Frank Lloyd Wright time

Our Pennsylvania trip continued west to Ohiopyle State Park to stay in Kentuck Campground a beautiful spot in the woods Cheryl and Dave met us for a tour of two Frank Lloyd Wright homes. Kentuck Knob was built 1953 for the Hagen family of ice cream fame. Basically a Usonian design from Wright’s philosophy of making homes small and affordable, it doubled in size under Bernadine and I. N. Hagan’s direction. The small rooms that Wright preferred were enlarged to more practical and useful dimensions. Hexagons are repeated in the floorplan, driveway, roof of the patios, wooden frames of windows and the furniture. Sandstone, plywood and native red cypress are the main materials used. Wright’s belief in eliminating the separation of indoors and out is the key element of the home.

Lord Palumbo (knighted by the Queen and friend to Charles and Diana) and Lady Hayat Mroue now own the home and use it in summer evenings after visitors have left. As we strolled through the sculpture garden, the Lord and his son and daughter rode their horses along the trail.

Their collection in the garden ranged from British phone booths to modern metal installations.

We next headed to Fallingwater and seeing it after Kentuck Knob was wise. Everything said about this magnificent home is true, even the needed maintenance. It was built in 1939 by the Edward Kaufman family as a summer retreat. Their son, a student at Taliesen, suggested Wright as the architect and contributed to its planning. The home’s design included the furniture that was custom built to fit exactly where Wright wanted. Being built into the side of a hill and over the water means that nature is inside and outside the home. A staircase under a planter box leads from the “great room,” (another Wright creation) to the river’s edge. The stone fireplace is carved into the boulders that support of a section of the house. The house is surrounded by patios on all levels. The windows make the surrounding trees and water the prime focus. Even the guest house and servants’ quarters were designed by Wright and equal to the design of the main house. Wright disliked garages, considering them places of clutter, and was the first to create a carport, as each of these homes have.

Cheryl and Dave left and we went wild. We decided to take a raft trip down the Youghiogheny River. Anna Lee thought it would be two hours on the middle section, no more than Class II rapids. She should have listened better. Two hours was right, but the Lower Yough is Class III and IV at this time of year and has 16 rapids with names like Eddy Turn, Double Hydraulics, and Schoolhouse (where, if you hit your head, you learn a lesson). Anna Lee missed seeing some of them because she had her eyes closed. Jerry must have been feeling warm at Railroad because he performed an unexpected back flip into the river. Back in the raft, he just kept smiling. Scott and Gordie, his rescuers, smiled too.

We had to skip the first lunch stop because a copperhead was sunning himself on the rock and instead climbed up a boulder in the middle of the river where we enjoyed our tasty repast (or as Scott said, “The best sandwiches ever while rafting.”) At the end, we were smiling though we will probably hurt all over in the morning.

We treated ourselves to a wonderful dinner in nearby Confluence. A lumber and coal town of the 1890s, it is now a quiet tourist area on the bike trail through the Allegheny Mountains. We dined at River’s Edge Café and B&B.

Our dinner of onion soup, salad, whiskey bbq chicken, wild rice and vegetables was so delectable we ordered an espresso torte for dessert (after all we had rowed all afternoon). The inn is lovely and we hope to return to stay there when we are traveling without the RV.