It will surprise no one who's read my posts over the last couple of days that I leapt at the chance to go on a tour of the closed and derelict steel works that still tower over the river and town in Bethlehem PA. There's nothing like ruins and industrial archaeology - especially when there are native plants happily growing - and tended - among them, too - and a long walkway inspired by the High Line in NYC, so one really can see everything close up. Even if it was very very wet, or possibly because it was very wet, this counts as one of my most memorable NAVSA experiences ever.
The tour was led by Joe, a former steelworker, who was extraordinarily informative (and patient) - and from whom we (that is, myself and two other NAVSAians, and an attorney who tagged along for a bit) learned a huge amount - chief of which was that the works that Pennell painted was demolished around 1900, and these furnaces erected in their place. So there's another piece of my argument there, though I'm not quite sure what that might be.
No comments:
Post a Comment