Steel City Sparks
Every July Fourth, as the last light fades behind the hills that cup this city on three sides, something old and immigrant-born rises above the rivers. The barges are already in position a mile below the Point, loaded and wired and waiting. At 9:35 p.m., the first shell breaks open above the Ohio, and for …
Creekside
Creekside Your sadness is not mine to possess but yesterday afternoon you agreed to walk with me into our nearby metro park. In the sunshine we were fellow adventurers in awe of conventions of gray-headed coneflowers and bees dancing over pink billy buttons. Our back and forth talk mostly light and warm but then twice …
“Hey, Kraut Head: I’m Comin'”
In a 1944 interview with Chet Smith, the long-time sports editor of The Pittsburgh Press, Honus Wagner was asked to name his greatest day in baseball. Wagner went back to the final game of the 1909 World Series between the Pirates and the Detroit Tigers and the moment that Ty Cobb, leading off first base, …
Barebones Says No to Nothing in “Our Dear Drug Lord”
I once asked Barebones artistic director Patrick Jordan about something risky he did in a play, and he responded, without hesitation, “I’ll say no to nothing.” This ethos is certainly the basis for the company’s new production, “Our Dear Drug Lord,” (2019) in which four high school girls try to conjure the ghost of the …
The Springhouse
I love outbuildings: springhouses, woodsheds, barns, cottages, tractor sheds. I’d have more if I could — a tool shed, a sugar house, a summer kitchen, a cider house. We have a small wooden building we call a goat shed because once we housed goats there. When the children were young, I wanted to convert a …
The Striking Hooded Warbler
A chorus begins at the cusp of dawn. Song builds around us, sunrise revealing birds competing for breeding territories or vying over mates. Step out into the garden, and you’ll hear them by the pond or just beyond the exedra wall. Walk in the woods, and you’ll find them there, too. While the season may …
The State of Pittsburgh
In the Summer of 2023 issue, I wrote a column entitled “Wake Up! It’s Time to Save Downtown Pittsburgh.” At the time, people were justifiably hesitant to come Downtown. Now, three years later, as anyone who attended the NFL Draft will attest, Downtown’s transformation is sensational. The Draft brought excitement and vitality to our city …
The Summer 2026 issue:
Pittsburgh Tomorrow
With Pittsburgh Tomorrow turning two years old, a citizen might ask: What is it and what is it doing? I publish this magazine, and I also started Pittsburgh Tomorrow, working with a great team to improve this region’s future. Pittsburgh Tomorrow is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) non-profit funded by Pittsburgh citizens — wealthy people and working …
Mystery and Reverie
“Do not (repeat: DO NOT) attempt to cross the creek during periods of high water. This is a significant waterway and the current can be very strong.” So said the Guide to the Quehanna Trail tucked in my backpack. But exactly how high was “high water”? Yes, it was spring, but it hadn’t rained for …
A Wintry Forest Trail Walk in Lawrence County
About an hour’s drive north of Pittsburgh in Lawrence County, Plain Grove Fens Natural Area is a wonderful place to visit. It’s just a few miles from the Slippery Rock exit off I-79, and once you’re there, you’re greeted with a 400-acre preserve featuring a hiking trail, hardwood forest, vernal pools and woodland stream. The …
20 Years of Interviews
Editor’s note: Since late 2005, we have interviewed many of the most interesting and noteworthy people in our “city-state of Pittsburgh” as my old editor and friend John Craig used to call this area. The number of interviews that have appeared in this magazine reaches well into the hundreds (writer Jeff Sewald alone has interviewed …
Steelers Cheerleaders?
Dedicated students of Steelers history are likely aware that Pittsburgh was the first NFL team to feature cheerleaders. The Steelerettes, composed of co-eds from what was then Robert Morris Junior College, were active from 1961 to 1969. But mention the Ingots — the Steelerettes’ male counterparts — to any Pittsburgh fan and the response is …
The Horseless Carriage Comes to Pittsburgh
The weather in Pittsburgh was rather bleak during March 1896. Snow and sub-freezing temperatures were the norm. Nicer weather arrived on March 10, so two young men took that opportunity to test a remarkable new apparatus. Anyone who was on the streets of the East End that day caught a glimpse of the first automobile …
Character Studies Drive Drue Heinz Winner
There’s a delicious sense of duality that runs through the lead characters in Bill Gaythwaite’s debut story collection, A Place in the World, winner of the 2025 Drue Heinz Literature Prize. It’s a trait wielded prominently by Katie, the protagonist of short story “Off the Grid,” who recalls her former bouncer boyfriend Nick returning a …
Purslane
Henry David Thoreau gathered purslane in a cornfield. He boiled and salted it and called it “a satisfactory dinner.” When writing about the plant in Walden, he made sure to include its Latin name — Portulaca oleracea — “on account of the savoriness of the trivial name.” By trivial name, I assume he’s referring to …
Heavyweight Champion John L. Sullivan’s Wild Bouts in McKeesport and Allegheny City
“The air of Pittsburgh has been thicker today than at any time since the discovery and general use of natural gas,” intoned an unnamed editorialist for the Pittsburgh Post on September 19, 1886. “But not as in the old time with smoke however but with pugilism.” On the previous evening, heavyweight boxing champion John L. …
20 Years of Interviews, Pt. III
Editor’s note: The Pittsburgh Quarterly team has interviewed many of the most interesting and noteworthy people in our “city-state of Pittsburgh” as my old editor and friend John Craig used to call this area. The number of interviews that have appeared in this magazine reaches well into the hundreds (writer Jeff Sewald alone has interviewed …
20 Years of Interviews, Pt. II
Editor’s note: Since late 2005, we have interviewed many of the most interesting and noteworthy people in our “city-state of Pittsburgh” as my old editor and friend John Craig used to call this area. The number of interviews that have appeared in this magazine reaches well into the hundreds (writer Jeff Sewald alone has interviewed …
Create Happiness in Your Holiday Shopping
As holiday shoppers buy candy, coffee, baked goods or ice cream this year, they’ll be able to purchase with purpose, working with stores and staffs with special needs. Just 34 percent of working-age adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are employed, compared with 83 percent in the overall population. While larger stores such as …
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