In 1804 George Rapp and his followers emigrated to the US from Germany seeking religious and economic freedom. The group tried two other locations before settling permanently along the Ohio River in southwestern Pennsylvania. The town grew to 750 people, living in substantial brick houses located along wide streets. They built cotton, wool, and silk mills, a clothing factory, a sawmill, a tannery, and farmed many acres of land, growing grain, grapes for wine, and other fruits and vegetables for their own use and for sale to the public. Disagreements, which led to some of the members leaving, plus the practice of celibacy doomed the society.
A visitor center and about a dozen buildings are located on the village site. Eight buildings are opened to the public as a guided tour. The grounds can be seen on a self guided tour.
The visitor center is completely accessible but the village site is not even though the website map has most of the buildings marked as accessible. The George Rapp house is undergoing restoration so we didn’t visit it. The museum has a ADA compliant ramp and the first floor can be seen. The kitchen and carriage house entries are level with the ground. The Fredrick Rapp house has an extremely steep ramp. The other buildings have steps. The paths are loose gravel and uneven stone. The visitor center is a few blocks from the village and since the curb cuts are not in good condition rolling along the little trafficked streets is the best option.
The parking lot is large enough for small RVs backed up over the grass. If it’s not busy large RVs will fit in the lot parked across the spaces or can be parked along the street. Village
40.59834, -80.23138
We never heard of that group. I wonder how many small celibate groups there were in the U.S. that no longer exist.
ReplyDeleteThere must have been a number of them. We've visited similar sites in central Pa. and Florida. Some of them seemed to be managing very well and may have lasted for many more years except for the fact there weren't any kids and the celibacy rules kept new members from joining. :-D
ReplyDelete