Amtrak's Pennsylvanian

On to New York City

Note: I am falling behind so I will do several posts today.

We got up early the next morning, walked to the train station from our hotel, and boarded, Amtrak's Pennsylvanian for our trip to New York City.

For the most part, the trip was uneventful. Due to a couple of construction zones, we were 17 minutes late pulling into Harrisburg. But, hey, we ride the Cardinal, and for us 17 minutes late is positively on time. Plus, they had a nice "cushion" in Philadelphia, so that we left there on time and made it into New York City a bit early.

At New York's Penn Station we waited around for the train to Yonkers. While we waited, we got a dinner in the station's food court. We had debated about eating in one of the restaurants there, but then decided we didn't have time to eat without being rushed.

The Yonkers train left on time and arrived at Yonkers right on schedule. Kathy, John and E were all there to meet us. Apparently, John had been all excited about Pops and GrandMom coming to see him on the way to the station and while waiting for us. But once we got in the car, well, that was a different story.

However, once we got back to their apartment, he quickly warmed up to us and could barely contain himself as he showed us "his car."

Belmont Cty Ohio and Pittsburgh PA

On to Pittsburgh

We got up the next morning, Sunday, and went back out to Belmont and attended the 11:00 AM service at the little United Methodist Church there. It was a typical small-town service complete with the preacher coming in just before the service (she had had an earlier service in a neighboring town).

After the service we drove on to Pittsburgh. We did this for 2 reasons. First, we wanted to see Martha & Chris, and second, we had train tickets from Pittsburgh to NY for Monday.

The drive took barely more than an hour. We met Martha at the Phipps Conservatory. This meeting was nostalic because we were there to help Martha and Chris celebrate their anniversary, and not coincidentally, they had gotten married at Phipps.

Phipps had changed since last we were there, particularly at the front entrance. And, for the most part, the changes were positive. The front entrance is much better now than it was. A definite improvement.

They were more or less, between shows, however, they still had many beautiful displays. In addition to the flowers they had several glass sculptures

Chihuly sculpture in the entrance hall.

Most are the work of an artist, Dale Chihuly. They are part of what had been a big showing of his work during he previous year. They were, in my humble opinion, nothing short of spectacular. I am glad that Phipps has kept a few of the pieces as part of their permanent display.

After we finished at the Phipps, we had dinner with Martha, and then adjourned to her place where Chris, who had been on a field trip that day, joined us. We had the traditional "present opening."

Then we left our car with them, and Martha took us to our hotel.

Belmont Cty Ohio

Leaving Home

We finally got on the road April 19. I had originally wanted to go earlier, but sometimes getting this family organized to leave is a challenge. I had originally wanted to go through the Altoona -- Horseshoe Curve area since I have been through there several times on the train. But since we did not have time (we had tickets from Pittsburgh to New York for the 21st), I opted to go to Belmont County OH.

Belmont County Courthouse in St. Clairesville OH

Why Belmont County? Well, one of my ancesteros, David Rusk, my Great Great, Great, Great Grandfather (I think that is the proper number of "Greats") settled there in 1791. This makes him one of the earliest settlers for the area.

My main goal was to see what resources there might be in the county for doing further research. I also just wanted to see what the land was like. We stayed in St. Clairsville and went out to Belmont OH. I was not sure that he had settled in that area, but I thought it was a good place to start.

Abandoned Belmont National Bank Building, Belmont OH

I found a town that was very slowly dying. Like much of rural America, the people have left and no one seems to care. A leading Presidential Candidate can make derisive remarks about small towns, and no one gets all that upset. Anyway, we rode through the area and stopped at the Graveyard but found little of use for my research. Still, it was an interesting stop.

Black Horse Tavern, Morristown OH

On our way back to St. Clairesville we stopped at another "dying town," Morristown OH. However, this one, being the site of some of the earliest settlement, and filled with buildings from the "Federal Era" is at least attempting to remain viable. The tavern pictured above is now vacant. But it had been operating up until fairly recent times. So maybe there is hope.