Allegheny Arsenal, Part II

If you haven't read Allegheny Arsenal, Part I, click here.

One of my coworkers lives in Lawrenceville and in passing I remarked that I was in his neighborhood recently checking out Arsenal Park. Josh seemed surprised, but I explained the email and my interest in history. That got him talking.

I never would have guessed that Josh is a history enthusiast, but he is on the Board of Directors for the Lawrenceville Historical Society. GOLD MINE!

He shared some more information about the arsenal and then casually mentioned that it just so happens the historical society’s newsletter features the Allegheny Arsenal in this publication. Fact is stranger than fiction.

But, it gets even better.

He is going to bring me a copy. . .for a quarter. Ah, gotta love his sense of humor.

Every year on the first Saturday after the 4th of July, Lawrenceville hosts “Doo Dah Days”, or rather Doo Dah Day as it lasts only one day, but that is neither here nor there. Doo Dah Days is a festival celebrating the life and music of Stephen Foster who was born and raised there. While the whole festival sounds like fun (I’ll share more about it later or you can click here), how this is relevant to the Allegheny Arsenal is exciting.

Doo Dah Days includes a trolley ride through Allegheny Cemetery where not only Stephen Foster, his wife, and daughter (along with other notable Pittsburghers) are buried, but it is also the site of the mass grave for the victims of the Allegheny Arsenal explosion.

I would have had no idea where to start searching for the grave, although Josh did say the cemetery office has maps and is open throughout the week and on Saturdays, but doesn’t a trolley ride sound preferable?

read Allegheny Arsenal, Part III here.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's been almost 8 months

I'm not sure why I'm posting this now. Eight months seems like such a random milestone. Why not 6? Why not wait until 12 months, a full year? But no, 8 months it is. Nearly 8 months ago I left my husband of 5 years. I left 4.5 years later than I should have. Surprised? Those of you who thought you knew us as a couple probably are. We appeared to have it all. You saw what we wanted you to see. You saw us as you wanted to see us. You knew us as we wanted you to know us. And, yes, you knew us as you wanted to know us. The signs were there. Hindsight is always 20/20. About this time a year ago I was living moment to moment, but not so as to soak in each moment. I lived moment to moment because it's the only way I could get through the day. I fell asleep at night only to be awakened by one or both of the girls crying in the morning. I would lay there, eyes shut, thinking "Please no, don't make me get out of bed and live this life". The crying would continue and...
Read more

Girls Weekend

In what may seem like complete craziness on my part, I want to take the Sarah and Emily to Disney World before school starts in the fall. I’m not kidding when I say it’s been a long year and I feel like we just need to get away to the happiest place on Earth for a few days. Kevin and I took the girls to Disney last January for his brother’s wedding so I do have some idea of what I’d be getting myself into. That helps. Sarah still talks about that trip. She remembers flying on the purple plane (Southwest), throwing up in the castle (at breakfast with the princesses), and riding Dumbo (she must have ridden it no less than 20 times and of course it had the longest lines). I still remember the sheer joy on her face when she met Mickey and Minnie and all the other characters too. Emily was sort of “eh” on meeting them. They were nice from a distance, but when they got too close she dissolved in a puddle of tears. I have been wanting to go back since the day I left and I think it would be...
Read more

Hello World. It's me, Dana.

Sarah and Emily, my adorable daughters, are the "two little girls" going "for a walk in the wide, wide world". Bonus points if you know from which classic children's book this line was shamelessly stolen. . . and slightly modified. Although a writer by day, it may take me awhile to find my groove in these "off" hours as a creative writer while I share my life as a single, working mom of two with you. Here goes. . . I haven't always been single. And I haven't always been a mother. My husband Kevin and I were married at Holy Spirit Parish on May 7, 2005 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Nearly two years later we welcomed our first child, Sarah, into our lives on March 20, 2007. At 5lbs, 10oz she was much smaller than anyone had anticipated, but what she lacked in size she made up for in noise. This is the child that did not sleep through the night (nor did she let her parents sleep through the night) until she was 9 months old. What a joy she was ...
Read more