Pittsburgh Carnegie Steel Mill Tour

I can’t believe just one more month until my kids go back to school. Ian will be starting his senior year and Quinn will be starting middle school. My daughter is still in College. When we had our kids we never thought our kids would always be in 3 separate schools. It’s tough and sometimes creates scheduling conflicts.

This year we had a wonderful working Summer vacation to Pennsylvania, where I attended the Hershey Conference and then to Pittsburgh where I attended the Coffee House – Art Gallery Featuring Textures by Marc Mondor. Sadly, this year we weren’t able to include my daughter who has moved into her own apartment and is working full time.

We visited a Carnegie Steel Mill in Braddock, just outside of Pittsburgh. One of the last furnaces built for creating steel is one of 7 Carrie furnaces built. This particular furnace is housed in the old steel mill at Homestead.

Walking around the mill gives you an errie feeling. There was echoing and the cooing of doves and the hoot of an owl. While the history is being preserved by the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, so is the future.

After the mill shut down in about 1986 it became an abandoned building and party place for kids. They also started graftitiing the the buildings. Some of the grafitti is still evident inside the building. Talking with one of currators I learned that they partnered with the local grafiti artists to create works of art in designated places and to keep it out of places it shouldn’t be. What came about is amazing and beautiful art work. Another creation we came across was this Deer Head made of wire. It’s amazing. I was told there used to be an owl as well, but that it was causing disruptions and so it was removed.

Wire Deer Head

The merging of both the past and future memories has been done explicitly and carefully. They have worked hard to obtain grants and keep this site open to the public. Soon, it will also become the home of soriees and other fun activities. I bet Andrew Carnegie would have never dreamed how long his legacy would have lived on.

I received no compensation for this post.