YEAR THREE: Beaver County, Pennsylvania

This week, as part of my goal of visiting all the counties within three hundred miles of Morgantown, I visited Beaver County. It's one of the larger counties in this area, located just northwest of Pittsburgh, bordering Ohio and West Virginia's northern panhandle. Because it's less than one hundred mles from Morgantown, I decided to go and come back the same day.

My goals are usually to find at least ten places on The National Register of Historic Places, a mall, a synagogue, and a park. I usually find the county courthouse.

It took just about two hours to get to the county. I had planned to do all the historic places, north to south, but I messed up my figuring and started near the center. Most of the urban parts of the county run along the Ohio River. There are towns on the steep hillsides and factories, many abandoned, along the riverfront. I had a sense of a beautiful place that once boomed with industry and good-paying industrial jobs. According to the census, the county population declined about ten percent between 1990 and 2000.

I visited Bridgewater, Beaver (the county seat), Beaver Falls, Alquippa (the largest city), and Ambridge. Beaver was the prettiest town, with a street of semi-interesting shops, a historic district along the Ohio River, and a wooded park with an old-fashioned bandshell. Alquippa was the most depressing. It's main street was virtually vacant and the residential areas were in sad disrepair. Geneva College, a self-described "Christian liberal arts college" anchors the north end of Beaver Falls. Bridgewater has a historic district along the Beaver River. Ambridge hosts the county's only synagogue, "traditional" according to its website, which means not affiliated with the major movements in Judaism, and Old Economy Village, part of which is in a state historic park.

I had lunch in Beaver at BeauCo Bistro in downtown Beaver. It's decorated in 1970 modern. I had the special chicken salad sandwich with cranberries and walnuts on some kind of white bread. It's not what I usually eat. I try to avoid mayonnaise. It was inexpensive and filling, I'll give it that.

I didn't interact with too many people. I stopped into a K-Mart, looking unsuccessfully for a local map. A handsome young man offered me a free Pittsburgh newspaper. He admitted it was the more conservative paper. I took it, but haven't read it. The librarians in Beaver found me a map, and several atlas books covering the county. The people at the courthouse gave me a map that covered much of the area. If I were to describe the people based on these few interactions, I would say they were friendly and helpful.

When I go farther away, I stay overnight, and try to catch a nap between four and five. This habit goes back to childhood, so it's not an old-age thing. Not that I'm sensitive about my age. I got home about 8, as it was getting dark, having left Ambridge about 6:15. I was exhausted. Joe and I had a late dinner. I fell asleep as soon as I went to bed. As usual, I wonder why I go through all this, but
the main reason is that I enjoy travel, don't mind being alone (although it is more fun with Joe, who has a job and can't always go). I guess it's just my idea of fun.

Here are some pics of Beaver County: