26 places
Whitewater, Wright houses and the state's highest ground
Photo: Hubert Stoffels from Pittsburgh, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Laurel Highlands are the last long ridges of the mountains before Pittsburgh, and the Youghiogheny River cuts through them in a deep, wooded gorge at Ohiopyle. Its rapids draw rafters and kayakers from across the East, waterfalls pour over rock ledges a short walk from the village, and the Great Allegheny Passage rail trail runs right through on its way from Pittsburgh to Maryland. Mount Davis, the highest point in Pennsylvania, is not far away.
Frank Lloyd Wright built two houses in these hills, Fallingwater over a waterfall on Bear Run and Kentuck Knob a few miles away, and both are open for tours. History runs deep here too. At Fort Necessity a young George Washington fought the opening battles of the French and Indian War in 1754, and near Shanksville the Flight 93 National Memorial marks the field where the hijacked plane came down on September 11, 2001.
Highlights
State park · Stewart Township, Fayette County
The Youghiogheny roars through a deep gorge here, with Ohiopyle Falls at the edge of the village, whitewater rafting, natural rock waterslides on Meadow Run, Cucumber Falls and the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail.
Photo: Hubert Stoffels from Pittsburgh, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Historic house · Stewart Township, Fayette County
Frank Lloyd Wright's famous house cantilevered over a waterfall on Bear Run, built for the Kaufmann family in the 1930s and now part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing.
Photo: Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
National memorial · Stonycreek Township, Somerset County
A memorial on the field where Flight 93 came down on September 11, 2001, with a visitor center overlooking the crash site, a wall of names and the 93-foot Tower of Voices.
National battlefield · Wharton Township, Fayette County
A reconstructed round stockade in a mountain meadow where young George Washington fought his first battle in 1754, opening the French and Indian War, with a visitor center and trails.
Photo: Wilson44691, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Historic house · Stewart Township, Fayette County
Built of native stone and cypress and tucked into a hillside a few miles from Fallingwater, a later Frank Lloyd Wright house with a woodland sculpture meadow on the grounds.
Photo: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Rail trail · Stewart Township, Fayette County
Running 150 miles from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland, this crushed-limestone rail trail crosses the Eastern Continental Divide and the Youghiogheny gorge at Ohiopyle and links to the C&O Canal towpath.
Photo: Jbro620, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The full list
A full-scale reconstruction of the British fort built in 1758 during the Forbes campaign, with earthworks, cannon and a museum of French and Indian War artifacts.
Rural life in the Laurel Highlands, told through a 1770s settler's cabin, an early farmstead, a maple sugar camp and the relocated 1859 Walter's Mill covered bridge.
A 19th-century distilling village where Old Overholt rye whiskey began and industrialist Henry Clay Frick was born, with museums in its old brick and stone buildings.
American art from colonial portraits to contemporary work, with special strength in the artists and landscapes of southwestern Pennsylvania, in a light-filled, expanded building.
A memorial on the field where Flight 93 came down on September 11, 2001, with a visitor center overlooking the crash site, a wall of names and the 93-foot Tower of Voices.
A reconstructed round stockade in a mountain meadow where young George Washington fought his first battle in 1754, opening the French and Indian War, with a visitor center and trails.
The wooded hilltop where British troops under Henry Bouquet fought off a Native American attack in 1763, during Pontiac's War, with a visitor center and walking trails.
A full-scale reconstruction of the British fort built in 1758 during the Forbes campaign, with earthworks, cannon and a museum of French and Indian War artifacts.
The country home of Albert Gallatin, Treasury secretary to Jefferson and Madison, on a bluff above the Monongahela River, with woodland trails and river views.
Built of native stone and cypress and tucked into a hillside a few miles from Fallingwater, a later Frank Lloyd Wright house with a woodland sculpture meadow on the grounds.
A 19th-century distilling village where Old Overholt rye whiskey began and industrialist Henry Clay Frick was born, with museums in its old brick and stone buildings.
Frank Lloyd Wright's famous house cantilevered over a waterfall on Bear Run, built for the Kaufmann family in the 1930s and now part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing.
Built around a green Diamond with a bandstand, a small Laurel Highlands town with shops and cafes in old storefronts, a reconstructed fort and the mountains close by.
A swimming lake in the mountain forest of the Laurel Highlands, with a grove of old-growth hemlocks, stone and timber buildings left by the Civilian Conservation Corps and miles of trout water.
The Youghiogheny roars through a deep gorge here, with Ohiopyle Falls at the edge of the village, whitewater rafting, natural rock waterslides on Meadow Run, Cucumber Falls and the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail.
Day-trippers from the Pittsburgh area come for the sandy swimming beach on this wooded lake, with boating, fishing and trails close by and cabins and a campground just up from the shore.
High in the Laurel Highlands, rustic cabins built by the Civilian Conservation Corps sit beside a trout stream in cool forest, a short hop from the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail.
A long, slender park that exists mainly to carry the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail, 70 miles along the ridge from the Youghiogheny River to the Conemaugh Gorge, with shelters for backpackers.
A mountain stream tumbles over Adams Falls in this wooded hollow, with rustic rental cabins, trout fishing and trails climbing into the surrounding state forest.
A cool, breezy picnic ground near the top of Laurel Ridge that doubles as the starting point for walks to the rocky Wolf Rocks overlook and the Spruce Flats bog.
Scattered high-country tracts of the Laurel Highlands, from Pennsylvania's highest point on Mount Davis to the Spruce Flats bog, with ridgetop trails, trout streams and room for backcountry rambles.
Mountain woodland named for Demetrius Gallitzin, the frontier priest of the Alleghenies, where the John P. Saylor Trail loops through the rugged backcountry of the Clear Shade Wild Area.
Pennsylvania's highest point, at 3,213 feet, is a gentle rise on a broad plateau, with an observation tower looking over the Laurel Highlands and trails through stunted, windswept woods.
Pennsylvania's largest cave, deep inside Chestnut Ridge, offers guided walking tours, rugged crawling-and-climbing caving trips and a mountaintop view across the Laurel Highlands.
A ski area on the crest of Laurel Ridge, nearly 3,000 feet up, known for its steep runs and for the long views across the valley below from its slopes and lodge.
Running 150 miles from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland, this crushed-limestone rail trail crosses the Eastern Continental Divide and the Youghiogheny gorge at Ohiopyle and links to the C&O Canal towpath.
Seventy miles of footpath along Laurel Ridge, from the Youghiogheny River to the Conemaugh Gorge, with mileposts all the way, mountain views and shelter areas for backpackers.
Pennsylvania's highest point, at 3,213 feet, is a gentle rise on a broad plateau, with an observation tower looking over the Laurel Highlands and trails through stunted, windswept woods.
Running 150 miles from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland, this crushed-limestone rail trail crosses the Eastern Continental Divide and the Youghiogheny gorge at Ohiopyle and links to the C&O Canal towpath.
Among the oldest amusement parks in the country, opened in 1878 along Loyalhanna Creek, with Story Book Forest, a Daniel Tiger trolley ride, classic rides and a water park.
Pennsylvania's largest cave, deep inside Chestnut Ridge, offers guided walking tours, rugged crawling-and-climbing caving trips and a mountaintop view across the Laurel Highlands.
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