Today we started off by seeing Ft. Pitt at the Confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers, where the Ohio rises. Initially the Ohio was thought to be a continuation of the Allegheny, the northernmost river, but then it was decided both rivers were equally important. The Mon is navigable quite a bit farther and this is where the smoky steel mills and other heavy industry were.

Ft. Duchesne.

This marks the exact site of Ft. Duquesne, built by the French in 1754. The Fort was Destroyed by the French on the approach of the English Army in 1758.

--From the contemporary military drawing in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.

Once the French were defeated by the English (and some obscure colonel named Washington),they then built Ft. Pitt on the remains of Ft. Duchesne 240 years ago.

We got into the museum at a reduced price because while our history museum pass was no good, I pointed out we were a family!

Inside, we finally found out about the Battle of Bushy Run. (See November 21.) In 1763 the Indians, who had been promised that the whites would leave them alone after their war, were incensed that they were still there, and rose up simultaneously all over the frontier. There was, for instance, "murder at the Saw Mill." (Rich's old neighborhood is close to Saw Mill Run Boulevard.) The soldiers at Ft. Pitt managed to defend themselves and were under seige.
Colonel Bouquet lost 8 officers and 115 men at Bushy Run, before defeating the Indians and raising the seige of Ft. Pitt.

The 5th fort to be built in the Golden Triangle was Ft. Fayette. Ed was enjoying seeing all the familiar local names and learning their origins.

Then we went to look at the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Place, which I wanted to see. This totally baffled Ed, who never did see what the appeal is. However, look at these pictures of downtown Pittsburgh:

The Golden Triangle. That's the Hilton in front. This is the biggest symbol of Pittsburgh's Renaissance, changing from the City of Smoke to the Golden Triangle.

Downtown is very attractive.

THIS is PPG Place. Now, ain't it purty? There's this one big glass castle, surrounded by four smaller ones. Before Pittsburgh made steel, it made glass. I'd seen a picture of the Place full of luminarias, all reflecting in all the glass.
We were hungry, so we went into the food court in one of the buildings. I was amused by the separation of the food booths... over here, French, Italian, Greek (where I got pierogis, don't ask!) and Chinese. There, a deli, a hamburger stand, and pizza. I saw definite class distinction there!

There's no mall downtown (actually, it turns out to be on the Northside, but who wants to go malling that close to Christmas anyway?) so we wandered back to the car and drove over to the West End. This is where the boys grew up.

The gable was added since they sold the house. The small one on the left belongs to sick Uncle Julian and is for sale. Rich remembers helping build it. The big house is where my father-in-law was born, and there was a time the grandparents, two unmarried uncles and one unmarried aunt, and my inlaws and the first 4 or 5 children lived in it. Rich had told me how big his yard was, but neglected to mention it was vertical! If you look carefully, you can see the tower of Pitt off in the distance. (We were incredibly blessed by the weather while we were there!)

This is the view from the West End Overlook where Rich got stuck on Monday night. The Allegheny is on the left, with Three Rivers Stadium and the Carnegie Science Center (and the submarine) and the Ohio right below.

Then it was into the center of Elliott, the suburb/village that was their actual business district. We looked at their now-defunct high school, and the old church, and I think this is a great name for a tavern. I guess this was "Temperanceville" for awhile, but it apparently didn't take.

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