Inne at Watson's Choice
Tourist Guide Book

Mountain Area

  
 
Top Dozen Attractions

Architecture

Local History

Recreation

Mountain Area

All Attractions

All Themes

Miscellaneous Information

Attractions
Addison Toll House
 Bear Run Nature Reserve
Braddock's Grave
Chalk Hill Farm Museum
Christmas Shoppe
Coal & Coke Heritage Ctr
Country Charm
The Cross
CW Klay Winery
Dunlap Creek Bridge
Fallingwater
Flat Iron Building
Fort Mason Museum
Fort Necessity
Friendship Hill
Hazelbaker
Historic Brownsville
Historic Connellsville
Historic Dawson
Historic Perryopolis
Historic Uniontown
Historic Hopwood
Inne at Watson's Choice
Jumonville Glen
Jumonville Methodist Youth Ctr
Kentuck Knob
Laurel Caverns
Linden Hall
Meason House
Mt Saint Macrina
National Road
Nemacolin Castle
Nemacolin Woodlands
New Geneva Stoneware
Ohiopyle State Park
Pennsylvania Room
Point Lookout
Scenery Hill
Searight Toll House
State Theatre
Stone House
Summit Inn
Touchstone Center for Arts
Village of Shoaf
Washington Grist Mill
Washington Tavern
West Overton Museums
Wharton Furnace
Youghiogheny River / Lake
Youghiogheny River Trail
Youghiogheny Station

Themes
Antiques
Architecture
 Biking
Coal and Coke Era
Early Local History
Fall Foliage
Fishing
French & Indian War 250th Anniversary
Genealogy
Glass
Golfing
Hiking
Hospitals
Gen. George C Marshall
Morgantown WV
Mountain Area
National Road
Nature
Opulence of Coal & Coke Era
Pittsburgh
Skiing
Trivia
Geo. Washington Slept Here
Whitewater Adventures

 

Mountain Area

Uniontown is located at the foot of Chestnut Ridge, the most westward ridge of the Allegheny Mountains. To the west of Chestnut ridge, the terrain is best characterized by rolling hills. The terrain of the ridge and eastward is much more exaggerated, more mountainous. The Allegheny's are old mountains as mountains go. As such they have been worn and weathered by millions of years of exposure to wind and rain. They're not the stark, imposing figures of their much younger brethren to the west, the Rockies. The elevations and terrain of the Allegheny's are much more hospitable to humans, yet still more challenging than the lowlands. Modern technology has made moot many of the challenges the mountains posed for earlier generations. Today, we can easily traverse and enjoy the beauty with little effort. There is much to see and do, both natural and man-made.

Traveling eastward from Uniontown on Route 40, the National Road, the mountain starts to ascend at the small village of Hopwood, a one important stop-off point for westward bound settlers. The 4 lane highway makes a 3 mile ascent to the summit, first passing the entrance to Lick Hollow State Park (a very pleasant little park for picnicking and hiking) then Point Lookout (a must-stop location for a very picturesque view of Uniontown below).

At the crest of the mountain to the immediate right and overlooking the valley is the Summit Inn, a turn of the 20th century porch hotel and restaurant maintaining much of its character from nearly a century ago. Also at the crest of the mountain to the left is Jummonville Road. This road leads to two significant attractions: (1) Jummonville Glen, where a 23 year old George Washington on his first command, skirmished with the French in an encounter that sparked the French and Indian War, and (2) the Cross at Jummonville Methodist Training Center, a 60 ft steel cross with a magnificent view overlooking the valley.

Back on Route 40, eastward bound just beyond the crest of the summit (50 yds) is a well-marked road leading to the right, first passing the golf course at the Summit Inn, then several miles further to Laurel Caverns, Pennsylvania's largest cave.

Again, from the crest of the mountain on Route 40, if you proceed eastward down the opposite side of the ridge about a mile, a road veers off to the right that leads to Touchstone Center for the Arts and a bit further to Wharton Furnace, the remains of a 19th century iron furnace.

If instead you proceed straight on Route 40 for another mile, you'll enter the village of Chalk Hill. On the left you'll see Chalk Hill motel and the Early American Farm Museum with its vast array of old-time machinery. Just past that to the right is a road (Fayette Springs Road) leading a short distance to CW Klay Winery.

Just beyond Fayette Springs Road on the left is Ohiopyle-Chalk Hill Road which leads to several very significant and picturesque attractions. First you will pass the entrance to Kentuc Knob, architect Frank Lloyd Wright's lesser known home in the area, then through beautiful Ohiopyle State Park, with a trail head to Youghiogheny River Trail, then to Fallingwater, Wright's world-famous masterpiece work. Another mile past Fallingwater is Bear Run Nature Reserve with miles and miles of hiking trails through several distinct, pristine environments.

Back on Route 40 continuing eastward from Chalk Hill, on the left you'll pass the Stone House restaurant inn, a mile further to Braddock's Grave Park (where Gen. Braddock was buried in the road following his defeat at Duquesne in 1755), another mile to Washington's Tavern (a road house of the National Road) on the right, then a half a mile to the entrance of Ft. Necessity National Battlefield, where young George Washington suffered his only military defeat as commander.

Continuing eastward on Route 40 for another couple of miles, you will come to the entrance of the magnificent Nemacolin Woodlands, a world class resort featuring a spa, shops, art, skiing, restaurants, and 2 golf courses. Ten miles beyond Nemacolin Woodlands on Route 40 you will cross the Youghiogheny River-Lake recreational area. Another 4 miles will bring you to the village of Addison, home of the Addison Tollhouse, one of only two remaining stone tollhouses from the days of the national Road.