Historic Trail Opens its Gates
By Eric Horgos
206 years ago, a column of British and colonial troops led by British general Edward Braddock and colonial major, George Washington, queued up in what became the city of Cumberland, Maryland and marched northwest through a strategic gap in the mountains - the Narrows - to secure a distant meeting of the waters known then as the Forks of the Ohio – the three rivers of contemporary Pittsburgh. As we all know, the Anglo-American forces were mauled and turned away by a smaller force of French and Indian defenders on a stretch of the Monongahela River nearly within sight of their prize, yet destiny was fulfilled as Anglo-American forces prevailed and eventually Pittsburgh was able to fulfill its promise as a major American city and steel manufacturing center.
That industrial might was forged primarily on that same stretch of the Monongahela River that tripped up General Braddock and Major Washington two centuries ago, and when the steel industry wheezed and collapsed in the 1980’s the resulting decay was at its gravest state on this stretch of riverbank, a condition which until recently had sickened the entire metropolitan region’s economic health and its pride. Developments away from those shores of the Monongahela have bolstered Pittsburgh’s economic fortunes; and yet we return to those same waters of the Monongahela – running from McKeesport, past the site of General Braddock’s defeat, to the city limits of Pittsburgh - where one of the two remaining hurdles that remain to instilling a greater appreciation for our four-state region’s landscapes will be cleared on Friday, June 17th: the dedication of the Whitaker Bridge on The Great Allegheny Passage. This new iron-ore red colored span will allow bicyclists and walkers to literally hurdle the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks on the Kennywood/Homestead side of the Monongahela River, as the new Whitaker Bridge that will be officially opened at 10:00 am when the Allegheny Trail Alliance organization forgoes the traditional ribbon cutting festivities for a raising of a ceremonial railroad gate.
Raising a railroad gate is a fitting tribute on a trail that largely parallels the railroads that link Cumberland and Pittsburgh via river valleys, in contrast to Braddock’s fateful path over the ridge-tops. While those railroads of yesterday helped to fuel the industrial behemoths that gave Pittsburgh an environment [natural and built] that evoked “hell with its lid off”, the Great Allegheny Passage could possibly be one of the projects that has done more to foster an appreciation throughout our four-state region for our landscape of linear ridges, serpentine rivers…and of gridded towns on riverbottoms and hillsides with graceful names like Mount Savage, Meyersdale, Rockwood, Dunbar, Smithton, West Newton: we forget that the environment is also a man-made construct that should be as appreciated as is the natural environment. Sojourners along the GAP have been rediscovering the forgotten splendor of traditional towns that look like a grandfather’s old train garden. Some of the buildings are a little dusty and not every detail is freshly painted, but the solid and familiar patterns when people lived in towns that were not solely reliant on machines to be livable but were of an agreeable human scale provide examples of how future stakeholders in our four-state community can construct built environments [be they autocentric suburbs or traditional towns] that enhance our region’s captivating natural surroundings.
The GAP trail might be thought of as a solely a natural amenity in our four state region but make no mistake: it is a true triumph of both environments: built and natural. The portals to the trail are spectacular instances of both from the awesome breach through the mountains that is the Cumberland Narrows to the trail’s journey across what Travel and Leisure magazine named as one of the world’s ten greatest pedestrian bridges, the Pittsburgh’s Hot Metal Bridge that opens up the vista towards the Forks of the Ohio and the heartland of the nation that lays beyond.
Come out to the Allegheny Trail Alliance’s ceremony to dedicate the Great Allegheny Passage’s Whitaker Bridge. Look around at that stretch of the river valley, with haunting ghosts of past disasters [from General Braddock to the collapse of Big Steel] to harbingers of future hopes [from the celebrated Carnegie Library and Music Hall renovation in Homestead, the Carrie Furnace laying dormant yet proud across the river beckoning for restoration] such as this bridge.
If you chose to attend the ceremony, or have any questions, please RSVP to admin@atatrail.org or call 724 537 6905.
Great Allegheny Passage/Allegheny Trail Alliance links:
http://www.facebook.com/GAPTrail
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette link to the GAP’s Whitaker Bridge dedication:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11161/1152668-55.stm
For information on towns and their amenities along the GAP: