Five Frugal and Fun History Day Trips

Memorial Day has come and gone. Visits to the beach, Big Apple or Aunt Bev’s bungalow by the lake may have refreshed your body and soul. But as gas prices are still significant and commercial flights prove there are no cheap destinations, it may be time to explore what our own backyard has to offer. These five day trips promise real adventure, a hearty dose of local history, or just welcome affirmation that Western Pennsylvania (and West Virginia) have more to offer than you might think. If you’re interested in American history, now’s the time to get ahead of next year’s 250th celebration of the Declaration of Independence. If you’re into cults or unexplained science, we have two strange destinations worth experiencing. And if you love antiques or walks down memory lane, there’s a town just 45 minutes away that will keep you mesmerized for hours. Our day trips are less than half a tank of gas away, and none of any roadside stops will charge you $4 for a pint of water or $9 for an egg salad sandwich packaged five days ago. Best of all, you’ll come back enlightened by humanity, and not as cattle rustled into a flying barn. Enjoy getting out and about for cheap. Embrace the wonderment of all our region has to offer.

Hanna’s Hot Little Town

Three years before America’s revolutionaries signed the Declaration of Independence, the only “royal” courthouse west of the Allegheny Mountains was established in Hanna’s Town. Like most early settlements, Hanna’s Town was a small village of log cabins, farm fields, and a stockade defense to ward off attacks by Native Americans. Which is just what happened on July 13, 1782. The pioneers of Hanna’s Town were harvesting Michael Huffnagle’s fields when marauding Senecas attacked the town, burning all but the stockade and the single courthouse. Only settled nine years earlier, Hanna’s Town was never rebuilt.

But, today, the Westmoreland Historical Society invites you to an amazing visitor’s center that offers deep appreciation for how our earliest homesteaders survived in the wilderness that was then Pennsylvania. (Or was it Virginia?) Hanna’s Town features a modern visitor’s center, a rotating gallery of artifacts, a library and gift shop, while outside on more than 180 acres are a reconstructed tavern, a basic fort, historic log cabins, and a Conestoga wagon. Volunteers are eager to engage the curious, answering questions about primitive survival techniques, what foods were available, how natives and settlers traded openly—even how to throw spears with an atlatl. Hanna’s Town makes for a perfect day trip into America’s past, and it’s less than an hour from Pittsburgh. Admission is $10 for adults with several other groups eligible for discounted or free entrance. Open Wednesday through Sunday.Take Route 22 east from Monroeville, or enter “809 Forbes Trail Road, Greensburg,” into your GPS.

Bushwhacked at Bushy Run

Most Pittsburghers have heard the name of the local Seneca chief, Guyasuta. Sharpsburg boasts a statue of him, there’s a Camp Guyasuta for boy scouts nearby, and another statue sits atop Mount Washington where the Indian sachem greets George Washington. The two, in fact, were great friends and allies against the French, except that Guyasuta learned later that maybe the British weren’t treating his tribe with much respect either. So in the spring of 1763, Guyasuta conspired with the more powerful Ottawa Chief, Pontiac, to lay siege to all twelve of the British forts west of the Alleghenies. Pontiac’s War, as it became known, was a stunningly strategic attempt by Native forces to rid their once peaceful lands of British intolerance. Within a single month, ten different forts were attacked and damaged, but only Fort Detroit and Fort Pitt withstood their sieges. When Colonel Henry Bouquet marched west to defend Fort Pitt, he turned the tide on Pontiac’s War by bushwhacking native forces at the Battle of Bushy Run. Fort Pitt survived.

The battlefield and a well-designed visitors center at Bushy Run are operated by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Without giving anything away, the small theater inside that demonstrates the famous battle is alone worth the small price of admission. But there’s much, much more. Early art, beaded native attire, artifacts dug from the grounds, and many armaments are all original and truly compelling. For a spring or summer Saturday or Sunday, it’s also a great spot for a picnic. The visitors center is open Wednesday through Sunday. Admission for teens, and adults to the age of 65 is $5. Free admission and discounts apply to specific groups and ages. And the grounds are free and open 365 days a year. The official address is 1253 Bushy Run Road in Jeanette.  

Who Built These Mysterious Mounds?

The town goes by Moundsville for a good reason. There‘s a really big one overlooking the Ohio River in West Virginia, just south of Wheeling. Officially called the Grave Creek Mound, it’s 62 feet tall and 900 feet around, and it’s just one of thousands that were recognized by geologists and archeologists beginning around 1845. In fact the very first issue of the Smithsonian Magazine in 1848 featured a story about these mysterious mounds. Clearly, they weren’t built by native Americans. Or, at least, not any of the generations of natives early colonists first met. No, these mounds were built by a much earlier civilization. And for what purpose? Were they built for defensive purposes? Or to honor ancestors? Or did they align with some astrophysical occurrence? Whatever the reason, the mound in West Virginia was likely constructed from some 60,000 tons of dirt, all carried by human hands in small baskets and dumped in one place over the course of, well, many, many years. 

Since the 1840s, scientists of all stripes have not solved the “mystery of the mound builders,” but agree they may well have been built as early as 400 B.C. The Grave Creek Mound is the largest conical mound known today. (There are wider and more massive ones in Ohio; even one in the shape of a serpent). A large state museum at the site will tell you what scientists think they know—backed up with evidence in the form of dioramas, copper charms, clay pipes and other primitive artifacts dug from the mound—but it’s all still too mysterious to comprehend. (Abraham Lincoln believed the mounds were built to bury prehistoric giants). The museum is closed on Sundays and Mondays. Admission is free. Just take I-79 south to 1-70 west to US 250 south. Moundsville is less than 2 hours from Pittsburgh.

Communism in the name of Christ

In 1804, Protestant theologian Joannes George Rapp purchased 4,060 acres just outside of the town of Zelienople in Butler County. He then prepared for followers of his faith to sail all the way  from Germany, land in Philadelphia, and travel by ox cart 350 miles to his farmable property that straddled the Connoquenessing Creek. Father Rapp first wrote to his religious community, once persecuted in their homerland, that “God has prepared a little place for us [where] they want you to think and believe what you wish.” Soon, Rapp and about a hundred families of faith established a commune they called Harmony. All of his pilgrims pooled their wealth, coordinated their labor, and shared their faith to establish one of the most productive and prosperous communities in early America. And this commune was just the first of three they founded.

Industrious doesn’t do justice in describing the workaday lives of these pious people. In addition to farming grains and vegetables, they amassed one of the largest sheep farms in America, wove their woolen yarns on homemade looms, crafted leatherware and their own shoes, raised vineyards, fermented beer, and distilled spirits. Each family had its own small home first built of logs, then brick. The church offered several services daily, all mandatory. In fact, families and successive generations tithed all of their earnings to the church. Their one sure conviction of faith was that Christ would one day return to earth and grant them eternal peace. 

Today, Harmony is a well preserved village featuring a fascinating museum, a modest bookshop, humble hotel, and historic houses and barns that honor the early Rappites. And just down the road is Zelienople, a town today featuring quaint restaurants, a renovated movie theater, more antique shops and a lot of old world charm. The Harmony Museum is open for guided tours Tuesday through Saturday. Admission for adults 18-59 years of age is $7. Other ages pay less or can enter for free. A visit just 40 minutes up I-79 North or Perry Highway will deliver you to this “little place” that speaks to the humility and hope of early German Pennsylvanians.

What’s The Deal With Darlington?

Blink and you might miss the turn-off from Constitution Avenue that heads northwest from Chippewa, PA, in Beaver County. Never heard of Chippewa? Then you’ve likely never visited Darlington, an even smaller town of maybe 300 residents where the Little Beaver Historical Society manages three very distinctive museums. The most historic of the lot is Greersburg Academy, a stone schoolhouse William McGuffey once attended. Who was McGuffey? He was the man who wrote and published the once most popular American textbook for children, a series of “readers” which sold more than 120 million copies from 1836 to 1961. Just down the street is a giant warehouse now filled with curious relics of local industry and agriculture too expansive to describe succinctly. Yet a few highlights include an original computer the size of a refrigerator (it once helped Crucible Steel process its payroll,) a rare historic video of mill guards attacking peaceful strikers, and hundreds of industrial tools, household products, and antique toys few modern mill workers might recognize today. Another smaller industrial museum features historic glass, ceramic and steel products made in the area. Over 3,000 Native American historical items are available for viewing too. Darlington is the real deal; it’s all been assembled by volunteers working on a shoestring budget. A visit to this tiny village is mind-blowing in its scope and breadth of more than 200 years of American history.

To find Darlington, PA, take PA-65 N to Rochester, then PA-51 N (Constitution Blvd.) past Chippewa, and look for a sign for Darlington on your right. That’s Salem Church Rd. which will lead you to take a left onto Market Street. For a GPS setting, enter 710 Market Street, Darlington, PA., 16115. The little town has a grocery store for food and drinks, but on most summer weekends, local volunteers sell burgers and dogs on an aptly sized, industrial grill. Also nearby is the Air Heritage Aviation Museum at the Beaver County Airport which features 11 historic aircraft of various types. It is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged.

C. Prentiss Orr is a Pittsburgh-based writer who covers live theater, film, and other topics for Entertainment Central. He is the author of the books The Surveyor and the Silversmith and Pittsburgh Born, Pittsburgh Bred.

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