Dead Man’s Hollow Tunnel & Ruins
A few stories surround how Dead Man’s Hollow obtained its name; from the store owner who chased down robbers and eventually killed himself to a young person sadly being found dead – we set out to find a different past…one that hosted an industry that is now gone from this immediate area.
Dead Man’s Hollow is a conservation area in McKeesport that is 450 acres and is open to the public. It has hiking trails, some easy & level and others have some elevation. Miles and miles of trails, it is a beautiful area that offers a nice diversity of nature.
Along the way, we also stopped to get on Table Rock.
The ruins are close to the Youghiogheny River. Once we found them, we also found a tunnel that led to the river itself.
The ruins were clearly terracotta pipe-related, interestingly enough, it seemed they also used the terracotta pipes to line portions of the tunnel.
The ruins are of two old industrial businesses: the Bowman Brickyard and the Union Sewer Pipe Company. These companies started operating in the late 1880s but were forced to shut down after a major fire in 1920. The ruins include the large circular foundations of kiln ovens used for making pipes and the crumbling walls of the boiler house.
It is a great area to explore and see some history intact.
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