The Newtown Pentacle

Monday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

A humble narrator is starting to explore the larger region surrounding Pittsburgh, and recent day trip saw me behind the wheel of the Mobile Oppression Platform and pulling out of my driveway in the dark at about 5 in the morning. A bit of a long drive awaited, and I was heading in the direction of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. There’s a United Methodists religious organization site, in a section near Uniontown called Jumonville, which offers visitors the chance to visit with their ‘The Great Cross’ monument. Said cruciform is perched atop one of the Appalachian ridge line prominences common to the area. Specifically, the rood is on a hill called Dunbars Knob, that sits atop Chestnut Ridge.

I wanted to be there at Sunrise, and catch the light. The cloud cross in the shot above was serendipitous, if you ask me, and it ain’t photoshopped in, btw. It was really hanging up there in the sky for a few minutes, just as the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself was rising in the vault right behind me. It was a bit of a task to keep my, and the camera’s, shadows out of frame.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It took a bit of navigating to find the entrance at Jumonville, which is a Christian retreat and summer camp, but I made it there by about 6:30 in the morning. The day was brightening, but the sun was still rising, and behind a different ridge line. You’re greeted by a sign, after parking along the road, which welcomes visitors but lays out a few do’s and dont’s for the property. Unarmed with specifically proscribed firearms or illegal drugs, however, I set out to see the sight.

It’s a bit of walk to get up the path to the actual monument, a long spiraling path set against the ground at a 7-10 degree angle. I’m pretty sure they designed it that way to offer a metaphorical meaning to the walk – it’s difficult to get to the cross, but easy to walk away from it – or something like that. Religious architecture often incorporates tangible example into its design. It was only about a 15 minute walk, but I really felt the effort in the thigh and calf muscles.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I set the camera up for landscape work, with the tripod and a neutral density filter to ‘slow the light’ a bit. The Great Cross is sixty feet high, was erected in 1950, weighs 55 tons and is supported by a 183 ton concrete foundation which contains the names of the thousands of Sunday School kids who contributed dimes to fund its construction. The Great Cross is a bonafide landmark and attraction which is said to be visible on a clear day for some 75 miles, and built of steel and concrete.

Additionally, Uniontown has been vampire free for 72 years now.

This part of south western Pennsylvania is not one I’ve visited before, and it is staggeringly beautiful. The geology of the place involves a series of steeply ridged highlands, which descend precipitously into deep shadowed valleys which will often have water running through them. These valleys are often referred to as ‘Hollows.’ The weather at the top was cool but clear, but a half hour later when I was driving through the valley, the air was choked with pea soup fog and less than a hundred feet of visibility. In my readings about the area, this sort of geology is sometimes referred to as a ‘corduroy landscape.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

In the last year, and it’s almost been a year now since I abandoned ‘home sweet hell’ back in NYC, my focus has been on learning about my immediate vicinity – basically a 30 mile circle around the center of Pittsburgh. I’ve now got a catalog of spots, and how to get to them, where I can shoot trains or urban landscapes or ‘city stuff.’ The larger Pittsburgh region, however, is what I’m currently looking at. That includes parts of West Virginia, Maryland, and Ohio. Jumonville is about 50 miles from HQ, but it’s a long drive – time wise – as it’s all local roads between here and there. The reason I left HQ so early, in fact, was to beat the traffic.

The Jumonville compound itself was immaculate, with well cared for grounds and cabins for the faithful to stay at, when attended an event or retreat. The only concern I had here was that a male Deer might come charging at me out of the tree line, as this was the very beginning of rut season and the bucks can be aggressive.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I’m pretty sure that column of vapor is coming from a power plant, which is found in one of those foggy valleys, or ‘hollows.’

Satisfied with myself, the camera gear started to get packed up, but a few last shots were squeezed out. There was a second leg of my day trip which I’d need to get moving on, and a series of shots I’d miss out on if I didn’t get there within a proscribed interval. For those, I’d be crossing the actual Mason-Dixon Line and entering Confederate territory.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The presence of the barbed wire fencing around the cross, and its obvious metaphor, is not lost upon me. Saying that, they’ve probably had graffiti issues in the past and you have to keep strangers from messing with your stuff. If anyone from Jumonville is reading this, I had a very nice experience at your place, and thanks for allowing strangers and visitors on to your land – as you do. Lovely.

Back tomorrow with more from the Laurel Highlands, at this – your Newtown Pentacle.

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