Oliver Miller Homestead

A visit to the Oliver Miller Homestead in South Park near Pittsburgh has been on my to do list for several years as Oliver's wife Mary was a Tidball. We have meet a few Tidballs during our travels and wanted to check out the family tie to the homestead residents.

Oliver Miller and many of his Tidball relatives moved here from Eastern Pennsylvania in the 1770's. Many of the family were Revolutionary War veterans and were active in the Whiskey Rebellion. Oliver and Mary's son Oliver was killed in the rebellion.  

When the Miller family arrived in what is now Pennsylvania, the land was claimed by Virginia. They first built a two story log cabin that had a wood shingled roof, a rarity at that time. In 1803 they began building this stone house as an addition to the log cabin.     

On Sundays at the homestead they have guides dressed in period clothing. I was greeted by a Tidball but I failed to remember the first name of this long lost cousin. The flag is the Whiskey Rebellion flag like the original one I wrote about in the last post about the Century Inn.

This room is filled with spinning wheels, a loom and other equipment used by pioneer families. When the last Miller lived here, until 1927, this room was the kitchen.

A demonstration of weaving the yarn into material.

The Keeping Room is furnished with period pieces but not furniture that belonged to the Millers.

The second floor is not always open to the public but they let us upstairs because we were relatives. This was the children's room.

The other bedroom is now the quilting room where Homestead volunteers use the Miller quilting frame. This one was done for the first Miller-Tidball Reunion.

This quilt shows the names of people who lived in the area when the Millers first moved here. It has Mary Tidball Miller's name on it. Another name is Indian Peter with the mark he used.

Beside the stone house is a beehive oven where they baked bread and pies and dried fruit and vegetables.

The forge, where they make and repair tools, was built in 1991 to show what a 1800's blacksmith would make.

This replica of the Miller's original cabin with the wood shingles roof was built in 1988

The interior of that cabin sure looks a lot nicer than I think it would have looked when they lived there in the late 1700's.

This shed has woodworking tools they would have used. They were doing a demonstration on horning, making a powder horn out of a cows horn.

The barn, built in 2005, is a typical Pennsylvania bank barn, one built on the side of the hill that gave level access to two floors. There are exhibits on the Whiskey Rebellion and a trading post on the top floor and a meeting room with a library containing an extensive Miller - Tidball genealogy on the lower floor. 

In the genealogy room I did find this note on John Caldwell Tidball whose biography "No Disgrace To My Country" spiked my interest in finding out more about my family. I have an old genealogy from the University of Pennsylvania that John did in the late 1800's. We have visited his grave in West Point.

I searched the books a bit and found this page on William Tidball (1796 - 1887) who I believe was my most direct relative, but I did not find a link to my grandfather Andrew Paul. While I did not find that link, it was still interesting touring the homestead with a direct link to my family in Western Pennsylvania.

WashPA Friends, Aussie Friends and the Century Inn

We are into our WashPA routine of lunch and dinner with friends and family, going to doctor and dentist appointments, checking out the local music scene and making arrangements for making the move to Florida in the fall. Generally, the weather has been very nice with much less rain than we had last year and temperatures in the low to mid eighties.  

We do our best to keep several local restaurants in business while we are here. We got together with Ed, Donna and Georgie at the River House. They have very good sweet potato fries and I was pushing Sweet Treat to the owner. 

On one Sunday we went to Houlihan's for the Blues Society session with Jill West. Great evening of Blues with one of Pittsburgh's best. 

A bump in the road. On another Sunday we were on our way to the Washington Jazz Society Sunday Jam when I suddenly did not feel well. I went straight to Washington Hospital and they diagnosed me as being dehydrated. I ended up spending the night while they gave me IV's and ran several tests. It all turned out well. I feel very lucky as this was the first time I've been in the hospital since 1965, a pretty good record. A few weeks later I was back in the gown for my colonoscopy and again, I'm happy to report all is well.

The Century Inn in nearby Scenery Hill, the oldest continuously operated inn on the National Pike, burned in a tragic fire in 2015. Construction of the stone inn began in 1788 and was finished in 1794. 

This was all that remained of the rear addition after the fire. 

Fortunately, the thick stone walls survived the fire and the inn was rebuilt. This picture was taken in 2017 after the new roof and dormers were in place.

Looking at it today you would never know the building was destroyed by a fire. The restoration was done maintaining every historic detail. The inn has seven beautiful guest rooms.

The restored tavern with the original fireplace. Some of the original stone floors are still there and they even left a couple chard beams in place.

One of the three dining rooms, the Music Room. The new Chef's room overlooks the brand new kitchen. 

One of the few things saved the night of the fire was this original 1794 Whiskey Rebellion flag. More on that historical event and its ties to the Tidball family in the next post.

The retired teachers lunch bunch met in the Garden Room. Here are Joy, Georgie,Gail, Becky, Sandy Ron and Anne Marie sending some love to our colleague Lena who had surgery.

More love from Bernie, Kathy, Carol and Chuck....

.... Nanc, Jim and John. If you want to step back in time, have a great meal and enjoy a historical building, the Century Inn is not to be missed.

During our travels we often search out breweries and wineries. Little did we know the beautiful Vinoski Winery was down the road from the RV park where we are staying. The 34 room castle was built in the 1990's by Jay Lustig who was the financial advisor to the manger of the Rolling Stones. 

The castle was purchased by Walt and Roxanne Vinoski in 2017 and became the home of the winery. Vinoski is Polish and translates to Son of Winemaker. Nanc loved the huge corkscrew sculpture that actually turns. She tried but did not find a bottle of wine under it.  

Nanc really liked the red wine and I was really happy they had beer.

Patrice and John doing a tasting. We did buy a couple bottles and enjoyed one on the outdoor patio.

If it is Thursday you will usually find Mike and me at Cross Creek Lake while the ladies are out to lunch. Mike caught a real nice bass. 

In 2014 we met Ron and Rose at Betty's RV Park in Abbeville, LA. We had a fun time during their visit and have followed their world travels on Facebook since then. I saw on Facebook that they were in New York City and I left a comment that they should contact us if they get near Pittsburgh. A couple days later they were in Buffalo and sent us word that they would pass right by Pine Cove on their way to Gettysburg.

We were not going to miss a chance to see them and invited them to at least stop for lunch since a stay did not fit their schedule. Here are Rose, Nanc, Kelley, Peter and Ron enjoying a Pittsburgh lunch of Kielbasa, perogies and Iron City Beer. It was great seeing them, getting to meet their friends and sharing many travel tales. 

We have always said making and meeting friends is the best part of our full timing lifestyle and this was a perfect example. As we slow down our RV travels we may have to put Australia on our to do list as we have friends down under to see.

As you read this we are on our way to Europe for eleven days for a Rhine River cruise. More on that adventure coming soon. 

Fishin the Tune with Friends

Getting to fish at Pymatuning Lake is always high on my to do list when we are back in PA. We usually get to spend at least one weekend at Mike and Sherri's cottage during our time up north. When we left Amish country we had a week to fill before the start of our three month stay in WashPA. Mike and Sherri invited us to spend that week at the Tune, so Mike and I got to do plenty of fishing while Nanc and Sherri did some shopping, played some games and took a couple rides on the boat. Of course, we played euchre almost every evening and I'm happy to report the guys were BIG winners.    

The first day out Mike ruined his reputation being known as Capt. Catfish by netting this beautiful walleye.

One day was so calm there was not even a ripple on the water. My pole was so quiet that these two bugs made a heart while making out.

When the waters are calm it is a great time for an evening cruise.

Can you find the eagle? Seeing these birds is one of the neat things about being at the Tune.

Being alone on the lake when most people are working sure is a fantastic way to see the sunset.

Capt. Catfish did live up to his name. This one was one of the bigger ones and between the two of us we must have caught nearly 100 that week.

We did miss one day of fishing when this storm rolled through.

Not sure if Mike is waving or trying to be a lightening rod.

The good life: sunny skies, a cool breeze and catching fish.

Another cruise day with the ladies.

I'm not sure what caused this reaction, there must have been a carcass floating in the water.

We even got to hear some great music at the Crooked Paddle, a new restaurant in Linesville.

That inspired me and Mike taught me a couple cords on the guitar. Learning to strum a few tunes is on my personal to do list.

I even got to drive the boat.

Another walleye is not good for your catfish reputation.

I hooked this nice crappy. When you fish here you never know what is on the hook. I had one that had my pole bent all the why, but never got to see what it was. You know the story about the one that got away.

Nanc's favorite boat is the pontoon, slow and easy. As always, we had a great week with Mike and Sherri at the lake. Oh did I tell you the guys were the champs of the week playing euchre?:-)