Saturday – August 16, 2014 It was 39 degrees and overcast this morning. It’s hard to believe it’s August…..
The Porters were perfect hosts and we were very comfortable. They cooked and served a three-course breakfast of all homemade goodies: select fresh-ground coffee, old family recipe biscottis, yogurt parfait with fresh-picked berries, made-from-scratch blueberry pancakes with melon and bacon. Ross Porter entertained us with his stories of the history of Smethport and the genesis of their many restoration projects.
There are twenty-four mansions in the Main Street district of Smethport. I would highly recommend a stay at Jovanna & Ross Porter’s Mansion B&B. After much conversation, we finally left about ten o’clock and continued along Route 6 westward to the biggest tourist attraction in the area: The Kinzua Bridge.
This was a former railroad bridge which was built in 1881 to transport coal, lumber, and oil out of Pennsylvania. After the railroads closed, it had been used by pedestrians. A tornado destroyed it in 2003 and the bridge was partially rebuilt in 2011. Glass plates were installed at the end of the walkway to peer downward.
We continued westward on Route 6 and continued to meet construction and detours. The sun finally came out and the temperature warmed up to 73 degrees.
The photo below shows the three recurring themes of this trip through Pennsylvania: an oil refinery, a heavy truck filled with natural gas, and road construction. The only thing missing is a lumber truck carrying trunks of trees along the road. I wondered what will happen to the people living here after their natural resources are taken away. I’m sure some people are making lots of money, but it was not evident that the town folk were as prosperous.
We passed many towns whose stores were vacant and the streets were devoid of people. Many houses, farms, and buildings posted ‘For Sale’ signs. It’s difficult to imagine where the people will move, especially older people. There were several signs advertising employment for ‘drilling hands, rigger hands, and repairmen.’ Many of the motels were filled with itinerant workers.
This photo shows a few buildings of the Historic District of Warren, PA – population forty thousand people. Commercial trucks rumbled through the city and a large oil refinery was down the street.
As we approached the Ohio border, we decided to make a detour to see Erie, PA – fourth largest city along the Great Lake of Erie.. The waterfront seemed to have been rebuilt with a modern hotel, maritime museum, and marinas. There were new stores and people enjoying a festival.
We drove out to the end of Presque Isle State Park to see the beaches of Lake Erie. It was windy and drizzling and the surf crashed onto the shore. We watched rain clouds move in from Canada. I imagined how cold the winter must be here along the lake.
This is a photo of the Erie Land Lighthouse which was safely nestled in a residential neighborhood. It was originally built in 1818 and was the first lighthouse to shine its beacon on the Great Lakes. Today we traveled about two hundred miles and are very close to the Ohio border. Who knows what we will see tomorrow….