Project:
Three Rivers Heritage Trail Interpretive Signs

Location:
Three Rivers Heritage Trail

Our Role:
Creating themes, image selection and text

Pittsburgh’s beautiful interpretive signs line the Three Rivers Heritage trail system along the three rivers. The city contracted CDC to prepare 33 historic signs depicting significant events in Pittsburgh’s rich history.

Additional Interest: Bikers and hikers enjoy these popular signs located on the sites where important events occurred from George Washington’s landing on Herr’s Island to the Hot Metal Bridge across the Monongahela River to Panther Hollow.

Project:
Urban Archaeology in Pittsburgh

Location:
City of Pittsburgh

Our Role:
Cultural Resource studies and Section 106 Coordination

This brick well was found during construction of the Point Park Dance Studio.

Additional Interest:

Project:
Westinghouse Park

Location:
Point Breeze, City of Pittsburgh

Our Role:
Archaeological Survey, Landscape documentation

The most significant discoveries found during an archaeological survey of George Westinghouse’s home were excavated on his birthday, October 6th. Known as Solitude, the site was not only Westinghouse’s home but his private laboratory, a place of invention, creation, and experimentation. At Solitude, Westinghouse invented ways to control and transmit natural gas to both industrial and residential consumers. Natural gas derricks occupied Solitude’s backyard near the family’s Victorian gardens. The experiments conducted here made natural gas a new source of clean and cheap fuel for the iron and steel industries at a critical period.

Additional Interest: Archaeological testing was successful in identifying the sites of Westinghouse’s home and his laboratory connected by a spectacular brick tunnel. Also found were four natural gas wells, another tunnel, and landscape features including stone steps, entrance pillars, carriage roads, and specimen trees. Finding an authentic and significant archaeological site within a city park attaches a distinctive importance to this public space. The Westinghouse Site is an important part of our region’s history and development. Thousands of Americans can relate with the life and work experiences of this extraordinary man and his times. What lies buried in Westinghouse Park will impart exceptional knowledge about one of Pittsburgh’s most important individuals, a man whose ideas changed the world.

Project:
Beatty Mills Bridge

Location:
North Buffalo Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania

Our Role:
Phase I Archaeological Survey, Effect, MOA, State Level Documentation

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PENNDOT) is proposing to replace the existing Beatty Mills Bridge carrying T-659 over Buffalo Creek in North Buffalo Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. Beatty Mills Bridge is a wrought iron Bowstring pony truss constructed ca. 1875 by the Wrought Iron Bridge Company (WIBC). This 86-foot long, single span bridge is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as a remarkably complete and important example of an early metal truss bridge. Out of the 11,855 Pennsylvania bridges included in a survey conducted in the 1990s by PENNDOT, only four others are Bowstring pony trusses. In addition, less than one percent of these bridge (or 55 bridges) are fabricated of wrought iron. After applying the Criteria of Effect and the Criteria of Adverse Effect, it was recommended that there would be an adverse effect to this historic resource as a result of the proposed undertaking. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Bureau for Historic Preservation (PHMC/BHP) concurred with this recommendation. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was prepared. State Level Documentation will be completed as a measure to mitigate the adverse effect. A Phase I Archaeological field survey was conducted in 2003. Based on the results of the Phase I survey, a very small portion of one archaeological resource, the previously recorded Ray Site (36Ar414), was re-identified within the boundaries of the project area. It was determined that this small portion would not be likely to yield significant information; therefore, no additional archaeological survey was required for this project.

Project:
Convention Center

Location:
City of Pittsburgh

Our Role:
Archaeology and Section 106 Documents

A Phase I Archaeological Survey was completed prior to construction of Pittsburgh’s new Convention Center. At a depth of over 10 feet, artifacts dating from 1830 to 1860 were found including English ceramics, leather shoes, and a unique redware vessel type.

Project:
Beaver County Heritage Plan

Location:
Beaver County, Pennsylvania

Our Role:
Inventory and create Master Plan with themes

CDC inventoried and assessed 681 historic and heritage sites in Beaver County and created a series of interpretive themes. A master plan with mapping of inventoried properties was included. The consulting team consisting of cultural resource managers, engineers, an environmental planner, and an architect will assess historic and heritage sites for the following purposes: 1) to determine the potential site significance; 2) to prepare property descriptions; 3) to accurately delineate the site on project mapping; 4) to determine property ownership; 5) to prepare recommendations for future planning purposes; 6) to define the property’s condition and identify potential environmental issues or other problems that could relate with future use, development or acquisition.

Additional Interest: The Preservation Plan provided vision and direction for promoting the county’s cultural resources and for protecting their rich heritage.

Project:
Enlow Fork Mine Expansion

Location:
Washington and Greene Counties

Our Role:
Archaeological Surveys, Historic Structure Survey, Mitigation

The Enlow Fork Mine Expansion project, involved 1,453 acres of land and 52 archaeological sites.  During cultural resource surveys conducted by CDC, over 40,000 artifacts were found.  Three large features, each filled with up to a ton of fire-cracked rocks, are believed to represent cremation mounds. Radiocarbon dates and stone tools found on the site confirm the occupation is at last 3,000 years old.

Additional Interest: Two historic farmsteads and a one-room school house were eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. As one of the mitigation measures for the cultural resources found at EFX, Consol worked with the community to develop a plan for moving the school house to a new location.

Project:
Sony Site at Westmoreland Techology Park

Location:
Mount Pleasant and East Huntingdon Townships

Our Role:
Phase I and II Archaeology; Phase III Data Recovery

Before developing the Westmoreland Technology Park near New Stanton, extensive archaeological excavations were conducted on one of the largest Native American villages in northeastern United States. The village involved over 7.2 acres and hundreds of houses like the one shown above.

Additional Interest: The Sony Site, a significant place for thousands of years, was located on a Holocene swamp. The Westmoreland County Planning Department and the Archaeological Conservancy proposed a preservation plan to include 13 acres of archaeological sites, 1/2 mile of Braddock’s Road, and 7 1/2 acres of contiguous wetlands. This was to be the first such preservation effort in Pennsylvania.

Project:
Airport Busway

Location:
Allegheny County

Our Role:
Phase I Archaeology, Phase II Archaeology, HAER Documentation, Effect, MOA

The Airport Busway was built on a railroad right-of-way built before the Civil War. Today, the Busway uses the railroad’s original Cork Run Tunnel designed over 150 years ago by noted civil engineer, W. Milnor Roberts. Over 60 other cultural resources were found along the Busway corridor.

Additional Interest: The two most important railroad structures on the Busway – the Cork Run Tunnel and Bell Avenue Bridge – were documented for the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) before the Busway was constructed.