Pennsylvania

Instead of a posting for each day traveled I will be highlighting the sites we visited in a state or grouping of states since at times we needed to just add miles — as usual we generally avoid interstates and travel the red and blue roads. I have always wanted to travel across Pennsylvania’s northern tier and this time we headed out on scenic PA Route 6 (which runs almost 400 miles). Leaving New Jersey, we picked up the route in Scranton PA stopping at the Steamtown National Historic Site. The site is part of the National Park Service. The site covers both old and restored and dilapidated steam locomotives, railcars and a historic turntable, located on the former Scranton yards of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad (DL&W).

Leaving Scranton we stopped to see the Tunkhnnock Creek Viaduct – The Viaduct, is the world’s largest concrete railroad bridge, was part of a major improvement to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. Commonly called the Nicholson Bridge, it was constructed from 1912 to 1915. The bridge is 2,375 feet long, 34 feet wide, and 300 feet in extreme height from the top of the parapet to bottom of deepest foundation pit.

Heading further west we stopped at two overlooks – French Azilum Lookout (also known as Marie Antoinette Overlook) and Wyalusing Rocks Overlook.

French Azilum provided beautiful scenic view of endless mountains, farms and the Susquehanna River, French Azilum was a refugee settlement built in the 1700s which was built by French nobles and others fleeing the French Revolution. See: (https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/nobles-wilderness-story-french-azilum).

Wyalusing Rocks – located 500 ft. above the Susquehanna River, this site was used by the Iroquois Indians as a signaling point. You need to be on the other side of the river to see the rocks, but the view of the river and farmlands is impressive.

After spending the night in Mansfield PA, we headed to the “Grand Canyon of PA” which has been on my bucket list for a long time.

Leonard Harrison and Colton Point State Parks are on opposite sides of Pine Creek Gorge, called the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. Many scenic vistas offer spectacular views into the glacially carved canyon. We decided to view the canyon from both sides, which took most of the morning. At its deepest point, Pine Creek Gorge is 1,450 feet deep and nearly one mile wide. After enjoying the vistas from the east side lookouts, we hiked the Rim Trail on the west side of the canyon for some exercise.

Continuing our westward journey we stopped at Kinzua Bridge State Park. The 339-acre Kinzua Bridge State Park is the home of the reinvented Kinzua Viaduct. The Viaduct, once the longest and tallest railroad structure at 2,053 feet long and 301 feet high, was partially destroyed by a tornado during 2003. Reinvented as a pedestrian walkway during 2011, you can stroll 600 feet out on the remaining support towers, peer miles out into the Kinzua Gorge, and gaze down through the partial glass platform at the end of the walkway.

The trip started with a Wedding Reception in NJ. On our first day we packed on the miles and arrived in Greensboro NC for the night. A long first day. Over the next two days we drove Route 29 (The Seminole Trail) from the NC border to Charlottesville and Route 15 (Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Scenic Byway) from Charlottesville to Gettysburg then onto Philadelphia along Route 30 before our destination in northwestern NJ.

Along the way we stopped in Danville VA. Home to the elegant Millionaires Row and the Old West End, the Danville Historic District showcases some of the finest Victorian and Edwardian architecture in Virginia. Many of the old mansions built by the tobacco and textile barons of the late 19th century still stand as testimony to the wealth and power of those industries and to the skill and craftsmanship long disappeared from modern building techniques.

Onto Lynchburg for a stop at its city steps that traverse the city’s steep Courthouse Hill. The Monument Terrace commemorates Lynchburg citizens who fought and died in the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam and the present day. At the base on Church Street stands the iconic doughboy statue. Many other sculptures and markers line the 139 steps and terraces all the way to the top, where the Lynchburg Museum at the Old Court House stands on Court Street.

To finish our day, we visited Monticello. Monticello was the primary plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 14. It stands on a mountain top and took almost 40 years to complete. Not without controversy, almost four hundred persons lived in slavery at Monticello over a sixty-year-period.

An early start the following day brought us to Manassas National Battlefield Park the site of not one but two civil war battles. On July 21, 1861, two armies clashed for the first time on the fields overlooking Bull Run. Heavy fighting swept away any notion of a quick war. In August 1862, Union and Confederate armies converged for a second time on the plains of Manassas. The Confederates won a solid victory bringing them to the height of their power.

After a driving tour of the park, we headed to Lancaster PA to view several covered bridges then on to dinner with friends in Philadelphia and finally to NJ for 4 days with friends and family.