Ohiopyle, PA

Ohiopyle is a very small town, population 38, located Southeast of Pittsburgh. The town is mostly made up of small businesses catering to tourist offering bike rentals, group rafting tours and hiking. There is a store/restaurant that caters to campers with limited food supplies. I found a bar that sold cans of beer.

Coffee

I’m always on the lookout for a good cup of coffee (latte, cappacino, espresso, etc.). The Ohiopyle Coffee Company has rich tasting coffee, pastries, sandwiches and fruit cups. By afternoon most things are sold out, but great coffee is available all day.

Cycling

The town is situated on The Great Allegheny Passage from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, MD and connects with the C&O Rail trail allowing riders to travel from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. I road the trail from Ohiopyle in the direction of Cumberland. The trail consisted of compacted crushed stone and is well maintained.

A family of 5 was riding the trail from Washington to Pittsburgh as I was finishing up my short jaunt. Each had their own mountain bike with two buckets strapped on each side on the back of the bike. They used these buckets as make shift bike panniers.

In July this path was getting heavy use. Tourist rented mountain bikes and e-bikes or brought their own bikes. One couple I came across were walking their e-bikes because the batteries died. They had over an hour walk ahead of them.

The trail was very peaceful as you can see from this photo. The path ran along waterfalls, overlooks and runs along the youghiogheny river rapids.

Frank Lloyd Wright

Fallingwater

Ohiopyle is home to two of Wright’s house. The Fallingwater house is arguably one of his most famous houses and was completed in 1937. My brother and I could only get tickets for the outside tour. We were permitted to take photos through the windows. We met Uta, a docent, working for The Conservancy. Uta was a wealth of information. We spent 90 minutes talking to her and getting deep into the history of the house and Wright himself. She was so knowledgable and interesting I couldn’t help think she should do a TED talk.

As I understand, The Conservancy has invested a lot to keep the property from becoming rundown. There’s a current fund drive to raise 3 million USD to repair the roof. They’ve also built a beautiful visitor’s center with a relaxing cafe, gift shop and education center.

Kentuck Knob

The Kentuck Knob home has a completely different feel. For one, it is still occupied. It is owned by Lord Palumbo of the UK. He and his wife were actually in the home when we were touring. They vacation there in the summer. On the grounds is an extensive sculture garden installed on a long path back to the gift shop. You can take a moment of the trail, sit on a bench and experience the spectacular views of the Pennsylvania hill sides.