Get to The Point Bike Riders--in Pittsburgh, PA

“Monongahela” loosely translated from the Lenape Native American language means “Falling banks.”  The river, due its fast flow and swift current routinely causes its banks to collapse into its waters.  When the Monongahela is joined by the Allegheny River the vast Ohio River is created.  The Ohio is the largest tributary of the Mississippi River.  From the confluence of the Ohio, travelers, traders and settlers were able to make expeditions to western points of early America.  Many of these expeditions were met with difficulty posed by local Native tribes and the colonial French who had interests in the region.

The point of the confluence soon became of strategic importance to colonial America.  It was the first step to westward expansion and also key to entering the early eastern settlements of what would become the United States.  Noting the important trading and strategic location the French built Fort Duquesne at the point.  The French had long settled eastern Canada and had claims to the Mississippi River and felt the Ohio River to be parts of its domain.  Colonial America, under British rule, also noted the importance of the point and sent a young George Washington and small expeditionary force to the area to politely ask the French to leave.  The French declined.  

The next expedition was led by General Edward Braddock and he chose to not ask nicely.  He attacked Fort Duquesne but was soundly defeated.  Soon the French and Indian war would erupt in the American colonies pitting the English versus the French with their Native American allies.  The British tried again to throw the French out of Fort Duquesne and sent a much larger force into battle.  The French, realizing they were vastly outnumbered, abandoned the fort and set it on fire.  Out of the ruins the British built Fort Pitt, named for William Pitt the Elder, Britain’s leader during the war and outspoken critic of the French.   

The Treaty of Paris in 1763 settled the French and Indian War.  The agreement effectively ended French influence in the American colonies.  The British would garrison Fort Pitt until 1772 when it was abandoned and later sold to a private owner.  It soon fell into disrepair.  It was later garrisoned during the American Revolution as a westward outpost for the Continental Army.  Following the war it was once again abandoned and was not recognized until 1945 when the city of Pittsburgh developed plans for a park and historic landmark on the site.  In 1969 the Fort Pitt Museum opened.  

Today the site is a bike rider’s paradise.  Bikers can assembly at Point State Park (pictured) and the Fort Pitt Museum for a ride of the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP).  The Rails to Trails Conservancy holds an annual ride of the GAP known as the Greenway Sojourn to open new trails and celebrate the idea of trails throughout the country.  The Sojourn is a five-day, 141 mile adventure.  This year the ride leaves Pittsburgh on June 23 and will conclude in Cumberland, Maryland on June 27.  At some future date the Rails to Trails conservancy hopes to complete the trail all the way to Washington D.C.  

We have a video of the GAP on our website at www.stickybottleteam.net.

Visit Rails to Trails Conservancy online at www.railstotrails.org

Visit Great Allegheny Passage at www.atatrail.org.