaint town that makes you feel as if it is twenty years ago. There is no megastores and there are very few national chain retailers, other than the ubiquitous McDonalds that permeates small town America.  The town survives in spite of the economic downturn and the mechanization of the lumber industry. While there we had dinner at a small, locally owned, restaurant where the menu was limited but the food was simple and good. It was a place where locals went for a dinner out, but the dinner selection was like going to a friend’s house: you ate what they had.

North Main Street

The buildings in town are neat and well kept. Most of the buildings date from the 1880s and 1890s, the boom days of the lumber industry. The Masonic Building on North Main Street still has the remnants of advertising for a local confectionery on its side. Inside the post office, built during the Great Depression, there is a frieze dedicated to the lumber industry that hangs next to a display containing the first letter mailed from the new post office in 1938. 

The Allegheny River, which makes its way through town, has its headwaters approximately ten miles from Coudersport (near Cobb Hill). The river briefly goes north, into New York, before joining the Monongalia in Pittsburgh to form the Ohio River.

Cherry Springs State Park is located approximately 15 miles away. The park is designated a dark sky area, which means that the park is protected from ambient light sources. With the reduction of light pollution, observing the night sky (stars, constellations, planets and the Milky Way) much better. People travel from across the eastern half of the United States to stargaze at Cherry Springs because it is considered to be the best location on the East Coast.

Cherry Hill State Park at Sunset

Although the night we were there was not optimal observation conditions, there were high clouds and a very bright moon, one still got a sense about what most of us miss on a nightly basis. An extremely bright meteor, that streak seemingly half way across the sky, was the highlight of the evening. As the sun sank into the west, and the orange glow faded to black, those who were there competed in hushed tones to point out each new star as it appeared in the sky. The observation area is very user friendly with comfortable benches whose basks are reclined at a sixty degree angles to facilitate looking up. The benches are pointed toward the east to aid in adjusting the viewers’ eyes to the dark as the sun sets.

The light clouds and the bright moon adumbrated the Milky Way. Enough so that once again I contemplated in the dark what these faint points of light meant. It has been several years since I took and astronomy class, and even longer since I was first mesmerized by Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. We live in a time and a society that emphasizes us as individuals. Our lives, replete with electronics and artificial light, prevent us from seeing the stars. Many of us engage in solipsistic habits that emphasize our own importance. There are billions and billions of stars, as Sagan would say, in the sky. Each of those stars represents a sun, potentially encircled by planets, at distances so vast it is difficult to contemplate. Many of the stars we see in the sky are so far away that it took scores, hundreds, even thousands of years for the light to reach earth. In the face of such overwhelming number and distances, sitting in the dark, quietly, it is difficult not to feel insignificant.

I was reminded of a prayer I read while in Dublin at the Church of Adam and Eve. At the Shrine to St. Clare of Assisi (1193-1253) a reflection begins, “Place your mind before the mirror of eternity!” 

Vintage Advertisement (Moravia, NY)

A vintage advertisement appears on the side of the building at 148 North Main Street in Moravia. The Gold Medal Flour sign is in very good shape, but because of its location it is difficult to photograph. There is a gap between the building and the one to the immediate left where one can walk between and get a good look at the sign; however, it is not conducive to photographs.

Vintage Advertisements (McAdoo, PA)

Postie’s Beverages – 55 South Manning Street, McAdoo, PA.

It appears that Postie’s was once a local soft drink maker and distributor that have evolved into just a distributor today. I did find some examples of old bottles for sale online, but relatively little other information.

As I was finishing my photography of the building an older man stuck his head out the door and yelled at me, “What the hell are you looking at?” I explained that I was a traveler, interested in old buildings, and just taking a few photographs. He replied, “A traveler, uh?” I went on to apologize if I were disturbing him in any way. He looked around, still not sure of me, “I thought you might be the bank, looking to repossess me.” I assured him I was not, which seemed to placate him. The encounter made me disinclined to enter the store. Although the next time I am passing through I will, more than likely, stop in.

Patriotic Rome

Rome, New York claims many patriotic sites for the traveler to consider. Some are more obvious than others; like many places a little investigation leads to interesting results.
Fort Stanwix, a major colonial British fort, is the first place the Stars & Stripes first flew in Battle (3 August 1777) in an encounter between American forces on one sides and British and Indian allies on the other. A few paces away from the fort, at the corner of West Liberty and North James, is the Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldiers. The soldiers were disinterred during an archaeological dig at Fort Stanwix. The monument was dedicated on the country’s bicentennial (4 July 1976).

First Baptist Church, Rome, New York

More obscure is the plaque that adorns the First Baptist Church, at the corner of North George and West Embargo streets. The Reverend Francis Bellamy, the author of the Pledge of Allegiance, was baptized (by immersion) at the First Baptist Church of Rome, New York in 1869. The current church was built in 1872. Although born in Mount Morris, NY, Bellamy’s parents were active in the Baptist Church and moved to Rome when he was five.

Bellamy wrote the Pledge of Allegiance as a way to commemorate the opening of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago and to bolster a sense of patriotism among school children. Published in Youth’s Companion magazine, Bellamy encouraged schools across the country to have children recite the pledge to coincide with the official dedication of the Exposition. Incidentally, the Columbian Exposition was to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the landing of Columbus in the Western Hemisphere and created quite a spectacle. The stories of the pledge and the Exposition are related quite effectively in Erik Larson’s book, The Devil in the White City.

As published in September 1892 the Pledge read:

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Subsequent changes to the pledge, including the addition of the words “under God” in 1954, would occur every so often. Perhaps a surprising fact many people do not realize is that a year prior to publishing the pledge, Bellamy lost his job as minister in a Boston church because, as a Christian Socialist, his sermons on the rights of working people and fair distribution of wages were too radical for his parishioners. 

Vintage Advertisements (Auburn, NY)

This sign for Pillsbury was observed on my way to Falcon Stadium during the middle of a tremendous downpour. It is on the side of a building that is located at the corner of North Division and Wall streets.

McClay’s Mill Twin Bridges

Seemingly in the middle of nowhere, McClay’s Mill Twin Bridges crosses the Conodoquinet Creek in Franklin County. Located not far from Middle Spring and Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, the bridge was built by Silas Harry, a local stonemason, in 1827. Harry would go on to reconstruct the Franklin County Courthouse in 1846. The bridge was repaired by PennDOT in 2010.

The Conodoquinet Creek is a 106-mile tributary to the Susquehanna River. Its name, in the Algonquian language means, “For a long way, nothing but bends.”

Abandoned Churches in Pittsburgh

My recent sojourn to Pittsburgh was primarily a baseball trip; however, I took a few hours to investigate some of my ongoing interests. Future blog posts will feature some of these investigations. This post, while substantial, still feels incomplete and I will more than likely return to the theme in the coming months.

The recent bankruptcy of Detroit has directed the public’s attention on the plight of urban areas, especially after the decline of an industrial sector. Detroit has experienced decay, depopulation and disassembling. Citizens have become demoralized and have pondered how to escape the seemingly inevitable downward spiral of decline and decay. What is notable is that Detroit is not the only city to have experienced this phenomenon. Other cities, such as Youngstown, Ohio and Camden, New Jersey, have experienced significant decline as well.

Recently, I have been reading Alice Mah’s Industrial Ruination, which is an examination of the artifacts, or “waste,” left behind from industrial societies. As Mah points out the ruins are not static – the empty and abandoned buildings are one state and will be repaired or demolished and rebuilt. Yet, for the residents of that city or town, the artifacts are often nostalgic reminders of what once was. In my explorations of Pittsburgh, I have found an interesting phenomenon that appears to be outside Mah’s analysis. Pittsburgh has had its setbacks and, although they are optimistic signs of its revitalization, a number churches in the city and surrounding areas have been left abandoned and derelict. Yet, many of the churches in Pittsburgh, architecturally, reflect a pre-industrial impulse. Given that many who worked in Pittsburgh’s factories were immigrants, the churches more than likely reflect memories of their homeland and pre-migration lives. What to do with these abandoned churches is a confusing and difficult problem for the city. Because they are architecturally different, and religiously significant, should the city and the community work harder to preserve them? My sentiment is to save these structures. Yet, how many can be?

St. Mary Magdalene Church in Homestead (July 2013)

St. Mary Magdalene Church – Standing across Amity Street from Frick Park, St. Mary Magdalene towers above the working class houses and other churches in Homestead. It was built in 1895-96 and served the working class families who moved to the area to work in local steel mills. After a fire in 1932, the church was substantially destroyed; it was rebuilt and re-opened in 1936. (There was yet another fire in 1977.) The decline of the steel industry in Homestead and Munhall resulted in a depopulation in both boroughs. In 1992, the Diocese of Pittsburgh decided to merge the parishes of Homestead and Munhall, including St. Mary Magdalene. Although originally slated to close, local residents petitioned to have St Mary Magdalene remain open as the new St. Maximilian Kolbe parish; however, the church was forced to close the building in 2009 as a result of financial pressures. The church is currently for sale.

The former St. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church

St. Peter and Paul Church – Situated in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, St. Peter and Paul Church was built in 1890. The church suffered a lighting strike and major fire in 1909 and was subsequently rebuilt. In 1992, the parish was merged with five other parishes and closed. In 1999, the church was featured in the Kevin Smith film, Dogma, starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Exploring the neighborhood, the church and rectory, on Larimer Avenue, still dominates the area and from a distance it stills looks impressive. The visual is helped because there are several empty blocks, presumably where houses have been demolished, in the vicinity of the vacant church. But up close, the church tells a different story. In recent months the church and rectory has been broken into, presumably by the homeless, and fires have been started in an effort to keep warm.

The front door to St. Peter and Paul in April 2013

While both of these churches currently stand empty, another former Catholic church has been reincarnated into one Pittsburgh’s most successful dining destinations. The former St. John the Baptist Church is now the Church Brew Work, an award winning microbrewery in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh at 36th and Liberty. The cornerstone of the church was laid in 1902; however, because of the reorganization of the Catholic Church in the early 1990s, John the Baptist was closed in 1993. In 1996, after a renovation, the building was reopened as the microbrewery. The restaurant and brewpub has saved the beautiful interior of the church making it a unique dining experience. Whether Mary Magdalene is repurposed in a way that saves its architectural legacy remains to be seen; however, time is running out on St. Peter and Paul. If someone does not do something with the church in East Liberty soon, there may be nothing left to salvage.