The Pear and The Pickle, Troy Hill, Post I

Seth had CCD today at Most Holy Name on Troy Hill. Emmy wanted to come with me to drop him off so I suggested we find a coffee shop to kill time.

One quick google search later and we found ourselves at The Pear and The Pickle. The building looks old, and walking in seems like a step back in time to the days of the neighborhood general store. 

There are three seating areas on the first floor, and a rooftop deck as well. Some of the tables are converted antique sewing machines. This place has a great vibe and feel to it. We both had homemade blueberry buckle, and I had a black drip coffee. It was delicious.

After enjoying our treat, we decided to walk around Troy Hill for a little bit, and we came upon this building with a Troy Hill Incline painting. While I knew Pittsburgh had dozens of inclines, I did not know that there was one right here next to Pittsburgh-famous Rialto Street.

Rialto Street is one of the steepest roads in Pittsburgh, and at one time was used as a path to bring pigs from the stockyards on Herr's Island to the slaughter houses in Spring Garden, which neighbors Troy Hill. I can totally picture this. Now, if you talk to some of the locals, and I couldn't find any sources online to substantiate this, pigs were taken down Rialto to the slaughter houses on Herr's Island. But, I figure why not? If they can go up, they can also go down, and there is information stating that there were slaughter houses in both Spring Garden and Herr's Island.

Emmy walked to the bottom of Troy Hill while I stood on a bridge above and took pictures of this steep and narrow street. It is truly terrifying to drive this road.

There's still more exploring to do around this neighborhood, and my interest has certainly been piqued.

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