Broad Ford Aerial History, Page 2
Compiled & Written by K. R.
Overholt Critchfield, © August 28, 2009
With Thanks To
Jeffrey Antol & Penn
Pilot
|
Aerial View #1 Over Broad Ford, PA - Penn
Pilot Photo Centers
|
More Penn Pilot Aerial
Photography
Penn Pilot
Photo Centers -- http://www.pennpilot.psu.edu/
Another great feature of Penn
Pilot is the kind of aerial photography seen
on this page, looking much like the satellite
views found on other map web sites. These show
the terrain and topography with or without
captions, and the following examples give amazing
views of the Youghiogheny River and Broad Ford
area. It is plain to me why native American
tribes named this site Broad Ford, and it was
easy to imagine how important the river must have
been to those who lived and traveled in the
vicinity. Surely, this must be a prime location
for archaeologists to establish digs and do
research to uncover native American artifacts and
settlements, along with the island and the
opposite bank. So, there are at least
five expansive time frames ripe for archaelogical
research in this little corner of the world.
First, as mentioned above, there
is the native American presence before the
European influence; second, there is all the
history that surrounds young George Washington
and the French and Indian War; third, there is
the presence of European settlers before, during
and after the Revolutionary War; fourth, there is
the westward expansion prior to and including the
Civil War era, including the early agrarian years
of places like West Overton and the subsequent
establishment of the second Overholt Distillery
at Broad Ford; and fifth, there is the era of
coal, coke and railroads that was part of
America's Industrial Revolution, including the
renovations and upgrades at the Overholt
Distillery site, going to roughly 1919, the year
of Henry Clay Frick's death.
Okay, there is the sixth time
frame, too, but mostly for historians -- the
effects of Prohibition on the Overholt
distilleries, its aftermath, and the big
comeback. Maybe it would be difficult to get
anybody interested in researching the more recent
history of Broad Ford -- a seventh time frame --
which would include the demise of the coal and
coke industry, and the long slide from local
wealth to local economic distress, and the
corporate takeover of the A. Overholt and
Company Distillery at Broad Ford, leading to
its demise, abandonment, and destruction. Let me
end this at seven, because I really could keep
going further on this.
|
Aerial View #2 Over Broad Ford, PA (no
captions) - Penn Pilot Photo Centers
|
History and The Overholt Family
|
Henry O. Overholt Blanket, 1845
|
Here is where I
remind everybody of the actual history of the
Overholts at West Overton and Broad Ford. For the
past eleven years, it has been my mission to
present on my web site as much of the history as
possible, weaving together stories gleaned from
many sources, much as my ancestors wove blankets
of many colors on their looms at West Overton.
I have carefully
laid out the details as found in
biographies, history books and volumes of family
genealogy, featuring events from the time when
Henry (Henrich) Oberholtzer packed up his sons,
daughters and whole extended family into
Conestoga wagons, and journeyed to Westmoreland
County to join his younger brother Martin's
family in a Mennonite community along the banks
of Jacobs Creek.
|
That journey
happened in the summer of 1800, and the whole
family of this veteran of the American Revolution
traded all the civilization the east had to offer
them in exchange for the trials and tribulations
(and wars yet to come) out there in the
wilderness areas of Western Pennsylvania. But as
sons and grandsons, daughters and granddaughters,
they worked hard to build a community and keep
alive a hope for a better future. No less
remarkable were other families who made the same
leap of faith, but this family was my family, and
I am glad I found them.
Strengthened by their Swiss
heritage and Mennonite theology, the Overholts
steadfastly and effectively wove together their
dedication to family, cooperation with neighbors,
and friendship among peers, and persistently
remained in the vanguard of agricultural
innovation and business enterprise. The whiskey
business of Abraham Overholt was only one of the
family's contributions to the area. In fact,
members of the Extended Overholt Family were
valued so highly that their stories were recorded
for posterity in many different volumes of
Western Pennsylvania history. The admiration felt
by their community continued well into the height
of the Industrial Revolution -- the glow of it
had a halo-effect on the young Henry Clay Frick
(one of Abraham's grandsons), giving him many
shoulders to stand on as he sallied forth to
become a millionaire by the time his 30th
birthday rolled around.
Only in recent times has
admiration for the Overholts been lost, when
citizens have forgotten to remember their own
past, and when the actual contributions of the
family have been eclipsed by the complicated
story Frick left behind. In the vacuum of
collective memory loss, West Overton has been
given over to Civil War reenactments, Halloween
fright nights, and other revenue-earning plans
like renting out the barns for dances and
weddings. West Overton has so much more to give
to the community than that.
My contribution to future
generations will be the work I have published to
celebrate a family worth remembering. I am an
Overholt. The Overholts and Stauffers, like all
the other surnames recorded in our family tree --
they were my ancestors. West Overton is my home
because of them, and because of their endeavors,
their success at Broad Ford was my success, too.
And if I am lucky, I will get to add to the
history of my family, and thereby get a chance to
benefit the future.
|
Aerial View #3 Over Broad Ford, PA - Penn
Pilot Photo Centers
|
Aerial View #4 Over Broad Ford, PA - Penn
Pilot Photo Centers
|
Aerial View #5 Over Broad Ford, PA - Penn
Pilot Photo Centers
|
Curious
Terrain, or "Hey! What IS that?"
While collecting the aerial
photos, I found the next few shots intriguing,
because they show what appears to be a huge hat
floating down the river! Above and to the right
of the "hat" can be seen something -- a
sandbar? -- that looks like part of an aircraft,
or maybe like a sarcophagus with a human face (if
you look at it sideways). Surely they are
perfectly natural objects, or acid run-off from
local mines. Still, it all looked very strange to
me, so they are included here to pay homage to
the inscrutable "human face" that NASA
photographed on the surface of Mars a few years
ago. (Jeffrey, this hat-tip is for you!)
|
Aerial View #6 Over Broad Ford, PA - Penn
Pilot Photo Centers
|
Aerial View #7 Over Broad Ford, PA - Penn
Pilot Photo Centers
|
Aerial View #8 Over Broad Ford, PA - Penn
Pilot Photo Centers
|
See More Photos
With a bow to those who are the
real experts, I hope just looking at the aerial
photographs on this page have been helpful in
suggesting how much the geographic location of
Broad Ford, and its easy accessibility to the
Youghiogheny River, shaped the history of the A.
Overholt and Company Distillery. You are
invited to be enlightened further by seeing more
photographs in several new web pages about Broad
Ford.
Broad Ford Dismantled
shows the effects of the dismantling of the
last-standing bonded warehouse and other
buildings that occurred this past spring,
featuring the photography of cjb19772009, who
publishes his work on the Flickr photo
sharing web site. Currently cjb is changing his Flickr
name to Mtnbiker09, but for the time being, look
for his work under the cjb19772009 moniker.
In Broad Ford Distressed,
cjb shows us the current conditions of what is
left at the site, and two pages under a new
banner, Broad Ford Forsaken, reveals cjb
as a contemplative artist studying abandonment
and desolation among the haunted remains of the
Overholt Distillery complex. And then you should
remember to visit the four new pages of Broad
Ford Views, consisting of a collection of
all the best bird's eye views of Broad Ford that
could be found on the World Wide Web.
Go on to Broad Ford Dismantled,
or the first page of Broad Ford Distressed,
or to the first page of Broad Ford Forsaken,
Inside Looking Out.
Go on to Broad Ford Views 2,
the first of four new pages in the Views
series.
|
|