Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy Christmas Tree Featured in Carnegie Museum of Natural History

The 20-foot tall Christmas trees that adorn the Hall of Architecture in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History are a hallmark of Pittsburgh’s holiday season. This Christmas marks 51 years that the all volunteer-based Carnegie Museum Women’s Committee has decked the halls for the museum with the grandest trees you ever did see. This year’s festive conifers share the theme of the Museum of Art’s current exhibit - Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at the World’s Fairs, 1851-1939.   

The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy was thrilled to be included when the Women’s Committee asked us to be involved. Our tree pays homage to the Conservancy’s signature event, the Spring Hat Luncheon. With the theme Hats of the World’s Fair, the Parks Conservancy tree features images of hats and hat advertisements from 1851-1939 as well as photographs that pay tribute to several of the supporters of our annual fundraising event, the Spring Hat Luncheon. In each photo the friend of the Conservancy is wearing a hat that is either a replica of, or inspired by the fashions of the World’s Fairs.

We used nearly 3,000 LED lights to make this big guy shine

We held our breath as the art handlers hoisted our hand-made 3-foot top hat tree topper onto the highest branches.

Almost there!

Among the vintage hat advertisements and Hat Luncheon photos you’ll find miniature one-of-a-kind hats fashioned from recycled materials by Trinkets of Life.

The final tree is surrounded by dozens of hat boxes which were generously donated by a long-time Parks Conservancy supporter.

The trees will be on display through January 6, 2013 with museum admission. Send us your photos of it on twitter @pittsburghparks! Happy Holidays! 

To support the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy in our mission to improve the quality of life for the people of Pittsburgh by restoring the park system to excellence in partnership with the City - donate here.

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Education through Restoration – Creating Meaningful Service-Learning Projects in the Parks

I love breakfast meetings. First off, there is breakfast. Plus I am a morning person so I’m freshest and most engaged for these early morning gatherings. A couple of days ago I found myself at a breakfast meeting sitting next to a woman who works with youth through the Allegheny County Department of Human Services. I had just returned from a week-long training on service learning with the Community Works Institute so when she mentioned that her kids need to perform community service and asked if there was anything they could do in the parks my answer was a resounding “Yes!” – but with a twist. I said we had lots of opportunities for youth service projects in the parks, but that we aim to have our programs go beyond service to service-learning. She was clutching her coffee (not a morning person, perhaps) and looked at me with a quizzical what’s the difference? expression.

I immediately leapt into a quick overview of how ‘service learning’ builds on ‘community service’, enriching the participant experience significantly. I stressed that if her kids came out into the parks with us they would not only complete a great project, they would actually be given the opportunity to understand more about the why of the work. We would help make connections between their on-the-ground efforts and the larger needs that they are helping to address. Perhaps most importantly, though, they would have the chance to reflect on the impact they were having – and the impact the work was having on them.

Shelburne Farms

Before I began CWI’s Institute on Service Learning EAST at Shelburne Farms just outside of Burlington, Vermont, I felt sure that our educational programs were already using service learning. Joining me at the training were Taiji Nelson, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy’s Education Program Coordinator, and two Naturalist Educators from the Frick Environmental Center, Lydia Konecky and Eva Barinas. The Parks Conservancy Board of Directors had generously agreed to fund this professional development opportunity for all of us in order to build our team and strengthen our education programs in anticipation of a new Environmental Center that we hope to begin construction on in 2013.

The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy has been working closely for several years with the Environmental Center staff to knit our environmental education programs together. We are all using the theme of education through restoration as a guiding principle and are jointly giving folks of all ages the chance to learn about the local environment as they do meaningful, hands-on work in Pittsburgh parks. Still, before the training if someone had asked me what exactly I meant by service-learning or how that was different from community service, I would have fumbled. As a team we have been delivering our programs using well-honed instincts developed over years of doing outdoor education with youth and adults. This was our chance to build on this knowledge by examining best practices in the field of service learning, critically looking at our existing programs, and taking time to consider how to apply these ideas back home.

Now, after 40 hours of training including 8 workshops, daily work with my incredibly thoughtful peer discussion group, more daily work with my Best Practices Study Group, an icy-cold dip in a Vermont stream, walk and talks with my fellow Pittsburghers, fantastic lunches prepared with local foods by Shelburne Farms, and reflection, reflection, reflection…not only can I articulate how our environmental education programs use service-learning or why that is important – I now have concrete ideas for how to make our programs better.

My big a-ha moment for the week came during the workshop Reflection: An Essential Ingredient. We already include reflection in our High School Urban EcoStewards program through daily journaling and end-of-year presentations. This year’s students did everything from create a Tree ID game to illustrate a watercolor book on how to plant a tree. But I realized during the workshop that we could be infusing all of our programs with reflection, even our one-day volunteer events. Last year we had more than 1,500 volunteers contribute time to the parks. What if every volunteer day included time for fun and simple reflection, helping people gain a deeper understanding of the value of their work? This could be as simple posing questions for people to consider as they carry tools back from the work site such as, “What does this project mean to my community? To the park? To our rivers?” We could also ask for reflection on the day in follow-up online surveys.

The Institute also made me realize that we could do a better job revealing our educational goals to our students. Last summer we worked with 3 teachers to develop the Big Ideas for our High School Urban EcoSteward program and map the program to the PA State Standards. Why not share these directly with the kids – let them know what we thought was important for them to learn and why? Our High School students do so much fantastic work for the parks (just this past year they planted close to 300 trees), but have we dialogued enough with them on how each tree planting connects to improved water quality? We certainly present this information at the beginning of our sessions, but I’m looking forward to giving our students more room to explore their sites and develop their own observations and questions about the impact of their stewardship.

In many ways, though, the single most important part of the week was bonding with our Pittsburgh team. A few of my favorites moments: early breakfasts with Eva (also a morning person); searching the shores of Lake Champlain for the most beautiful rocks until our hands were overflowing; racing to our car through a magnificent summer downpour at the end of a day; and spending evenings huddled on lawn chairs in the cool Vermont air sharing stories of past travels around the world.

Our Pittsburgh Pack

It was these in-between times where I really got to discover more about each of our backgrounds and our visions for the future. It was great confirmation of what I already knew: we have an absolutely incredible group of environmental educators here, people who are committed to connecting people with nature and making our City even better. The workshop was the perfect chance to practice lifelong learning together, prepare us for another year of our growing environmental education programs, and reaffirm what we all believe – that giving students a chance to not just learn about our local environment but actually improve it is the key to fostering the park stewards and engaged citizens of the future.

Marijke Hecht is the Director of Education at the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. Please visit our website for upcoming volunteer days and updates on the development of the new Environmental Center at Frick Park. If you’re interested in making a donation to the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy to help us continue our education through restoration, please visit our Donate page on our website.

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Pittsburgh’s Central Fire – Finding Common Ground through the World’s Green Spaces

As crowds of people slowly began filing into the Lighthouse at Chelsea Pier in New York City for the kick-off of the Greater & Greener International Urban Parks Conference, Peter J. Madonia of the Rockefeller Foundation remarked, “It’s like Woodstock for parkies.” A rumble of laughter filled the room and the largest urban parks conference in history was underway. Looking around the crowd, it was obvious this was more than just a few environmentally and community-minded folks getting together to gab about green spaces. The City Parks Alliance brought together over 850 people from 210 cities and 20 countries to participate in more than 100 workshops focusing on topics including environmental advocacy, development, and management. Experts in their fields from major organizations, foundations and government intermingled with people and small organizations committed to promoting the influence parks have on our communities.

Staff from the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, City of Pittsburgh, Mount Washington Community Development Corporation, Riverlife and many other organizations attended the conference. Determined to not only gain new ideas, but to share success stories and strategies of how our urban parks have contributed to Pittsburgh being consistently named “most livable city” year after year. Keynote speaker, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, got the first full day of workshops started by discussing how parks have become a “powerful catalyst for community development.” This became one of the three overlying themes of the conference: community development, public health and future technological advancements. The conference slowly unveiled a more enlightened and deeper value for urban green spaces other than their beauty.

Public Art at The High Line

Community Development

The Parks Conservancy supports and promotes the environmental benefits of parks, but also focuses on the tremendous community and economic development that comes from urban green spaces. When an urban park is designed or restored, it creates a chain reaction in community development and overall quality of life. It creates jobs both in the implementation and maintenance process. Home values around the park increase while access to trails and open spaces for recreational activities enhance public health. All of these factors combine to increase economic growth for the community. It can be difficult to show citizens not living directly within city limits the advantages to urban development when they can feel so far removed from it. Mick Cornett, Mayor of Oklahoma City, is responsible for leading his city towards an undeniable rebirth and discussed the need to put money and effort into the city infrastructure to benefit the entire metro area. He stated, “ The quality of life in urban areas is directly connected to the quality of life in the suburbs. You can’t be a suburb of nothing.”

The High Line Zoo

A visit to The High Line in New York City revealed another unexpected perk to urban parks and community development.  Strolling down the restored elevated freight line that has been repurposed into a modern public green space on Manhattan’s West Side, you’ll be greeted by a gorilla, an amorous sailor and a portrait of a young Native American child to name a few. A menagerie of public art has popped-up along the buildings and open spaces lining The High Line, intertwining the worlds of nature and art into one harmonious story of city culture.

Digging in the dirt at the Frick Environmental Center

Public Health

Park and nature prescriptions were buzzwords used throughout the conference. Daphne Miller, M.D. discussed the “disease of the indoors” and the Health Care Provider Initiative being implemented through the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF). The initiative educates health care providers on the importance of outdoor activity in the prevention of childhood obesity and diabetes, encouraging them to provide nature prescriptions in addition to traditional healthcare. “I think of parks as part of our healthcare system”, Dr. Miller said. United States Secretary of State Ken Salazar, who closed the conference, informed us that children only spend an average of four minutes outside a day. Access to parks and green space is an issue for children in some communities. Many have to walk through dangerous areas or cross highways to get to a park.  Dr. Miller discussed the idea of creating green corridors to connect parks throughout the community and provide “veins of access to green space” for children and others to safely enjoy the parks. The healthier we make our parks, the healthier the people of our community will become.

Playing tag in Highland Park

Technological Advancements

With the role parks play in the health of a society and way to get people outdoors, the topic of technology and the future of parks can often be a tricky subject to tackle. There’s no doubt that we are currently in the era of technology; however, there is still resistance to how technology can contribute to the park system and whether it belongs there at all. Many view the demons of video games, television, Internet, social media and smartphones as the antithesis to the mission of parks and the exact cause of what is keeping people holed up indoors. Garry Golden, Futurist and Founder of Forward Elements, Inc. spoke about the purpose of technology in the future of environmental infrastructure. “Technology doesn’t have to be at odds with simple design”, he explains. Workshop presenter Erin Barnes and her organization, ioby (In Our Back Yard), is a perfect example of how to incorporate technology with environmental advocacy. Ioby is an organization committed to bringing green initiatives to the local level by connecting people to fundraising resources via their website. It’s great to hear about organizations raising millions of dollars to fund environmental causes in the community, but this can at times seem inaccessible for smaller causes.  Ioby uses “crowd-resourcing” and “DIY activism” to empower the community to form their own small fundraising projects through their website.  On the ioby website you can search for projects using filters to discover the needs of a group and how you can get involved. Currently, there is an open project listed on the ioby website in the Pittsburgh community called the Homewood Agricultural Project. They are looking for both donations and volunteers for the project and it’s a great way to help out concerned citizens trying to better our community. Technology isn’t going anywhere, so many of us are embracing it to inform the public about parks and get people active.  The Parks Conservancy has welcomed technological advancements. We are currently developing a mobile app funded through a grant from UPMC Health Plan and the “Parks Are Free” campaign promoting use of the parks and public health within our own community.

Pittsburgh’s Schenley Plaza

Pittsburgh was well represented at the conference as presenters shared expertise in the field and highlighted successful restorations of our beautiful parks to their intended splendor. The Parks Conservancy Founder and CEO, Meg Cheever, served as a moderator for a workshop discussing the importance of public-private partnerships when developing and maintaining urban parks. Parks Curator, Susan Rademacher, sat on a workshop panel called, “People Over Cars” to discuss the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy campaign to restore a parking lot to its original purpose in the development of Schenley Plaza. Ilyssa Manspeizer, Ph.D., Director, Park Development & Conservation for the Mount Washington Community Development Corporation filled the crowd in on the “scrappy do-it-yourself ethos” that has helped transform a steep hillside in Mount Washington to the beautiful 280 acre Emerald View Park overlooking the Pittsburgh skyline.

Picnic in Schenley Park

Central Fire

As speaker after speaker discussed the role parks play in the development of a community, it was National Park Service Deputy Director of Communication and Community Assistance, Mickey Fearn that hit closest to home. He spoke of the “central fire where people used to come together to get warm, share stories and inspire and further community.” This immediately evoked images of our own Pittsburgh parks. Swirls of children sprinting to the playground on Schenley Overlook while families reunite at picnic tables. International students fresh off the plane meeting each other for the first time at the University of Pittsburgh international welcome picnic in Schenley Park. Neighbors who have never met swapping stories while their pooches splash mud at the off-leash dog area deep within Frick Park. High schoolers blushing as their parents embarrassingly take pictures of them at the Highland Park Entry Garden before they head-off to their Senior Prom. Our community coming together in our parks to share life and love, this is the central fire that has been burning in Pittsburgh for the past decade.

Holly Stayton is the eCommerce Development Officer for the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. Learn more about how you can get involved with Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy on our website. Also, keep up-to-date on how the Pittsburgh Greenspace Alliance has joined together to promote and improve Pittsburgh’s green spaces.

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Parks Tour – What We’ve Been Up To…

Let’s take a tour.

When I sat nervously in my now boss’ office to interview for my job a little over a year ago, I told him with heartfelt sincerity that I wanted to work for the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy because the organization had in one way or another touched the lives of everyone in this city. I touted my connections to various Conservancy projects – I lived in Highland Park as a teenager when the reflecting pool and fountain was filled in with dirt and drab shrubbery. I saw the Schenley Park Café and Visitor Center with its patina of cracked paint and vending machines standing where flower beds now lay. As a Pitt student I watched an Oakland parking lot’s metamorphosis into Schenley Plaza. Last year I was married in the newly restored Walled Garden in Mellon Park.     

Many Pittsburghers are familiar with the Conservancy’s numerous projects in our parks in partnership with the City or are connected to our volunteer and educational programs. What is remarkable to me in my three hundred and however-many-days with this organization is how the Conservancy’s reach continues to grow. Every once in a while, our office staff has the opportunity to power down our computers and go out into the parks to see the progress first hand. With the expertise of our Parks Curator Susan Rademacher, Parks Maintenance and Management Director Phil Gruzska, and Director of Education Marijke Hecht in tow, we get to discover new park spaces and connect to our current projects and the people they impact.

Since you and I have become such good friends, I thought it might be nice for you to come along as well to see what we’re working on…

McKinley Park

The historic stone wall and stairs at Delmont Ave. will be restored

I must admit that I’d never been to McKinley Park before this visit, but I could see immediately why it is so beloved by the Beltzhoover, Bon Air, and Knoxville neighborhoods that frame this lush green space. Once part of Melchoir Beltzhoover’s farm, the future park became a popular picnic spot with early German settlers. It was first known as “Butchers Grove” following an oxen roast held there by butchers and slaughterhouse employees on July 4, 1875. In that same year, the developers Benjamin McLain and Thomas Maple purchased the Beltzhoover Farm and began laying out neighborhood streets and housing lots. Soon, the land reserved for green space was dubbed Maple Park for Thomas Maple. In 1898, the historically German borough of Beltzhoover was annexed by the City of Pittsburgh, which also bought Maple Park from McLain and Maple. The park was given its current name following the assassination of President McKinley in 1901.     

Rendering of the proposed restoration of the Delmont Ave. entrance, by Carlos Peterson

For the past 16 years, the Parks Conservancy has focused its work in Pittsburgh’s four historic Regional Parks – Frick, Highland, Riverview, and Schenley while also working in other parks as our resources allow. Our current improvement plan for McKinley is a first step into this very special neighborhood park. The project will be focused at the park’s Delmont Avenue entrance serving the community center, playground, and basketball court. There we will repair the historic stone entry wall and steps. The project will also feature a first in Pittsburgh when we repave the parking lot using special porous asphalt which will absorb storm water, eliminating the need for piping and halting soil erosion. Strategically placed rain gardens will assist, as well as provide beautiful landscaping for the entry. Work in McKinley is currently slated to begin in September 2012.       

Mellon Square

On June 13, 2011, we broke ground on one of the Conservancy’s most ambitious capital projects to date – the total restoration of downtown Pittsburgh’s Mellon Square. In 1955 this 1.37-acre modern garden rooftop plaza was the first of its kind to be built in conjunction with a new parking garage. The Square was designed by the esteemed landscape architecture firm of Simonds and Simonds in collaboration with the architects Mitchell and Ritchey. Today the Square is a favorite gathering place for downtown residents and employees, but its shine has dulled significantly over decades of use. 

Terrace construction

We are in the process of restoring all aspects of the Square including the custom triangular graphic paving known as Rustic Venetian Terazzo, the planters and landscaping, both the Central Fountain and the Cascade Fountain, and lighting. Additionally, we are converting a former planter into a new Terrace above the shops along Smithfield Street creating 15% more useable space in the Square. This idea was included in one of the early design concepts from 1950 and we saw it as an excellent solution to a problem space. The new Terrace will also provide views of the dramatic Cascade Fountain not previously possible. 

The Central Fountain demolished

I hadn’t been inside the Square since our groundbreaking ceremony over a year ago and I was taken aback by the size of the vacant space that had once been occupied by the Central Fountain. This beautiful feature of the Square is being completely rebuilt, complete with its lightshow. The restoration of the fountain’s huge bronze bowls is safely in the hands of their creators at Matthews International. The complexity of the construction is also remarkable, with access to some of the Square’s plumbing as far as three levels deep into the underground parking garage.

Rendering of the completed Mellon Square by Robert Bowden

Final completion dates are directly tied to the moving target that construction often becomes. Currently the Terrace is slated to be complete in mid-August and the Cascade Fountain in mid-September, with total completion anticipated in the spring of 2013. We appreciate the patience and support of Mellon Square’s dedicated users as we complete this important project to benefit downtown Pittsburgh. You can watch our progress via flickr.

Cliffside Park    

Cliffside Park’s current play space

The aptly named Cliffside Park descends from Cassatt Street in Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood to overlook the Allegheny River. The space beams with potential for gorgeous views and a reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the city above. A favorite community space for birthday parties, quilting clubs, and family gatherings, the park has fallen into an unfortunate state of disrepair. Limited accessibility through a single steep park entrance, overgrown plants, and deteriorated equipment have all marginalized a space that should be a part of the Hill District’s outstanding regeneration. 

Rendering of proposed restoration of Cliffside Park, by Carlos Peterson

The Parks Conservancy became involved at Cliffside as a result of our partnership with the Hill House Association in producing the Greenprint plan for the Hill. Current design plans for Cliffside include making the entire park universally accessible, managing storm water through a runnel and rain gardens to prevent further erosion of the hillside, redesigning the play equipment to take advantage of the landscape’s natural slope, constructing a half-size basketball court, landscaping, and establishing an Overlook by removing the overgrowth of invasive plant species and pruning trees. With additional funding we also hope to include a pop-up fountain similar to the ones found in PPG Place and the South Side Works, but on a smaller scale.

Plans are currently being finalized with enthusiastic community support.  We anticipate that we will be able to break ground on this exciting project early in 2013.

The Environmental Center at Frick Park

Located off Beechwood Blvd in Squirrel Hill

Frick Park has long been Pittsburgh’s premier natural classroom. In the 1930s, Helen Clay Frick funded the first Frick Nature Center. Its educational program earned national recognition as one of the most outstanding conducted by a park system in the country. The program moved from its original site in an old home along Beechwood Boulevard into a new building near the historic gatehouses in 1979.   

For decades, the program continued to thrive in its new home. Unfortunately, that building was burned by arsonists in 2002. For the past 10 years, a dedicated team of Citiparks educators have continued work out of the gatehouses and trailers to provide programming that puts kids in touch with nature. We believe the people of Pittsburgh deserve better.             

The current Frick Park Environmental Center workspace

The new Environmental Center at Frick Park will include both indoor and outdoor learning spaces, expanded staff, programming, and improved public access. The construction of the main building will take on the remarkable Living Building Challenge which requires (among many other things) that the building generate all energy and capture all rain water right on site.  We also plan to restore the two historic gatehouses and the landscape designed by Innocenti and Webel in 1927, including the circular fountain which is currently being used as a planter. Alongside the main building, amphitheater seating will be built into the natural slope of the hill to provide space for relaxing, classes, and performances. The parking area will be reconfigured with trellises which will shade cars while overhead solar panels simultaneously capture the energy needed to operate the Center.

Rendering of the proposed Environmental Center with amphitheater and wetlands, by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

Most importantly, the new Environmental Center will continue the long tradition of outdoor education in Frick Park. The current program serves approximately 3,000 visitors annually. Our hope is that we can increase this number to 20,000 by the fifth year of operation in the new Center.  We will all benefit from this greater impact because these young people will establish meaningful connections with nature which encourages them to become citizens who conduct their lives with thoughtful consideration for their impact on the natural world.

We are currently in the final stages of design which reflects several years of community input through workshops and meetings. We hope to break ground on this vital project sometime in 2013, once final funding is secured and construction plans are completed. We are also working on an operating agreement with the City. You can see more images of the Environmental Center design by the firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson here.

 

Kathleen Gaines is a Development Associate at the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.

Please visit our website to make a donation to any of these important park projects. Be sure to designate your gift to the project you choose, or become a member to provide vital operating funds. To learn more about our work in Pittsburgh’s Parks check out our 15^th Anniversary Magazine.   

 

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A City Boy Grows Up in the Country – Riverview Park, My Back Yard (1950-1967)

David D. Erskine grew up in the Charlotte Apartments on Riverview Ave.  He is a retired Project Engineer from BAM International in Butler Country, PA and still does consulting work. He loves sharing the stories of his youth growing up in Riverview Park from 1950-1967.

Welcome to Riverview Park

My earliest recollections as a kid growing up in Riverview were hard to recall at first. However, it just took one trip back with my wife, Donna, to show her around and my childhood memories came flooding back. 

Cherry Blossom Way

The sun-parlor windows at 157 Riverview Ave. were my “windows on the world”. When I was just a toddler, I’d crawl and sit on top of the huge cast iron radiators that lined the windows and just take it all in. I watched the park employees busy at work. Peter, the master stone mason, chiseling and re-pointing some of the stone on the steps leading up to the beautiful flower gardens adjoining the park office. Louie and another park laborer weeding and planting in the flower beds. My dad would invariably appear and wave to me. Sometimes I’d see him walking up the observatory road, past the old barn road, headed up to what was called back then the observatory garage. Dad worked part-time doing small engine repair on the myriad of gasoline powered mowers and tractors that had replaced the old work horse teams kept down in the old barn. I still remember there were two of the huge old horses that were long retired kept as pets down there. Now and then, dad would take me down to the old barn and sit me on the stall rail to get nuzzled by one of the gentle giants.

Riverview Chapel Shelter

Other times, dad would take me down to the Wissahickon Nature Museum, where he also worked part-time with Mr. Harvey, the head naturalist. Wissahickon, in its glory days, was a wonderful place full of live animal, bird, and reptile exhibits. It was like having a local miniature zoo. Dad, Mr. Harvey and the volunteers would “milk” the live Copperheads and Rattlesnakes that were kept in large glass snake terrariums for their venom. Drug companies would then purchase the venom to make antidotes for people who were bitten by a snake. 

Being a kid in Riverview was really an incredible experience. Mom and dad used to take me on my tricycle-tractor down to the old merry-go-round area behind the apartments. They’d let me pedal all over the paved walkways while they sat on one of the many stone and wood benches or the steps of the old merry-go-round.  The old merry-go-round hill used to be steeper than it is today. We would sled ride down it in the winter, sometimes making it halfway across the field to the old Chapel Shelter.

Present Day Watson’s Cabin

As I got older, summer days at the Riverview swimming pool and winter days at the old ice pond playing hockey with my friends were the norm for us Riverview Brats. Whether it was summer or winter, one of my favorite adventures was packing up some food, blankets and sleeping bags then heading to the old Watson Cabin in the park to camp with my family and friends. Built as the Watson family homestead back in the 1700’s, it was a piece of living history that hadn’t changed much over the centuries. It had a huge walk-in fireplace with a stone chimney. In the winter, dad and I would build a roaring black locust fire that would ember-down and last most of the night. Mom would bake potatoes on the hearth and cook chili in an iron pot near the coal. Back then, there was a crude sleeping loft made of boards laid across the log beams. We’d just drag our sleeping bags up the loft ladder to stay warm as we slept.   It was like we had lived there in a past life. It was our home away from home and all within hiking distance from the apartment. 

Snyder’s Point in Riverview Park

We spent a lot of time hiking. We’d hike past the old road house site, down over the long, long, wooded hill into the Woods Run border area of Riverview. What a downhill hike! On the way back, we’d take the Valley Refuge road back up to civilization. We liked to stop along the way at Joe Himmelstein’s Dairy to get cold, fresh milk and pet the horses and cows. We’d then continue on up the valley road, sometimes stopping in to visit my dad at the valley maintenance garage. Occasionally, we’d pick through the huge dump they had there to find weird treasures to take home (yuck!). We spent so much time in Riverview Park, we hardly went anywhere during dad’s vacation times. The park was always there.  Everyone knew everyone in those days. It was like one giant neighborhood.

Thank you for allowing me to reminisce about my wonderful memories of growing up in Riverview Park. It is a tonic, indeed. Even though my employment and circumstances prevent me from visiting Riverview and the Observatory as often as I’d like, I still manage to get down to Pittsburgh now and then. I usually stop in at Primanti’s for a sandwich then go visit the Observatory and my beloved Riverview Park. If anyone would like to talk about their experiences with me, please email me at david_rskn@yahoo.com or contact the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy http://www.pittsburghparks.org.

Lilacs at Chapel Shelter

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What’s In Bloom – June 2012

Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy gardener, Angela Masters has been busy adding splashes of color to our City parks.  With the weather warming up, now is a perfect time to take a stroll through our June blooms.

Highland Park Entry Garden

Allium (Allium caeruleum)

Annabelle hydrangea, Hydrangea arborescens “Annabelle”

Asiatic lily, Lilium Apeldoorn

Coral bells, Heuchera x brizoides

Hardy Sunflower, Heliopsis helianthoides

Montauk Daisy, Nipponanthemum nipponicum

White Trumpet Lily, Lilium regale

Yarrow, Achillea “Parker’s Gold”

A beautiful day at the Highland Park Entry Garden

Mellon Park Walled Garden

Astilbe

Daylily, Hemorocallis ‘Happy Returns’

Hardy Geranium, Geranium x ‘Brookside’

Lavender, Lavandula angustifolia

Oakleaf Hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Snow Queen’

Riverview Park Chapel Shelter

Yarrow, Achillea

Don’t just take our word for it, get out to the parks and spend the day relaxing among the flowers!  If you’re ready to get your hands dirty, join us for Weeding Tuesdays at the Mellon Park Walled Garden or for Weeding Wednesday at the Highland Park Entry Garden.  For more information, visit our volunteer page or email us at volunteer@pittsburghparks.org.

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The Emerald City – How the Pittsburgh Parks Welcomed Me to My New Home

You would think, at thirty-something, telling your parents you’re moving over 800 miles away to Pittsburgh would be easier.  Being a close-knit, Midwestern family combined with the fact that I’m the baby, this was not the case.  I’ve spent my entire life listening to my dad’s stories of growing up in Pittsburgh.  How he painstakingly walked up steep hills ten miles one-way, typically in two feet of snow whether it was winter or not, wiping soot from his face just to get his mother some bread for dinner.  By this point in my life, the snow in his stories had gotten deeper, the hills steeper and he was barefoot carrying his little sister on his back. Though I knew my dad had a flair for the dramatic in his childhood tales, this was how I pictured Pittsburgh, black and cold.  My dad is a Marine and a retired Special Agent.  He’s tough.  So inevitably I predicted his hometown to be just as tough and wasn’t sure how I’d be able to find my place, but now it was my turn to create my own Pittsburgh story.

Schenley Overlook

My husband and I packed up our three-bedroom home, loaded the cats in the car and set out on our new adventure from Kansas City to Pittsburgh almost two years ago.  If I said the transition was smooth, I would be a big ol’ liar.  Though this would be the seventh state I’ve lived in, I’ve spent the past twenty-two years in a suburb of Kansas City.  It wasn’t incredibly exciting, but it was familiar and it was home.  We moved into a one-bedroom townhome that I swear, still to this day, is on top of one of the steepest hills in Pittsburgh.  Nothing looked familiar, I didn’t know how to get to work and I felt as though I was suffocating.

The entire first week in our new city, I was stricken with anxiety that we had just made the biggest mistake of our lives.  Not willing to let me just wither away, my husband coerced me into getting into the car and taking a drive to warm-up to the city.  We drove through Shadyside and made our way towards Squirrel Hill.  As the car climbed up yet another hill and rounded a wide corner, we found ourselves in an open park overlooking the city skyline.  I felt my lungs open and the tension melt as I stepped foot for the first time onto Schenley Overlook.  With the skyline smiling at me and nothing but emerald surrounding me, I definitely wasn’t in Kansas anymore. This began my love affair with the Pittsburgh parks.

Clicking my heals through Frick Park

Elated to see what the other regional parks had to offer, it wasn’t long before I went on my first run through Frick Park.  I rounded my way down Braddock Trail passing over small wooden bridges and stone staircases feeling like I just stepped into my own personal enchanted forest.  The canopy of trees drizzled sunlight to illuminate my path along the way.  As I headed up the Falls Ravine Trail, every jogger I passed nodded with an out-of-breath smile, walkers said hello and playful pups trotted along without a care in the world.  No one knew I wasn’t an authentic Pittsburgher, nor did they seem to care.  We were all park lovers.  Like an underground society delivering our secret handshake as we passed one another, I was embraced like one of their own.

I quickly found my way to Schenley Park and onto Phipps Run Trail wanting to see if Frick Park was just a fluke or if my dad failed to mention the best part about Pittsburgh.  I ran longer than normal partly because I had to stop every two minutes to take a picture and post it to Facebook, but mostly because I couldn’t wait to see what was around the next corner.  There were less people on this trail, but the scenery wasn’t any less magical.  My feet propelled me forward past Panther Hollow Bridge overlooking Panther Hollow Lake towards Steve Faloon Trail.  I couldn’t believe this urban oasis was sitting in the middle of Pittsburgh.  Why were people not flocking to this city and more importantly, why had I waited so long to move here?  It was at that moment it hit me.  I was home.  These were my parks.  Not being able to make a choice between the two, I was able to work out a joint custody agreement between Frick and Schenley Park.  I see Schenley in the evenings after work and Frick on the weekend.  It’s worked out quite nicely with little to no jealousy between the two. 

I’m thrilled that I now have the opportunity to formally share my love of our parks through my role at the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.  The parks have become my refuge.  They’re the backdrop to the stage I set when telling anyone about my new home.  I get it now when Carrie Bradshaw referred to The City as her best friend.  Frick and Schenley have become my closest confidantes and are always there even on my worst days.  Whenever the hustle and bustle of daily life gets to be too much, I know I can just head down to visit my friends in the park and pass along our secret handshake.  Pittsburgh…I think you’re stuck with me.

My new home

Holly Stayton is the new eCommerce Development Officer at Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.  She manages the overall online presence of the Parks Conservancy.  Her responsibilities include website content management and coordination of our blog, social media and e-newsletters.  She doesn’t understand why her office can’t be on a bench in the middle of Frick Park.

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What’s in Bloom – April 2012

Spring is here! Last week Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy gardener, Angela Masters, took photos in the Highland Park Entry Garden and the Mellon Park Walled Garden to share what’s in bloom in our parks! All photos were taken April 11, 2012.

Highland Park Entry Garden

Aurinia saxatilis Compactum, Basket of Gold in Highland Park Entry Garden

Iris Pumila, Dwarf Iris ‘Baby Blessed’ in Highland Park Entry Garden

Iris Pumila, Dwarf Iris ‘Manhattan Blues’ in Highland Park Entry Garden

Tulipa Species, Pink Tulips in Highland Park Entry Garden

White Tulips and Irises in Highland Park Entry Garden

Yellow Tulips and Irises in Highland Park Entry Garden

Mellon Park

Aronia Melanocarpa, Black Chokeberry in Mellon Park

Tiarella Starfish, Foam Flowers in Mellon Park Walled Garden

Viola Species, Jonny Jump Up in Mellon Park Walled Garden

Dianthus Firewitch in Mellon Park

Tulipa Ivory Floradale in Mellon Park Walled Garden

Can’t get enough budding blooms?  Help make Pittsburgh parks golden by designating The Daffodil Project when making your next donation.

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Mellon Square Update – History on the Move

The basins in the Mellon Square fountain in summer

When the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy took on the restoration of Mellon Square in downtown Pittsburgh we knew it would require some heavy lifting. This phrase took on new meaning January 19^th when a forklift was brought in to remove the nine bronze basins that serve as the focal point of the Square’s once stunning central fountain. The task at hand that brisk morning was to free the basins from their concrete pedestals and load them onto truck beds. The basins would then take a short trip through the Liberty Tubes and arrive into the capable hands of Matthews International, where they were originally cast in the early 1950s.

Weighing in at approximately 1,800 lbs each, the nine basins of the Mellon Square fountain are reportedly the largest single bronze basins ever cast. Typically a casting of that size would be done in pieces and then assembled, but these were made in one solid piece. Yet another accolade for Mellon Square – the country’s first modern garden plaza built over a parking garage.

construction photos by Rebecca Chiappelli

While at Matthews International, the basins will be refurbished. The dark green layer that covers the bronze will be removed and the patina restored to a golden brown color. “We’re letting the restoration of this historic bronze drive the restoration of the whole fountain in terms of color choice,” says Parks Conservancy Park Maintenance and Management Director, Phil Gruszka. The color will be tested directly on one of the basins instead of on a separate sample of bronze since the alloys in this historic metal will create unique variants in color. Once the brown tone of the basins is established, the pale green shade for the fountain itself will be selected.

Lighting was originally part of the fountain’s design, but was done away with in 1987.  We are thrilled that the lighting will be put back into place as part of our historic restoration in order to highlight these magnificent bronze pieces. “They will be lit again,” says Parks Curator Susan Rademacher, “and this will help redefine the image of the park as a wonderful place to be at night.”

The process of restoring these sixty-year-old basins will take time. While they are away we can get to work restoring the fountain itself. The basins are expected to make the trip home to Mellon Square once again in late fall of 2012, where they will be perched back atop their concrete pedestals in a fully restored Mellon Square fountain.       

Learn more about Mellon Square and our restoration project here. View our flickr page of historic images of the casting of the basins. Help us bring Mellon Square back to life by making a donation to this important project for downtown Pittsburgh. Keep up with our progress on the Mellon Square facebook page. 

 

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Mary Schenley and the Making of Our Park System

By Susan M. Rademacher, Parks Curator, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy
Originally published in Squirrel Hill Magazine, Winter 2011 

Only two of our city’s four historic regional parks bear a family name.  Frick Park is named in tribute to Henry Clay Frick who, upon his death in 1919, gave 150 acres and an endowment to develop and care for a new park.  Frick Park is also a symbol of a father’s Iove for his daughter — Frick’s daughter Helen is reputed to have asked her father for the park property as a gift to the children of Pittsburgh.  This story is perhaps the better known of the two family-named parks, because the Frick home and museums at Clayton remain to embody the family’s presence and impact on Pittsburgh. 

Mary E. Schenley

Schenley Park, on the other hand, wouldn’t exist today if it weren’t for the forgiveness of a father in restoring his estranged daughter to her inheritance.   In what became the scandal of the day, Mary Elizabeth Croghan eloped at age 15 from her Long island boarding school with the headmistress’s 43-year-old brother-in-law, Captain Edward Schenley.  The newlyweds settled in London and Mary was promptly disinherited.  Her father, William Croghan Jr., couldn’t bear the break for long, visiting the young couple and the first of many grandchildren in London a year later in 1843.  His forgiveness is especially understandable, given that Mary was the widower’s only surviving child. 

William Croghan Jr., father of Mary Schenley

Croghan was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, at the fabled country seat Locust Grove.  His father was the Revolutionary War Quartermaster General William Croghan, married to the sister of General George Rogers Clark.    After the steamboat allowed passage upriver, Pittsburgh became a favored destination of Louisvillians.  It was on such an outing that William Croghan Jr. met the prosperous O’Hara family, marrying daughter Mary O’Hara in 1821. The couple started their family in Louisville with son William and daughter Mary Elizabeth born at Locust Grove on April 27, 1826.  That same year, William Croghan Jr. wrote his brother-in-law, “I am sick & tired of farming, incessant toil and anxiety & no profit….I am now firmly resolved so soon as my difficulties will allow to make arrangements for moving to Pittsburgh.”  Sadly, he would make that move as a widower, his wife Mary having died 1827.  In an 1828 letter from William’s sister Ann Croghan Jesup to her sister Eliza Croghan Hancock, Ann writes “Mr. Baldwin in Pittsburgh says Will Croghan is the finest boy he ever saw & Mary is a lovely child it did me good to hear him speak of those poor little children. Mary has quite recovered I sat up with her for two nights she was dangerously ill with Quinsy and inflammation on the Lungs.”  Young Will died only a month later. 

Picnic House

Father and daughter Mary Elizabeth soon moved to Pittsburgh to make a new life.  There, William Croghan Jr. was admitted to the Allegheny Bar.  And in August of 1833, Mary writes to her Aunty Lucy Jesup, “Next year Papa is to build his cottage.”  This fine Greek Revival-style home atop Stanton Heights was named Picnic House, and contained 22 rooms.  Croghan died at Picnic in 1850, but his will preserved the home and furnishings for the use of Mary and her children until 1931, when Mary’s daughter Hermione, Lady Ellenborough, sold the furnishings.  The house was demolished in 1955, and its grand ballroom and foyer were transplanted to the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning where they remain a major attraction.

Mary’s inheritance of O’Hara properties from her mother’s estate made her the largest property owner in Allegheny County.  Her Pittsburgh landholdings included slums at the “Point” and she was severely criticized as an absentee landlord and exploiter of the wretched by Pittsburgh’s Labor Tribune and the Chicago Daily Tribune in the late 1880s.  Her redemption came in philanthropic form.  Significant gifts to several important institutions helped shape the cultural, social, and physical landscape of Pittsburgh as we know it today.

Among her major gifts were:

• Land for building the West Penn Hospital;
• Property for the Western Penn Institute for the Blind;
• A large lot for the Newsboys Home;
• A $10,000 subscription toward the purchase of land for Riverview Park; and
• The gift of the Old Block House and adjoining property, (the original Fort Duquesne) to the Daughters of the American Revolution. 

While the City of Pittsburgh had been attempting to buy or take Schenley properties for an Oakland park since 1869, it wasn’t until 1889, after Captain Schenley died, that the land for Schenley Park was finally acquired.  It was through the enterprising efforts of the “Father of Pittsburgh Parks,” Edward Manning Bigelow (1850-1916), that Mary was persuaded to donate 300 acres, giving an option to buy another 100 acres.  Bigelow, named the first director of the new Department of Public Works, envisioned a park system for the city.  When he heard that a developer was heading to London to broker a deal with Mrs. Schenley, he promptly dispatched an attorney to get there first and secure a donation.   Mary had just two conditions: that the land be used for a park named after her and that it could never be sold.  The City soon purchased an additional 144 acres, including the present-day Schenley Plaza and part of the Carnegie Library for much less than its tax value.

Schenley's gift is memorialized in the Mary E. Schenley Memorial Fountain at Schenley Plaza.

Her invaluable gift is memorialized in the Mary E. Schenley Memorial Fountain at Schenley Plaza. 

Sculpted by Victor David Brenner, with the granite base by architect H. Van Magonigle, the memorial was entitled A Song to Nature and dedicated on Labor Day, September 2, 1918.   The memorial was restored and lit in 2008 by the City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.

When she died in 1903, the New York Times observed, “The death of Mrs. Mary E. Schenley, which occurred at her home in Hyde Park, London, was made known in Pittsburg [sic] to-day.  Mrs. Schenley has been Pittsburg’s benefactress for many years….Mrs. Schenley was the heroine, sixty years ago, of the greatest romance in Pittsburg’s early history….The affair created an immense social sensation at the time, and the house was preserved for many years in precisely the shape that it was in at the date of the elopement.”

Mary returned only once to Pittsburgh before her father’s death in 1850, and rarely after that.  As an asthmatic, the smoky city was not a healthy environment for her.  How fitting that our park system was created, in part, to improve the health of our people while changing the image of the city from gray to green.  Schenley Park, along with all the parks and greenspaces of Pittsburgh, has more than fulfilled that early promise, thanks in no small part to the spirited benefactress Mary E. Schenley.

Sources:
A century and a half of Pittsburg and her people, by John Newton Boucher; illustrated. Vol. 2.
Frick Fine Arts Library: Schenley Plaza, Schenley Park &Environs, Library Guide Series, No. 11.
Grove Gazette, Winter 2011.   Historic Locust Grove, Louisville, Kentucky.
“Fountain of Forgetting: Mary E. Schenley (1827-1903),” by Don Simpson, University of Pittsburgh.
Mandy Dick, “The Storyteller,” Clarksville, Indiana, 502-500-8899.
The New York Times, November 6, 1903.
The History of Pittsburgh: Its Rise and Progress, by Sarah Hutchins Killikelly.  B. C. & Gordon Montgomery Co., 1906: Pittsburgh, PA.

 

As Parks Curator, Ms. Rademacher preserves and promotes the cultural significance of the Pittsburgh parks.  Contact her at (412) 682-7275.

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