77: Closed Roads and Old Mines/Mills

Unique Streets: 22

Miles Walked: 6.78

Street Names (italicized have been walked on another day, underlined are not in the city): Chartiers Avenue, Morange Road, Idlewood Road, Bell Road, Bell Run Road, Xavier Street, Turner Road, Desoto Street, Lincoln Avenue, Jerry James Way, Ewing Road, S. Grandview Avenue, Orchard Street, S. Linwood Avenue, Woodlawn Street, Saxman Road, Saxman Street, Muncie Street, Noblestown Road, Noble Arms Lane, Angena Drive, Durbin Street, Craftmont Avenue, Jonto Street, Oakwood Road, Cannon Street, Tarner Street, Weddle Way, Balver Street, Grasmere Street, Glendon Street, Bulwer Way, Pensdale Street, Steen Street, Baldwick Road, Crafton Boulevard

East Carnegie and Oakwood. Two places I didn’t know existed let alone were a part of the city until I started walking it. I parked in Crafton and took a little trail that ran along the West Busway.

I came out on Chartiers Avenue and was hit with a dilemma. I could see on the map that part of East Carnegie was down Chartiers and it included at least 4 streets: Bell Road, Bell Run Road, Xavier/Xaver Street (an indexed map I have says it’s Xaver but Google says it’s Xavier), and Turner Road. I decided to venture towards them because if I didn’t walk them now, it would be hard to later.

Chartiers Avenue at this point ran along a tributary to Chartiers Creek.

I came across Cellone’s Bakery but unfortunately couldn’t smell any baking bread. They must have a really good air filtration system.

I made a right on Bell Road so I could access Bell Run Road and Xavier/Xaver Street but found the former closed off!

I was pretty perturbed that I wouldn’t be able to walk THE ONLY STREET IN PITTSBURGH THAT STARTS WITH AN ‘X.’ Some research showed me that SBA is a company that provides cellular infrastructure. Here is a screenshot from Google Maps that shows the tower that is the reason the roads are blocked off.

I went back up to Chartiers to see if I could walk on Turner Road and maybe access the X street that way but found it was a private road in a bus depot parking lot. I was afraid that I would be trespassing so I didn’t even try to walk on it.

Super perturbed now and not wanting to backtrack, I followed Chartiers Creek into Crafton past their composting lot. This area was flat and had a nice trail cut into the trees at the creek bank.

A spooky mailbox with ’19’ or ’61’ hung from a tree branch on the trail.

If I hadn’t seen two people walking on the trail, I might have been really creeped out. I came off of the trail onto a baseball field.

After my little Crafton excursion, I went back up Morange Road and made a right onto Idlewood. Pittsburgh Paintball sat across from Saxman Road and Saxman Street.

I could see that Saxman Street abutted St. John Vianney Manor and St. Paul’s Seminary (used to be St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Orphan’s Asylum) and walked all the way up it to see what the access was like.

I could see a train of tarped vans, East Carnegie proper, and both 376 and 79 in the distance.

There was also a strange lane flanked by cement rails that ran into the woods.

A look at the Hopkins Map from 1923 showed that the Pittsburgh Mine Company operated the Idelwood Mine in this vicinity. Maybe the rails were from mining. Ever searching for more information, I found a website that details the process miners used in the early 20th century. The author’s grandfather worked in the Idlewood Mine. Currently, Canevin Catholic High School sits on top of the mine.

I stopped at Hop House for lunch and then continued into Oakwood. This area is suburban through and through.

On Jonto Way (not marked on either end so I almost missed it) I saw a really neat patio in a backyard.

Many people were outside working in their yards and one woman was working out by holding hand weights and walking around and around the circular Balver Avenue. She passed me twice! I must have been awed by her ability because I almost missed the public steps that turned into a sidewalk through the woods.

I came out on Oakwood near a war memorial that caught my eye.

I read it and got closer, hoping I was wrong about the grammar. Thankfully, I was. The apostrophe used to be there but has been lost to time.

I walked down Grasmere to Glendon and found some secret (not on the map) stairs that led back up to Oakwood.

I was near my car but not done walking yet so I went under the Oakwood Street Bridge to walk on Pensdale/Steen Street. The creek that ran along it made the area smell a bit like the Ye Old Mill ride at Kennywood in a good way. Now the ride is Garfield’s Nightmare, not in a good way.

Relive ‘6/3/19’

Check out all of the photos I took on Facebook or Google Photos.