On Top of Mount Washington: A Great Place for Pittsburgh Views and Tour Access
Plus, It’s a Fascinating Place to Learn About George Washington’s 1753 Expedition
The Allegheny River in Pittsburgh is pictured from the top
of Mount Washington. George Washington traveled on the river in 1753 to Fort Le Boeuf to deliver a letter asking the French to vacate the land that England claimed for
itself. Diplomatic efforts failed, and the French and Indian War ensued.
By Anna Krejci
A Clevelander like me enjoys Ohio but has been known to
venture across the state’s eastern border to Pennsylvania. Several times I have
visited the great city of Pittsburgh, which is only about a two-hour drive southeast
using tollways. In late August Corey and I stayed for two nights and loved
taking one of the city’s public funicular railways down from the top of Mount
Washington. We also enjoyed commercial tours including a boat tour on the three
rivers at Pittsburgh and a bus tour that thoughtfully catered to us. We had a
fabulous time. Staying overnight in a rental house on top of Mount Washington was
a unique feature of our trip. On the mount, the restaurants on and near Shiloh
Street served great food and a park overlooked downtown.
Mount Washington has a mix of housing from luxury high end
to modest. For tourists, the neighborhood is a little exclusive of overnight
lodging, but Corey and I found a vacation rental where we stayed; there were no
hotels up top. Spending the night on Mount Washington is a bit of a novelty,
but everyone, including people coming up from the bottom of the hill, has
access to the spectacular views of the Pittsburgh downtown skyline since Grandview
Overlook encompasses the cityscape from along Grandview Avenue. Visitors can
view the convergence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers to form the Ohio
River and the expansive layout of city buildings and bridges. Two historical
inclines still running today convey the public up the steep side of Mount
Washington in cable cars in mere minutes. The Monongahela Incline and the
Duquesne Incline date back to the 1870s when coal miners still labored at the
hill and immigrant workers lived up top.
The Duquesne Incline is seen from the bottom of Mount
Washington along part of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail in Pittsburgh.
Corey and I walked about a mile along Grandview Avenue from
the top of the Monongahela Incline to the top of the Duquesne Incline. Grandview
Avenue runs parallel along the mount’s long ridge and is on hilly terrain of
its own. Just as we climbed one hill along the sidewalk, another came into
view. We pressed on with people making the same trek as we to Grand View Scenic
Byway and Park. Our destination was the “Points of View” statue, a sculpture
made by James A. West in 2006 which commemorates a centuries earlier meeting in
1770 between George Washington – who later became the first president of the
United States - and a Seneca leader named Guyasuta. Guyasuta once assisted
alongside Washington and the British before siding with the French during the
French and Indian War against Great Britain in the mid-1700s. The two men
reconciled long after the war in this meeting.
Seeing the statue made me ponder what the land looked like
around present-day Pittsburgh in 1753 when Washington traveled through the
area. In 1753, the governor of Virginia charged Washington with taking a letter
to warn the French away from building forts on land that England claimed for
itself. At that time Virginia was an English colony. The next events led to the
French and Indian War which was fought between France and England over
controlling territory in North America and establishing trading partners with
the American Indians. Leading up to my trip to Pittsburgh, I read the piece titled,
“The Journal of Major George Washington, 1754,” written by Washington himself
and published soon after he returned. In it he revealed the hardships of
crossing the land and rivers back then, and of dealing tactfully with the
French representatives as well as the representatives of the numerous American Indian tribes with whom he interacted during his expedition. Ultimately, the trip
failed to persuade the French to move out of this territory peacefully.
With this history in mind, Corey and I took paid tours of
Pittsburgh by boat and bus. Washington’s expedition took place during November
and December in 1753. I was glad to visit Pittsburgh in late summer of this
century. We learned about contemporary sites and events, although we saw
wonderful views of Point State Park and the Fort Pitt Museum which recall the
area’s much older past. Concerning our modern times, the sports stadiums, music
venues, museums and the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, are located on the
riverfronts, or very near to them, and the city gives marvelously exciting and
fun vibes to a tourist like me. My visit contrasted greatly to Washington’s. I
saw people wading in the water that streamed down the Water Steps, an
attraction located in North Shore Riverfront Park along the Allegheny River. To
think, the people wading in the Water Steps and riding their bicycles on the
adjacent Three Rivers Heritage Trail likely enjoyed the leisure and recreation.
It is a great thing to have nowadays. As I reflected on the boat tour, I
imagined Washington and his men traveling by way of canoe and on land in 1753. After
his delivery of the letter to the French commandant and during his return, he
and one other broke away from the core group to make faster time since the
horses were tired and needed rest. Washington hurried on foot to deliver the
written response from the French commandant to the Virginia governor, and in
the course, he was shot at by a French Indian and later slid off a raft he
built to cross icy water. He and his companion spent the night on an island,
only to wake up the next day to find the water had frozen so that they could
walk to shore. Their way was perilous.
Pittsburgh’s history is intriguing, and I do not claim to be
an expert in it, but I saw the city’s past and present come together in many
ways, given the inclines and the presence of the Monongahela, Allegheny and
Ohio rivers. Even a remnant structure of Fort Pitt, a British fortress built
during the French and Indian War, remains at Point State Park where the three
rivers meet. I enjoy visiting Pittsburgh each time because I love the history
and current atmosphere so much. I look forward to returning.
About Our Trip
There are a few highlights of our trip I want to mention. We
enjoyed the great amount of walking we did, both on Mount Washington and on the
Three Rivers Heritage Trail down below around Station Square. Station Square is
a development with restaurants next to the Monongahela River. To break up the
walk, we stopped at Tupelo Honey Southern Kitchen and Bar, 111 W. Station Sq.
Dr., where I had a great slice of Mississippi Mud Pie, a chocolatey dessert. It
was fitting enough, I thought, for a vacation that revolved around rivers.
Although there are different ways to make this pie, there is a consensus online
that it was named for the earth type of the Mississippi River. It interested me
because the Ohio River joins with the Mississippi River in Cairo, Ill. River
travel took people far in Washington’s time.
I visited the following link for information about the restaurant.
We took a Gateway Clipper Fleet Three Rivers Sightseeing Tour
and enjoyed it very much. We rode on a Sunday afternoon during wonderful
weather. It was sunny and a little cool with the breeze. I thought the narration
was very informative, and of course, the ride provided us with ease of travel
since we were passengers. We took the Monongahela Incline down from Mount
Washington to reach the Gateway Clipper Fleet dock. Once at the bottom of the
incline, we were within walking distance of the boat. While parking can
probably be found closer, we wanted to ride one of the inclines from the top of
Mount Washington.
I visited the following link for information about the boat tours.
https://www.gatewayclipper.com/
On the last day of our trip, we rode a red, two-level tour
bus provided by The Pittsburgh Tour Company. We had another day of great, sunny
and cool weather. We purchased “hop on and hop off” privileges so we stopped at
Market Square for lunch and caught the next bus so we could complete the
narrated ride. A nice feature of our bus tour was that it took us farther into
the Strip District to see the restaurants and businesses and to Oakland to see
higher education campuses, places where the boat tour could not pass. Seeing
the heart of downtown by street view was interesting, too. The bus dropped us
off at the base of the Duquesne Incline where we had left our car and begun the
tour. The bus made other stops throughout the city where participants could
board or unload. For us, the Duquesne Incline stop on West Carson Street was on
the same side of the river as Mount Washington and nicely accessible to us by
car from our lodging. We headed home feeling great about our weekend!
I visited the following link for information about the bus tour.
See George Washington’s Journal Online
A digital copy of The Journal of Major George Washington,
1754, by George Washington can be found at the Library of Congress website.
Below is a permalink to the record with links to the digital copies.
Source
I read from the following publication to learn details about
George Washington’s experiences passing through Western Pennsylvania in 1753
and his return. His entry for Dec. 23 explains his splitting from the rest
of the party and the perilous moments being shot at by a French Indian,
crossing a river on raft, falling off, reaching an island and crossing ice to shore the next morning.
Washington, George. The Journal of Major George Washington,
1754. Firework Press, New York, 2015.
Additional Resources
On the website of sculptor James A. West, there is a photo of the “Points of View” statue that is located on top of Mount Washington. An interpretation of the statue is given. At the physical site of the statue, there is a sign that explains historical context for the meeting between George Washington and the Seneca leader Guyasuta.
https://www.jimwestsculptor.com/
Twohig, Dorothy, editor. George Washington’s Diaries: An
Abridgement. University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, 1999.
