St. John's Lutheran Cemetery, Spring Hill, Pittsburgh

 The most famous view of Pittsburgh is from Mt. Washington, and I gotta admit that it's nice.  But a far more sweeping vista is seen from the desolate hilltop neighborhood of Spring Hill, on the Northside.  Tucked away at the top of steep, narrow streets, St. John's Lutheran Cemetery rises up above the rooftops of rundown rowhouses.  This is the final resting place of many a German immigrant from Pittsburgh's industrial days.  The Northside hasn't been a German enclave for many a long year, but here on this hilltop, headstones are still in the old mother tongue. This place is a lot harder to find than Mt. Washington, but the advantage is a broader panorama and a complete absence of people.  Nobody comes here except neighborhood folks.

Mt. Washington's views are almost too close to the skyline.  St. John's Cemetery is removed just enough to let you see most of the major downtown landmarks.  To the far right of the top photo, you see the fountain at the Point.  At the far left--before the leafy branches--you see the 16th Street Bridge.  In between are all the major skyscrapers, the convention center, and the sports arenas.  Mt. Washington itself is visible, with its "inclines," and Mt. Lebanon can be seen at the horizon.  As always, click on a photo to enlarge it.

On the way back down the hill, my friend and I came across a well-known local distillery that makes whiskey according to the recipes of the 18th and 19th centuries: Wigle Whiskey.  One of their specialties is old Monongahela Rye Whiskey--the kind that was made here in the 1700s, and which played such a crucial role in the Whiskey Rebellion.