Farmland in Pine

A short, but sweet blog that I consider unfinished.

Please read the whole thing. It is really short. But I need help finishing this article. Read it so you know what I need help with.

Several weeks ago, a reader told me about the protected farmlands of Pine. With so many developments being built it is interesting to see that Pine actually has quite a bit of protected farmland.

Most of the land in Pine is considered an Agricultural Security Area. The farmland owner applies for the security area and the ASA cannot be removed except by the landowner. The ASA gives the farmland protection from the Commonwealth from exercising eminent domain and it cannot be condemned without appeal to the advisory committee.

The owner also gets an interest rate reduction if they take a loan out on the property.

The designation doesn’t expire and cannot be removed except by the property owner although after seven years they may sell parcels of their land.

At first I think it is easy to think that the farmland protection is unnecessary because Pine is no longer an agricultural community. But growing up in the country (the real country – my high school was built on a working farm) I personally am thrilled that these landowners have utilized this program.

Variety is the spice of life and it is good to see a multitude of lifestyles in the township. Farms are beautiful and remind us of the cycle of life and they are so peaceful.

Plus, on a personal note, they remind me of home.

This map is from the Allegheny County Farmland Preservation Program. “Saving farms for the future, today!”

The blue indicates the protected farmland. The gold is another program, Agricultural Easement.

But this is where you come in. Does anyone know the owners of these farms? Can you tell them I’d like to know more?

Share this so we can find out more details of these working farms in Pine!

Do you own 10 acres? Maybe your land would qualify for some of these programs. Visit http://www.alleghenyfarmland.com/default.aspx?pageid=1 for more information.

Pine History Blog Quiz

For those who do not follow Pine History Blog on Facebook, this week I am on vacation but wanted to have something published for the week. So I created a quiz about Pine Township history.

Take the ten question quiz. See how well you know Pine.

https://www.qzzr.com/c/quiz/441292/6b09a8b6-e255-4826-887e-7811408c9981

 

The Toll Gates of Perrysville Pike

This week we explore Pine of course but we also venture further south. The story of Route 19 is as long as the road itself but most of it lost, simply because the stories were not preserved.

As I become more familiar with Pine (remember, I am not native) I hear people use local geographic terms that would make any young person say, “Hum?” The only one that has really stuck with me because I have actually used it in conversation is Wexford Flats (or sometimes just The Flats).

I bring that up for the simple fact that local names change, often more quickly than people realize. Having been involved with the Pine Township Historical Committee I was thrilled to hear the people talk about all the old farmhouses and businesses but I never heard any of them talk about the macadam and toll roads.

Granted, at least the toll roads were gone before their time but the I had never heard of macadam before and had to look it up.

A macadam road is a crushed stone road – think country, dirt roads.

The above picture was on Wikipedia and is in Aspinwall, PA in 1908.

Laying Telford on Freeport Road, Aspinwall, Pennsylvania, 1908

In the 1800’s, Perrysville Pike, a 15(ish) mile stretch of road from Allegheny City (North Shore of Pittsburgh) to Wexford was planked with wood. This stretch of road was planked with wood because the mud from all of the travel was axel deep and made travel impossible in sections. You can only lay down so much hay before you’ve had enough and want a more permanent solution.

But maintaining the road was expensive and was privately funded. Planks were replaced at least once a year as they rotted which meant that the owners had to find a way to pay for those improvements.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania granted charters for the toll gates. Running exactly like the Turnpike today, you paid at each toll gate for the length of road you were to travel.

If you traveled the entire length you paid the full fare. If you promised the gatekeeper that you were not going to travel the entire way to the next gate he would calculate how much, you owed. Pennsylvania mandated three cents a mile but that wasn’t strictly followed.

The first toll gate was just outside Allegheny City, city limits at West View with a hotel on either side of the road. The second toll gate was known as the covered gate but the location is unknown to me. For anyone familiar with North Hills history you may be able to determine the location. Apparently, the covered gate was also a grocery and had Peter Ivory’s Grocery written on the side. It was also a post office. The third toll gate had been abolished in the 1903 article that I referenced and the location wasn’t given. The final toll gate was in Wexford although I have not been able to determine its exact location.

A driver with one horse paid two cents at gate 1; five cents at gate 2; gate three was abolished so it was free but had at one point paid six cents; and seven cents at gate 4. If the driver had two horses, they paid double.

I’m not sure when Perrysville Pike was macadamized but the first reference I found was in 1910 (November 13; Pittsburgh Press, pg. 36). It was a real estate ad.

The toll gates are part of the local history that people didn’t record probably because they are mundane. They seem normal and uninteresting but now, over a hundred years later, it is really cool. Route 19 means so much to Pine and yet we probably can’t think of a reason to write about it. But this road, Perrysville Pike was the Route 19 of its time. It was the most important road for the communities it served but it was being replaced by crushed dirt roads to make way for automobiles and streetcars.

The article that I referenced, almost entirely was from the Pittsburgh Press, published March 29, 1903, page 26.

The featured picture also came from that article.