RECREATION
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HISTORY
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COMMUNITY
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Each
year, The Scott Conservancy sponsors one or more special outings - be
sure to check our calendar for
updates. Whether
it be bird-watching, hiking or biking, it is
sure to be fun. Sometimes the outings are on our land or in our watershed, and sometimes
we take a trip outside the area for some regional flavor.
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The
conservancy is also a good place to meet people who like to camp, fish,
hike, bike and boat. Although the conservancy no longer sponsors
canoe trips, we encourage our members to organize their own private
floats. And of course, bring your friends to our hikes!
We have over two miles of trails running through over 50 acres of our 72
acre Kane Woods Nature Area for you to enjoy. |
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 HIKING
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 With
72 acres of forest, consider a weekend hike of the Kane Woods Nature Area in Scott
Township. Enter the woods from the valley or the hill at one of four
trailheads
Bottom
of the hill: Whiskey Point Trailhead on the corner of
Scrubgrass & Main Streets, Scrubgrass Run Trailhead.
Top
of the hill: JCC Trailhead located at the rear of
the Jewish Community Center parking lot on Kane Blvd., or the Providence
Point Trailhead that's conveniently located for the residents of
Providence Point. |
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Kane
Woods Trailhead entrances are open to anyone wanting to walk the trails.
Explore our
trails on your own or with a group of friends. The trails are
color-coded and named, with colored metal signs on wooden posts clearly
marking trail intersections. Trail maps are available at the trailheads. If
you've never been on a Conservancy hike, consider joining us this year. We
have a few guided hikes each year. |
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BIKING
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Come
out to the Panhandle Trail for a few miles of biking.
Join
the Ramblers at Walker's Mill station for a Panhandle Trail hike/bike |
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You'll
ride by quaint towns and scenic bridges as Robinson Run, a tributary of
Chartiers Creek, snakes along the Panhandle Trail. A trail
feasibility study has identified a potential new route through Scott
Township and adjacent municipalities (map) that could eventually link up
with the Panhandle Trail to improve and increase the region's hiking and biking
opportunities. |
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CANOE
CHARTIERS CREEK
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Float
beneath quaint bridges that span stretches of tree-lined banks as you
navigate on Chartiers Creek toward the Ohio River. Churn your way through exciting
rapids below Canonsburg one moment, then round the bend to discover an
immense great blue heron rookery nested across 5 large sycamores. |
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 Stop
off and explore Allegheny Land
Trust's Wingfield Pines Conservation Area and Upper St. Clair's Mayview
Wetlands. Indulge in a journey of contrasts as the primordial wilderness
snakes through an urban setting. Spring wildflowers splash steeply
forested hillsides while towns perch on creek banks overhead.
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The
upper watershed run is 12 miles and the lower watershed run is
12 miles, for a total of 24 miles of navigable run on Chartiers
Creek. Although the conservancy no longer sponsors canoe
trips due to insurance costs, some of our members like to
organize their own excursions. There
are several put-in and take-out points along the way for boaters
that want a short, quick run after work or on the
weekend.
The
upper watershed creek access points include Canonsburg at
Southpointe (put-in), ALT's Wingfield Pines (put-in/take-out),
Chartiers Park in Bridgeville (take-out above dam). The
lower watershed creek access points include Chem Tech building
off Washington Pike in Collier Township (put-in below dam)
Carnegie between Main St. and Mansfield Bridges (put-in/take
out) Sharp Edge Creekhouse in Crafton (put-in/take out),
McKees Rocks (take-out). You can also put-in at McKees Rocks for
a float on the Ohio River. |
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RECREATION
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EDUCATION
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HISTORY
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COMMUNITY
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COMMUNITY
PROGRAMS & WORKSHOPS
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The
mission statement of the Penn State Master Gardener volunteer
program is to support the Penn State Cooperative Extension by
using research-based info to educate the public on best
practices in consumer horticulture and environmental
stewardship.
The
program was established to help the cooperative extension reach
the consumer horticulture audience. Master Gardeners receive
extensive training in the various phases of gardening. In
return, they dedicate volunteer time to teach horticulture based
on recommendations stemming from university research. |
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Gardening
Program: The
Scott Conservancy is currently sponsoring a gardening education program for the
general public in 2011. Jane
Peart, Penn State Master Gardener Class of 1998, is
setting up a series of workshops for the Scott
Conservancy membership.
The
program list includes topics like pruning, fall clean
up, garden design, bulbs and vegetable gardening.
Early
this spring, we offered a program called "Design your Landscape" and
it was quite a success. Martha Swiss, the evening's instructor and a
Penn State Master Gardener, using before and after examples, provided useful information
on how
to assess your landscape, create a design to achieve the needs and desires
of your landscape and how to execute your design.
Attendees
at the program, held at the Scott Park Lodge in Scott
Park, also received a handout that included a list of
trees and shrubs for natural landscaping and a list of
publications for further reading.
Allegheny County Penn State Master Gardeners will
present "Fall Garden Forum" this fall.
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The
average rain barrel holds about 40 gallons of rainwater, and while
rainwater isn’t clean enough to drink, it can be used after the
storm to water the garden, wash the car, even fill a small wading
pool or your backyard pond. Most
summer storms in our area yield about 0.25 inches of rain,
though some can locally drop more depending on the path of the
storm. One
or two rain barrels could easily catch and hold the runoff from
most storms – that’s 40 gallons that won’t end up in the
creek during a rain storm, and that you don’t have to pay for
in your municipal water and sewage bill. |
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Rain
Barrel Workshop: Those
raindrops add up, as we’ve seen lately in some flooding incidents. While the
issue may seem too big for any individual to do something about it, a rain
barrel at the end of a residential downspout can make a big difference in the
amount of stormwater pouring into Chartiers Creek and its smaller tributaries.
Individuals
can be part of this stormwater solution by making their own rain barrel for home
use at a Rain Barrel Workshop.
Shortly
after Hurricane Ivan left its mark on the region, The Scott Township Community Room was the
site of a rain barrel workshop sponsored by the Scott Township Environmental
Council and the Lower Chartiers Watershed Council. Under the guidance of Don
McGuirk, the participants constructed rain barrels for use at home. Larger
rainbarrels are available from
farm supply outlets.
Building
a rain barrel isn’t difficult and doesn’t require a lot of expertise. Participants are provided with recycled, clean food barrels and required
hardware, and only need to drill a few holes and put it all together. You are
given instructions on installing the rain barrel once you get it home.
It’s
simple enough for children and adults, and fun enough to want to make two.
It’s
also equipped with an overflow hose to direct water away from
the foundation during a storm and a mosquito screen to cover the inflow opening
to keep breeding mosquitoes out.
To see how it all
adds up, imagine if everyone on your street or neighborhood had a rain barrel or
two, and see how quickly it adds up to thousands of gallons of water being held
back from the creek in every storm, and how much is not being used from the
municipal water supply. |
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RECREATION
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EDUCATION
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HISTORY
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COMMUNITY
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We
partner each July with the Neville House, St. Luke's Church and the
Woodville Plantation to bring the historical Whiskey Rebellion
alive. |
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THE
WHISKEY REBELLION
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Kane
Woods featured historically during the Whiskey Rebellion: The
Kane Woods, Old St. Luke's Church, the Neville House and the Neville
mansion on Bower Hill all have historical significance dating back to
Revolutionary times. In 1996, the Conservancy, with the
support of the Scott Township Commissioners, received approval from the
Pennsylvania State Historical and Museum Commission to erect a state
historical Marker on Bower Hill, the site of General Neville's mansion,
which was burned to the ground during the Whiskey Rebellion.
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The
Whiskey Rebellion is important in U.S. history because it
provided the first real test of the new American Constitution..
In
1794 an angry mob of Whiskey Boys marched through the Scott
Conservancy's Kane Woods to "Bower Hill," the
plantation home of the Federal Inspector of the Excise, General
John Neville, which was located at the top of Kane Boulevard
near the old Kane Hospital, now Providence Point.
The
insurgents burned Neville's home. Neville, a Federalist,
narrowly escaped the grasp of the crowd.
Our
Kane Woods Trails, through which the Whiskey Boys once marched,
are named in honor of the rebellion.
An
historic marker now marks the location of Neville's home on Kane
Blvd.
Old
St. Luke's Church, the oldest church established west of the
Allegheny Mountains, where Neville worshipped, is also marked by
an historic marker.
Yearly
re-enactments of the battle have been taking place each summer
in the Kane Woods since the trails grand opening in 2008.
A
walking tour thru the Kane Woods is accompanied by activities at
Old St. Luke's Church, Presley Neville House and the Woodville
Plantation on Bower Hill where General Neville's mansion was
burned to the ground by the Whiskey rebels. |
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One
of the unique features of the Kane Woods is its historical significance.
Most of the land was once owned by General John Neville, who was a
Revolutionary War veteran. General Neville served at General
Washington's side during the Revolutionary War and they were close
personal friends, both having grown up in Fairfax County, Virginia. He
served at Valley Forge, and fought alongside his close personal friend
General George Washington at the Battle of Yorktown. Before the war, he
served as the commander at Fort Pitt, and his son, Presley Neville, was
aide-de-camp to the Marquis de Lafayette, the French political and
military leader, who supported the cause of American
independence.
After
the war, General Neville's role in our nation's history continued.
Saddled with enormous debts from the Revolutionary War, our new nation
under the leadership of President George Washington instituted an excise
tax on whiskey to raise money to pay off the war loans. President
Washington appointed his trusted friend General Neville, Inspector of
the Revenue for Western Pennsylvania, and charged him with collecting
the tax.
Local
farmers, however, violently opposed the new tax. Whiskey distilled by
the farmers and sold throughout the country and even as far away as New
Orleans was their main source of income. With barely enough cash to make
ends meet, the farmers believed the tax would ruin them. They organized
protests against the tax, some of which turned violent. The
hostilities culminated in fighting that broke out on July 16 and 17,
1794, between local farmers, federal troops, and supporters of General
Neville at his estate on Bower Hill.
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Neville's
Bower Hill Mansion and other buildings on the estate were burned to the
ground by local farmers during the fighting. They became known as the
Whiskey Boys.
An
angry President Washington responded by dispatching 13,000 troops, a
force larger than any he commanded during the Revolutionary War, to put
down what became known as the Whiskey Rebellion.
As
the federal forces marched on Western Pennsylvania, the rebellion
collapsed, yet the legacy of the rebellion left its mark on American
history. A keen student of American History, President Harry S. Truman,
called it one of the ten most important events in American History, and
President Abraham Lincoln citied Washington's action as a precedent in
using force to oppose the secession of the Southern states in
1860.
General
Neville worshipped at Old St. Luke's Church and the Church's cemetery is
the resting place of many of our region's earliest settlers including a
number of Revolutionary War veterans. A state historical
maker was erected at Old St. Luke's Church, in Scott Township, to honor
the role it played in American History. Old St. Luke's is the oldest
church established west of the Allegheny Mountains. The church is still
preserved today as a house of worship. Reverend Richard Davies led the
effort to secure approval for the St. Luke's Historical Marker. |
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WWII
MEMORIAL RESTORED
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WW
II Bower Hill Memorial Rededicated: One
of our conservancy members who is making a difference is Judge John
Brosky. Judge Brosky stepped up to volunteer his time and
considerable organizational and people skills to help preserve,
refurbish, and move to a new location a neglected and deteriorating
memorial to the World War II veterans from Bower Hill.
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The Judge, during his remarks, said that,
"Freedom is
not free."
The stars beside the names for four of the veterans on the memorial,
and all of the names on the memorial are a silent testimony to their sacrifice.
Maybe the next time you're driving by, you can stop to read the names, or leave
flowers at the memorial.
Thanks to the efforts of the Judge, the memorial will
be there a long time, and the names will be remembered for a long time. God help
us if we forget.
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After reading about the neglected memorial in
the "Scott Conservationist", and seeing that his good friend and
tipstaff Harry Volkhart was one of the names listed on the memorial, the Judge
sent a donation to the Conservancy to help with the restoration. But he didn't
stop there. He arranged with the County to have the memorial moved to a better
location on Kane Boulevard. He worked with Roger Gaydos of the Gaydos Memorial
Company to have the memorial refurbished and repolished.
Another of the Judge's
friends, Richard Thomas of the Richard L. Thomas Body Shop, furnished a crane
and the manpower to move the 2,300 pound memorial to its new site.
And he did
this all in about two months, in time to have the memorial rededicated on
Veteran's Day, November 11th.
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Over a hundred people gathered on that
day, making the rededication ceremony that the Judge organized one of the most memorable in some time.
Many of
those present were World War II veterans who came to remember their friends who served
this country so bravely and so well 60 years ago.
Their courage preserved our
freedom, and as we well know, Americans are still serving today to preserve that
freedom.
One of them, Air Force Colonel Alan Thompson, who attended
the re-dedication with the University of Pittsburgh color guard, was himself headed
overseas after the ceremony.
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RECREATION
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EDUCATION
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HISTORY
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COMMUNITY
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For
twenty years now The Scott Conservancy has been putting to flight the
notion that the spirit of volunteerism is dead and we have all become a nation
of self-centered couch potatoes. Whether it's been landscaping a barren traffic
island, helping to clean our water of mine pollution, or leading hikes in the
Kane Woods, Conservancy members are making a difference in Scott Township.
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SPRING
PLANTINGS & CLEANUPS
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A
couple hours of work and your volunteer effort
results in a public garden enjoyed by motorists,
including yourself, as you drive past our traffic
islands throughout
the summer.
The
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy designed the
Patty's Park traffic island and provides the flowers and tools
volunteers need
for the planting. The flower beds at the
Greentree and Cochran Road traffic circle are
maintained by The Scott Conservancy.
Earth
Day cleanups in your neighborhood are a great
learning experience for children accompanied by a
parent or guardian.
Earth Day is always a good
time to stage a cleanup. And in Scott Township we
always have a lot to clean up - from trash along
our major roadways to debris on the hiking trails
in the Kane Woods Nature Area.
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The
Great WPA Cleanup: Join
Pennsylvanians across the state for the Great PA Clean-up
each year on Earth Day weekend. The
cleanup really improves our community's appearance by removing
litter that has accumulated along
our major roadways. They are Scott's "front
door" and after the long winter are in need of sprucing
up! Volunteers that come to the Municipal Building on the corner of Lindsay Road
and Greentree Road will
be directed to various roadways in the township in need of
cleanup.
Volunteers
wishing to clean up the Kane Woods on Earth Day meet
at the Whiskey Point Trailhead, at the newly constructed
shelter, and park in the lot located on the corner of Main
Street and Scrubgrass Road across the street from the Veterans
Bridge.
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Patty's
Park Traffic Island: Designed
by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Patty's
Park is a traffic island on the corner of Hope Hollow
and Route 50 across from Flynn's Tire. Although
the Scott Conservancy doesn't sponsor this garden,
conservancy members work together with township
volunteers and commissioners each spring to help
with the spring planting. Flowers and tools
are provided and volunteers can conveniently park at the
end of the Flynn Tire parking lot closest to the island. Cochran/Greentree
Traffic Island: The
flower beds at the Greentree and Cochran Road Traffic Circle,
maintained by The Scott Conservancy, are highly
visible to motorists traveling this busy intersection. A
drip system, installed using $2000 in grant money from
Pennsylvania's Department of Community and
Economic Development which was then matched by Scott
Township, makes plantings
easy to
water. What a visible way to
showcase The Scott Conservancy and help to promote environmental
awareness.
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ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
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The
Scott Conservancy's Kane Woods Nature Area is home
to deer, fox, wild turkey and several species of
birds under a canopy of large, ancient
trees. The conservancy spent a decade
acquiring the land and blazing two miles of trails
through the property.
A
five acre stand of ancient oaks is also preserved
on a steep hillside by Vanadium Road.
The
Scott Conservancy's AMD passive reclamation
project on Scrubgrass Run mitigates the effects of
abandoned mine drainage and serves to educate
future environmental scientists.
The
University of Pittsburgh's Environmental Geology
Lab class lead by Professor Charles Jones visited
the AMD site on Old Scrubgrass Road where the
students studied the effects of abandoned mine
drainage and its effects on the environment. The
students were exposed to the various techniques
used to help reduce those negative effects such as
the passive system used here.
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Kane
Woods Nature Area: Land
acquisition is an important goal of the Scott
Conservancy. The
Scott Conservancy has been able to acquire 77.5 acres
over the last 10 years.
The
land is open for our residents to enjoy nature in the 72
acre Kane Woods Nature Area. The
two miles of trails on 42 acres of the 72 acre nature area are marked with color-coded signage
that can be accessed from four trailheads. Trails in the
Scott nature preserve are named after leading figures
and events in the Whiskey Rebellion, since many
of its key events took place right here in Scott
Township.
Trail maps are available at
the Whiskey Point Trailhead, where a large
parking lot has been created to accommodate parking during events, and a
shelter with seating has been built.
We
have also conserved a 5 acre wooded hillside in the
nearby Vanadium Woods along Vanadium Road.
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Master
Plan: A
master site plan for the Kane Woods Nature Area and the
property adjacent to Scott Park owned by Scott Township will
be our guide as we continue to develop the Kane Woods
Nature Area, thanks to a
grant from the Department of Conservation and Natural
Resources, matched by the Baptist Homes.
We also
want to thank all those who came to the public meetings
that were held to gather input for the plan. The
plan was completed by Civil and Environmental
Consultants and contains estimated costs for the
recommended improvements.
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Scrubgrass
AMD Pond: Reflecting
conditions left behind from a by-gone era, Scott
Township's Scrubgrass Run, which drains into Chartiers
Creek, is polluted by abandoned coal mine drainage,
commonly referred to as AMD. The Scrubgrass Run
AMD Project, funded primarily through grants from the PA
DEP and US EPA, mitigates this pollution passively
using a collection pond. The orange sediment recovered
from the site, referred to as "yellow-boy" is
recycled and used for pigment in paints and dyes.
The Scott Conservancy was named Environmental Group of
the Year for 1996 by the Allegheny County Conservation
District for its AMD passive reclamation project on
Scrubgrass Run.
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