Fayette County Churches

There's perhaps enough space across the road from this little church to park five cars.  Eight on Easter Sunday.  No houses for many miles around, but a tiny cemetery.  The sign out front simply says, "Sugarloaf Church ~ Terry Collins, Pastor."  No hours are posted.  No phone number or website.  It doesn't even say what kind of church it is.  But I liked its bleakness and isolation.  Imagine getting buried out of this place, the pallbearers carrying the coffin down those old steps and across the road to the cemetery.

This place was even more mysterious, since it's completely abandoned.  Here, too, there's a graveyard out back.  Windows are broken.  The old basement looks like it might have been a sort of parish hall at one time, long ago.  Click on the photo below to read the handwritten notice on the church door.  I approached the sign half expecting to find 95 theses...

A little research tells me that this was once known as Hickman Chapel Baptist Church.

McCune Trail, Ohiopyle State Park

I love the mountains in late August.  It was just a little bit chilly at 3,000 feet, much cooler than in the city, so I ended up hiking with a light jacket.  For years, I've wanted to do a 3.5 mile loop at Ohiopyle called the McCune Trail.  This overlook is the highlight at about mid-point.

 The path is named after the McCune Family.  Traces of their old farmstead can still be seen in the forest along the way.  Here's a corner of the farmhouse's foundation.  It was quite a wide house, but perhaps only one-room deep.  I think it was what they call an I-house.

 I suspect there's probably some relationship between these McCunes and the wealthy family that lives in Pittsburgh's east end and administers the McCune Foundation.  I have a friend who belongs to that well-known Western Pennsylvania clan.  She's also descended from the Puritan preacher, Jonathan Edwards, a Presbyterian clergywoman, and very active in the struggle for gay and lesbian causes.

 The spring house is gloriously intact, standing on the edge of the pond, which was used for watering the livestock, below.  A few outhouses were still standing, like the one pictured above this lovely stone spring house, third photo.  If you're hiking along inattentively, you might miss the remnants of the farm, except for the pond off to the left of the trail.  You can't miss it, and it's clearly man made.  

If the pond is the first thing you notice about the farm, then turn around and retrace your steps for a while.  The remains of the farmhouse are further back the way you came.  After snaking past the old farm and up some hills, the trail opens out into an area that used to be fields.  One thing that no map or online guide prepared me for is the beautiful overlook on the edge of the furthest field, top photo.  It's not on any map.  This hike would still be worthwhile without it, but the overlook is definitely the most interesting sight on the trek.

 I felt strangely drawn to this upland meadow, all overgrown and decked out in the colors of late summer.  Now that my kids are back in school, I can hike again on my days off.  But the drive to this part of Ohiopyle from my place takes a full two hours.

 In the car on the way down, I kept beating myself up.  "Really?  Really, man?  You're going to spend four hours in the car and only three hours on the trail?  Don't go to Ohiopyle.  It's too far."

 But the deep silence and the cool mountain air worked their wonders as soon as I got out of the car. It was worth the drive.  Here's the magic truth about Ohiopyle: No one has ever once regretted going there.  Ever.  (Except George Washington...but that's fodder for someone else's blog.)

The McCune Trail is out on the far easternmost reaches of the park and very remote.  There are some nice rock formations up there, and no one else on the trails.