Nine towns were located along the 46 mile Ghost Town Trail, all part of the coalmining region of Pennsylvania’s Appalachian Mountains. The trail utilizes the path of the railroad that joined the towns and carried coal to steel mills in the valleys. Very few signs of the towns remain. The most enduring structures are from a earlier era when iron ore couldn’t be transported across the mountains and was smelted in large stone furnaces.
There are numerous parking lots along the trail. We parked in a large gravel lot on Wehrum Road, north of Vintondale, and walked/rolled three miles east before turning around. This is a pretty, well shaded trail that follows Blacklick Creek. Unfortunately the legacy of coal mining is on full display in the red mine drainage that colors the creek water. It will take years to restore the purity of the water, if that is even possible.
Take a short detour to Vintondale to see Eliza Furnace that was in use in the 1840s. A large strip mine towers over the town. There are trucks and equipment on the slopes but as far as I know there isn’t any mining now.
The Ghost Town Trail is surfaced with finely crushed rock which makes rolling easy.
The parking lot on Wehrum Road is large enough for any RV. Furnace and Trail 40.48509, -78.92415
Ghost towns in Pennsylvania? Who knew?
ReplyDeleteMy preconceived notion is that ghost towns were a western phenomena, shows all I know! Learn something new everyday... :-)
The ghost towns in the east are not the same as the ones in the west - most are just some old foundations but I really like this one - Eckley Miners' Village. It probably isn't considered a ghost town but it was an abandoned, mid 1800s, company town that was saved when it became the set for the movie, The Molly Maguires.
DeleteThat water! Ugh! What we do to our environment in the name of what ... progress? Pretty trail, tho. Not much left of the ghost town (we've seen similar in the East, too).
ReplyDelete