THE GREAT RIDE : A 335 MILE BIKE TRAIL ALONG AN OLD CANAL PATH - FROM WASHINGTON D.C. TO PITTSBURGH

 

YOU CAN WATCH THIS FILM FROM THE WEB/ YOUR LOCAL PBS STATION

or an alternative such as YouTube

I had no idea that there ever was a canal system that went from Washington D.C. area to the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, so this film was a surprise to me. Bikers from all over the world do some or all of this ride which connects two "towpaths.  One is the C and O Canal Towpath that goes from D.C. to Cumberland Maryland, and the other is The Great Allegheny Passage, which takes the riders into Pittsburgh.  The ride includes encounters with three rivers including the Casselman, Youghiogheny, and the Monongahela. The Allegheny Mountains have over a hundred species of trees and wild flowers. Riders go through much Colonial History territory, cross the Mason-Dixon Line, and wind through beautiful scenery - mountains and rapids.  They can stop to rest, sleep over, or eat in many a small town.

A towpath is the path aside the canal, which holds water and the boat, from which, be it by humans. horses, or vehicles, the boat is towed - when needed.

The history of the canal is that it was used by boats to move products before the railroads and trains took over.  Then it was forgotten. However, it was once vital to shipping and so along it lived many a "lock keeper." Since the Great Ride trail opened and bikers from all over the world are giving it their best, businesses in small towns have become more vibrant.

Some parts of The Great Ride are fairly level and not difficult, other's more rugged. 

You'll go from Harper's Ferry to Canal National Historic Park to Potomac River falls into Cumberland, Maryland, eventually reaching Ohio Pyle, West Newton, and into the city of Pittsburgh and Point State Park.

The Great Ride happened because

PITTSBURGH - ALLEGHENY COUNTY ORPHANAGES and PA ADOPTION SEARCH

CARNEGIE LIBRARY PITTSBURGH - LIST OF ORPHANAGES in Allegheny and some adjacent counties.

As I understand it, adoptions in Pennsylvania are closed records and very difficult to get though there is a PA adoption registry at  PA ADOPTION SEARCH (ROMBERGERS TRIPOD SITE) that has helpful information.

I'm posting this because someone I know was told that their ancestor had been at "Boys Town" in Pittsburgh and so he went crazy looking for it on the 1940 census but there is NO BOY'S TOWN IN PITTSBURGH - never was.  There were, over time, 70 such institutions in the area though, and the librarians at the Carnegie Library came up with this helpful list.  Bless them!  What's so great is that all the listings link to even more information and so with locations you may be able to use the census to get to the institution and search from there as a new start.

Those who live in an orphanage, poor folks home, maternity home (a place where a woman goes to have and often give up her baby), and homeless shelters, are called inmates,  the word used for anyone in any institution, not just criminals in jail or prison.

There was a Boys Industrial Home of Western Pennsylvania but I think that the Boys Town concept of villages of orphan boys got such good marketing and PR that some people just use the term to mean any boy's orphanage.

Orphanages became a dated concept as foster care and adoption became better options.

If you're wondering what I think of the children from Central American who have walked across our borders of the United States recently, I think they should all be privately adopted.  I think illegal immigration is offensive to every American and American family whose immigrant ancestors did it the right - and legal - way.  They should not be granted instant citizenship at this point.  As recently posted there was a way to declare that you had been brought to the U.S. as a child and wanted to be a citizen "of age." This was useful when one or both of your parents had died or they left you when they went back to the Old Country or got lost out West.

Sure I have a heart.  Most people do.  But there are so very many Americans who are homeless and there is no funding for them like what is proposed to help this stream of poor children.  I feel that at some point our country has to face that we cannot afford to keep helping others when we are not taking care of our own. 

There are also so many Americans who want to adopt but can't because they are considered to be too old or too poor.  Years ago a friend of mine faced this because they were told that when her husband hit 40 it was all over for them.  They never did get a child and they had saved money for years to buy a house with a yard in a nice community.  Americans have been adopting outside this country because it's even said that there are not enough children to adopt.  Well, now there are!

People over 40 can have natural children so why not adopted ones?  People who are not high income have children naturally, why not adopted ones?  People with natural children have them in bunk beds, sometimes two bunk beds to a room so why does an adopted child have to be guaranteed their own room?

I say let these children who walked in desperation (but without their parents!) have a chance at being LOVED by a family!  Let them be adopted.

So let's say you have a great grandpa who was an orphan in Allegheny County Pittsburgh.  If a name search doesn't bring him up on any databases, check out these institutions and find out if they are holding old records anywhere.   I do have to wonder about privacy of the children.  Maybe some places did not allow census takers in.  Maybe a child or mother was there between census!