July 23: Plantation Plenty & More Bus Tour

Visit three of Western Pennsylvania’s most historic homes on Saturday, July 23, from 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in a “once-only” tour with PHLF. Our organization has been influential in saving or supporting the preservation of all three places, through easements and other strategies that Jack Miller, director of Gift Planning/Easements, will discuss during the tour.

From Station Square we’ll head to “Woodville Plantation,” the c. 1775 John and Presley Neville house in Collier Township, where PHLF Trustee Anne Genter will escort our group on a tour of the Virginian vernacular house and grounds. Rania’s Catering will provide lunch.

In Canonsburg, architect Jonathan Glance will describe the first phase of restoration planned for the John Roberts House, begun in 1798, and being transformed into an arts center by the Washington County Cultural Trust.

“Plantation Plenty,” the Isaac Manchester Farm in Avella, Washington County, will be the tour grand finale. PHLF is the first public group invited to tour the 400-acre working farm, placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2011 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places and on Preservation Pennsylvania’s 2010 Pennsylvania At Risk list, due to threats from longwall mining. Margaret Manchester Pagliarulo, an eighth-generation descendant of Isaac Manchester, will welcome our group into the 1815 Georgian farmhouse. “I am so encouraged that public awareness has risen about the significance of my family’s farm and the devastating consequences that would occur due to longwall mining,” she said.

Reservations are required and space is limited: marylu@phlf.org or 412-471-5808, ext. 527. Wear comfortable walking shoes and dress for the weather. Or, click here for a calendar of events and to register for these tours.