Posts Tagged ‘troy hill’
Down, down, down
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Troy Hill Road, as in sights seen along it, is offered in today’s post, which narratively continues a fairly long walk recently undertaken here in Pittsburgh. Your humble narrator has built a long list of ‘things’ to see while on foot as I’ve driven about the city of Pittsburgh, and this course is one of them. A local roadway, Troy Hill Road drapes along the side of a landform cliff which has a high speed road (Route 28) at its base, as well as a rail line and the Allegheny River. It’s all very confusing.
Also, just to catch you up – it was quite cold and I was heavily dressed for winter, the sun was bothering me, and everybody hates me. If you don’t hate me yet, you will, just wait till you meet me. I’m a terrible person, just ask anybody. Awful, atavistic, aberrant, argumentative, a real icehole. Children and dogs shriek when they see me, old ladies clutch at their pearls, and men form armed posses to ascertain my intentions. In short: I suck.
It’s for the best that I’m alone so much.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A closed off set of ‘City Steps’ was encountered. One moved past them in the typical ‘herkie jerky’ fashion I’m famous for. The wind was whipping my filthy black raincoat around, the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself was bobbing about in the vault and lighting up every speckle of dust on my eyeglasses, and I also needed to pee but not too urgently. I was in fine fettle otherwise, and the ankle which was so affected by the orthopedic incident was playing ball with me on this scuttle.
historicpittsburgh.org offers a photo of a group of workers building Troy Hill Road, from back in 1911.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One continued down, past retaining walls which water pipes were affixed to. Don’t know if they were sewerage or supply, but it must be a real challenge to get water to fight gravity. I’m told there used to be a Resovoir up here on Troy Hill. As I moved down the slope, building densities began to change. The flood plain at the bottom of the hill is where all the industry used to be – tanneries, abattoirs, mills of very type. The world’s preeminent ketchup and baked bean factory, for instance.
What’s down there now on the flood plain is an amazing amalgamation and concentration of 75 years of vehicular expressway and automobile related infrastructure expansions, but that’s for tomorrow’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s pretty common to park with half of your car up on the sidewalk around Pittsburgh, due to the narrowness of the roads. In the ‘fancy shmancy’ areas like Shadyside or Squirrel Hill, it’s resident permit parking only, or there’s no ‘on the street’ parking at all.
As a former New Yorker, I require clear and omnipresent signage to govern my parking of the Mobile Oppression Platform. The Yinzers just sort of pull over to the side of the road and park their cars in a ditch.
If I did that, the NYPD might find me out here and write a ticket for an alternate side violation. ‘No parking west of the state between 8 and 11 a.m.’ You can’t escape the NYPD.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The adaptations for the terrain in Pittsburgh never cease to amaze. Everywhere you look, however, there’s bulging century old retaining walls in these sections. Nothing is ‘plumb.’ Look at me, the crooked man who’s commenting on a crooked mile. No wonder everybody hates me.
The plan for the rest of the outing was pretty simple. I’d continue on, cross the two rivers, and either catch a T light rail or a cab back to HQ. Had lots of miles ahead of me, though, which you’ll see this week in subsequent postings.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pittsburgh is big on ‘entering the neighborhood’ murals, and in the case of Troy Hill they’ve got a freestanding mosaic sign. Back on relatively flat ground again, one leaned into things and started pushing his way towards the south and west. Right into the sun.
Can’t win.
Back tomorrow with more.
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Top a da world, Ma, top a da world
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After having bid ‘adieu’ to the Voegtly Evangelical Church Cemetery on Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill, one leaned into the walk. A steep landform on the northern bank of the Allegheny River, Troy Hill is.
Just like that mirroring landform to the south which overlooks the Monongahela River, where the summit of Mount Washington forms a ridge line that overlooks the peninsular ‘golden triangle’ section of downtown, so too does the Allegheny River side form a high ridge. The south side of Pittsburgh offers West End/Elliot, Grandview Avenue on Mount Washington itself, and the South Side Slopes all have charms to delight the altitude aspirant. I’m just getting started on this side.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had previously figured out a route, utilizing my usual method of using Google Maps street view’s ‘remote viewing’ to scout a few things out. Are there sidewalks? That’s one of the questions I like to have an answer for before setting out for a scuttle. Will I trap myself inside of a valley or cul de sac, which will force me to have to scale a cliff or something to get out of? It’s good to know about that sort of thing in advance when planning a day’s outing. Larger issues of destination and bridge crossings are present in my plan as well.
That’s Rialto Street pictured above, fifth steepest street in Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 1901 vintage firehouse for Engine Co. 11 caught my eye, and especially so for the fine carving exhibited on its signage. Here’s a close up of that signage. Remarkable work. Apparently, the fire dept. doesn’t use this building anymore, and it’s where the cops who enforce commercial vehicle rules for the municipality work out of in modernity. Neat. I’ve also seen this building referenced as and referred to as ‘Troy Hill Fire Station #39’ by a couple of sources.
One swirled along the sidewalks, a maelstrom of black sack cloth with a camera sticking out of it. Scuttle, scuttle, scuttle.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
See what I meant when saying that you could see the ‘germanity’ in the local building stock. The building above is likely a parsonage, as it’s right next door to a large church, but I’m guessing there. Why guess though?
The church is the Saint Anthony Chapel, which is said to house the largest number of Catholic relics outside of the Vatican. Pictured above is the Most Holy Name of Jesus Rectory.
Further did I scuttle – twirling – ever twirling – towards freedom.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This had been the first day of clear skies in about three weeks, here in Pittsburgh.
Let me level with you lords and ladies – the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself was ‘harshing my buzz’ what with all the glare and strobing flares. Of course, I had accidentally timed this walk in such a manner that the thing would be hanging directly in front of me the whole way, and the solar furnace was blowing out my eyesight and causing finding the correct exposure settings for the camera to be a real challenge. Woe is me.
Honestly, this area is so damned cool, but it must be so challenging living up here – just like in the south side slopes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The pathway to carry me back down to ground level was marked by the presence of an enormous school, which appears to have once been a Catholic institution but is now an elementary school which calls itself ‘Provident Charter School Central.’ The street I was looping onto is called Troy Hill Road, and I can’t imagine why anyone would choose to drive down Rialto Street when this route is just a few blocks away.
Back next week with more – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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That cemetery, on Troy Hill
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve mentioned Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill section before, in posts focused in on one of its most iconic features – Rialto Street.
A few occasions have seen me driving up here, scouting and such. There’s a centuried graveyard up there that’s called the Voegtly Evangelical Church Cemetery.
There’s a great article found here which describes the history, and the story, of the Voegtly cemetery. It also advises that ‘Voegtly’ is a Swiss German family name that is pronounced in English as ‘VECKly.’ More interesting reporting can be accessed here, and here, and a 2003 report from the Smithsonian can be found here.
Quite obviously, this cemetery I was visiting is the second and surviving one, as the original one that was attached to a long demolished church is now a part of an interstate highway. Progress marches on, huh?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The neighborhood up on Troy Hill looks mostly residential, wood framed buildings seldom taller than three stories. You can ‘see’ the ‘germanity’ in these structures, on the wood worked lintels adorning the windows and doors. The streets up here were definitely not built for a guy from NYC that’s driving a Japanese SUV around. Tight, narrow, and built for horse and carriage. The streets are steep as well. I left the car at home on this particular day, and arrived on Troy Hill via an Uber.
I chatted with some fellow who had volunteered to clean the place up, gathering wind blown trash and detritus which had collected along the fence line. Nice guy, and I always love meeting people who care.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the edge of the property, breaks in the tree line allow for views of the Allegheny River valley. Prominent, the 33rd street rail bridge connects right of way trackage across the river to Lawrenceville.
I maintained a pretty good margin of safety regarding the edge of the land here. Wouldn’t want to tumble down onto Route 28 below. I’ve walked that path before… shudder.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Observation reveals that this cemetery seems to have been largely filled up by the early 20th century. A number of the interments reveal entire families lying together, and there are some extraordinary monuments to admire in this polyandrion. Observed interment dates started around the First Civil War and end during the 1920’s. Non scientific survey, this, just what I took notice of.
As was the case with First Calvary back in LIC, the industrial atmosphere and consequent ‘acid rain’ has absolutely consumed and degraded the monuments composed of marble, whereas the granite ones look brand new. The marble ones have that typical ‘melting ice cream’ look. At Calvary, the acidic rain was due to the Phelps Dodge outfit operating an actual sulfuric acid factory right about where the Kosciuszcko Bridge currently stands.
In Pittsburgh, you can take your pick for ‘point source’ amongst all of the steel mills, railroads, and glass factories that used to be embedded around the place as being the origin point for corrosive gases in the atmosphere.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Fascinating spot, this, for a wandering taphophile. As mentioned above, several of the people buried here seem to have been ‘people of means.’ Look at the Neeb family monument a couple of shots up from this one as an example, but everywhere I looked there were fine carvings which must have cost a pretty penny ‘back in the day.’ Many of these graves were obviously meant for working people, but clearly there were ‘bosses’ buried at Voegtly too.
Me? I was just getting started on the day’s exertions. This was the start of a fairly long scuttle of about ten miles, and the longest walk I was able to pull off in 2025 – due to the orthopedic incident.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a monument to Western PA.’s firefighters at the Voegtly Evangelical Church Cemetery. Thought it appropriate to get a shot of it. I plan on returning here sometime soon, as a note. Interesting spot.
Back tomorrow with more wonders – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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Troy Hill to St. Nicholas Trail
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Still on Pittsburgh’s Rialto Street today, see yesterday’s post for details on this amazing spot.
For the TLDR crowd: 5th steepest street in Pittsburgh, Route 28 at the bottom with the neighborhood of Troy Hill at the top. The bridge spanning over Rialto Street, visible above, is called the Ley St. Bridge. Steps, ankle, stairs phobia – now you’re all caught up.
Really, scroll back to the Monday post, as I put a bit of work into it.
The shots in today’s post were gathered while moving through here, but didn’t fit into yesterday’s missive.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s neighborhood murals all over Pittsburgh, letting you know that you’re entering a community people call home. The Troy Hill Incline mural on the side of that house is a spectacular example of the sign painter’s art, and fantastic graphic design. The brick building it adorns is a nice example of the sort of homes you might observe up here.
I didn’t wander too far afield, but prior trips through and over Troy Hill have revealed closely sited row houses. Many follow the Philadelphia model, with narrow sidewalks and shared walls. Lots of wood frame construction, and real estate sources suggest that most of the housing up here predates the Second World War.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the distance, that’s the 31st Street Bridge, which I’ve walked over several times since moving to Pittsburgh. In addition to highways and high volume roads, a network of rail trails snakes throughout Pittsburgh, which I often exploit. A branch of one of the trails offers egress to that bridge, or to Herr’s Island which is out of sight and down on the Allegheny River. Drivers moving towards the POV above can find connections to the high speed toad Route 28, which allows traffic to hurtle about at highway speeds.
On the other side of the river is Lawrenceville, The Strip District, and there’s street access to both Downtown Pittsburgh and up to Polish Hill.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above shows some ‘very Pittsburghy’ houses. The three story wood frame house seems to need some love and attention, but has strong bones. Just beyond is a home with a bricked porch. The latter is a common adaptation for Pittsburgh’s humid climate which you’ll find in older buildings here, constructed before the age of HVAC and air conditioners. There’s historic apartment buildings all over the place in which each unit has an outdoor space designed to escape the heat.
Yesterday’s post ended at the bottom of Rialto Street, and in that post I promised ‘totally stupid fun’ today.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
OK then, here we are. At the bottom of Rialto Street, at its intersection with Route 28 and the 31st street Bridge. Pretty scary spot for a pedestrian. So, what’s a narrator going to do? Not run across a highway, that’s for sure. Ankle limitations, remember, really can’t ‘run’ right now.
As often stated, when I’m going somewhere for the first time, a bit of time has been spent in Google maps using their ‘street view’ feature to scout. I’ve also driven past this spot a bunch of times, which is how I got so intrigued about the St. Nicholas Trail.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is actually a bus stop, believe it or not, and that narrow pathway which leads away at more or less the dead bang center of the shot is the St. Nicholas Trail. Looks horrible, doesn’t it?
How can I resist walking down that?
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
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Rialto St., Pittsburgh’s 5th steepest
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When I describe something as ‘totally stupid fun,’ it usually means that whereas you’re not going to be terribly comfortable during the experience it’s nevertheless something worth doing, at least once.
To wit, a recent endeavor involved visiting Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill neighborhood, and walking down its infamous Rialto Street, whereupon an exploratory walk along the St. Nicholas Trail would occur. This particular scuttle begins here!
Troy Hill sits above an elevated river flood plain, which is currently occupied (since 2011) by a high speed road called Route 28. Largely Catholic German immigrants began to populate this area during the 1830’s and 40’s. Later on in the game, there used to be a concentration of Croatians (from Jastrebarsko) living where Route 28 is today, and they called the area surrounding their St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church ‘Mala Jaska.’ Route 28 was widened and expanded over a long interval, with the project wrapping up in 2011-12, forcing the removal of the church and surrounding homes. At least, that’s what I’ve been able to discern about the situation.
Again, new to Pittsburgh – if I messed the timeline or tale up, please let me know via the comments and I’ll offer corrections.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The neighborhood of Troy Hill itself is fairly lovely, except for a few problematic spots which are sort of ‘crimey.’ The neighborhood is fairly static in terms of residential turnover and housing stock, with most of the homes in the area dating back to the 1940’s or earlier.
Troy Hill sits nearby and above Herr’s Island down at water level on The Allegheny River, and is next door to Millvale. Herr’s Island was where Pittsburgh’s stock yards were once found, and Rialto Street started out as a dirt path set into a ravine which was used to drive herds of pigs to the slaughterhouse found up top on the hill. The nickname ‘Pig Hill’ is actually still used and in fairly common parlance in Pittsburgh today.
Check out this page at brooklineconnection.com for historic photos of Rialto Street.
Rialto Street itself is only 20 feet wide, and is set against the slope of Troy Hill at a 20-24 degree angle. There’s signs saying ‘no trucks’ but trucks and busses routinely get jammed up trying to negotiate Rialto Street.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s ’City Steps’ set along Rialto, placed so in lieu of a sidewalk. The first thing you encounter when starting down these steps is the Ley St. Bridge. It carries a local street over Rialto Street, and your humble narrator felt obliged to walk up that flight of steps and see what I could see from them.
The fifth steepest street in Pittsburgh, Rialto Street is. It ascends some 36 meters, or 118.11 feet – or 10.9 building stories – from the bottom at Route 28 to the top on Troy Hill. It was an easy decision to walk down these steps rather than up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking back at where the first photo was captured, from up on the Ley Street Bridge. Those Rialto Street steps were difficult walking, even going down, I should mention. The spatial ratio of the rises and runs of these stairs cause you to descend in three step combos, and the same foot (the right sided one) always got stuck with the stepping down motion. My footsteps were thereby bunched up in sets of three, as opposed to four.
Left, right, left – instead of left, right, left, right – Y’know?
I checked with a couple of locals to see if adoption of this three step combo was ‘just me,’ and it wasn’t, as they described the same three step thing and how the staccato rhythm always threw off their stride. It was a good calf workout though, gotta say. I was sore for a couple of days after this scuttle.
I tell’s ya, if you’re spooked by stairs like I am right now (post busted ankle PTSD), Pittsburgh is definitely the place to confront that particular psychic noise and stare it in the eye.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above is still from up on the Ley St. Bridge, looking down towards Rialto Street itself, with Route 28 and the 31st street bridge in the distance. The big bridge leads to Lawrenceville, which I walked through a few weeks ago back. It looks insane, doesn’t it?
Experientially speaking, when driving down Rialto Street, you’re not covering the brake – you’re riding it. My car is a hybrid, so due to the miracle of regenerative braking this pathway really helps me out with free voltage for the battery, but saying all that if you were to pick up enough speed here you will not be able to stop the car in time to avoid bottoming out at the intersection with Route 28.
I’ve seen people wreck their cars (and one semi truck) in this sort of circumstance all over Pittsburgh by not respecting the terrain. Imagine slamming the bottom of the front end of a car against the pavement at 40-50 mph… there’s a reason you see gouges in the asphalt at the bottom of steep hills here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few guys shot past me on the steps like I was moving in slow motion, but as I keep mentioning – I’m a bit phobic about stairs at the moment. Broke my left ankle on a set of stairs. Still see flashes of the injury randomly, often when blinking my eyes. Spent two months in a wheel chair, which blinks in every now and agin too. Six months of quite excruciating recovery time. Stairs… brrr…
I’m subjecting myself to some self guided exposure therapy, basically, as the milquetoast and well mannered younger generations would refer to it. Me? I’m from Brooklyn, so I just remind myself to ‘stop being an asshole and get on with your shit already. Nobody cares.’ Still can’t go down stairs without clutching onto the bannister though. I mean death gripping the thing, not holding it, actually. It’s autonomic.
This post ends at the bottom of Rialto Street, but tomorrow’s post will share a few more shots captured along this extraordinary stretch of the viae publicae.
More ‘totally stupid fun’ tomorrow – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
The Newtown Pentacle 