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Pennsylvania

Signature City Pittsburgh

Program No. 19287RJ

Learn how Pittsburgh grew from its humble origins to the great city of today, discovering neoclassical architecture, renowned museums, unique cuisine and the stunning Duquesne Incline.

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6 days

5 nights

13 meals

5B 4L 4D

Check-in, Registration, Orientation, Welcome Dinner

Pittsburgh, PA

Phipps Conservatory, Duquesne Incline, National Aviary

Pittsburgh, PA

Heinz Regional Historic Center, Frick Art, Local Tales

Pittsburgh, PA

U. Pittsburgh Cathedral of Learning, Carnegie Museums

Pittsburgh, PA

Rivers of Steel Heritage Museum, Carrie Furnace, Free Time

Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh’s Future, Program Concludes

Pittsburgh, PA

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At a Glance

Experience Pittsburgh’s revitalized urban landscape and bustling local economy and find out what makes it “America’s Most Livable City.” A city once known for its rough edges is now revered for its world-class museums, rich historical narrative and spirited cultural scene. Follow the paths of history as you stroll through the Botanical Gardens and examine brushstrokes from Italian Renaissance Masterpieces.

Activity Level

Keep the Pace

Walking 1-2 miles a day and 60-90 minutes of standing for museum visits; stairs.

Small Group

Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 13 to 24 participants.

Best of all, you’ll…

Take an uphill ride on the storied Duquesne Incline and discover Pittsburgh from atop Mount Washington.
Absorb the history of the Steel City by studying noblemen like Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick and John Heinz.
Gain a thorough understanding of the city’s vibrant past and promising future with experts at the Phipps Conservatory, Carnegie Museum of Art, Frick Art and Historical Center and Rivers of Steel National Heritage Center.

General Notes

Select dates are designated for small groups and are limited to 24 participants or less.

Featured Expert

All trip experts

Alan Irvine

Alan Irvine is a well-known storyteller in Pittsburgh. He is an outreach performer for the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. For libraries, he creates Summer Reading Club programs for kids, ghost stories for teens, and tales of Pennsylvania history and current events for adults. In addition to performing, Alan teaches workshops and classes on storytelling. In 1988, he helped found the storytelling group StorySwap. He has produced numerous storytelling shows, and was the chair of the 2006 National Storytellers Conference, held in Pittsburgh.

Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.

Alan Irvine View biography

Woody Cunningham View biography

Woody Cunningham has been leading visitors through Pittsburgh, the "Paris of the Appalachia," for 30 years. A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in history, and winner of the Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau's annual Travel and Tourism Advocate Award, Woody is an experienced Road Scholar Group Leader and one of Pittsburgh's most treasured raconteurs.

Suggested Reading List (5 books)

Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop

You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.

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Signature City Pittsburgh

Program Number: 19287

And the Wolf Finally Came: The Decline and Fall of the American Steel Industry (Pittsburgh Series in Social and Labor History)

by John P. Hoerr

A veteran reporter of American labor analyzes the spectacular and tragic collapse of the steel industry in the 1980s. John Hoerr’s account of these events stretches from the industrywide barganing failures of 1982 to the crippling work stoppage at USX (U.S. Steel) in 1986-87. He interviewed scores of steelworkers, company managers at all levels, and union officials, and was present at many of the crucial events he describes. Using historical flashbacks to the origins of the steel industry, particularly in the Monongahela Valley of southwestern Pennsylvania, he shows how an obsolete and adversarial relationship between management and labor made it impossible for the industry to adapt to shattering changes in the global economy.

H. J. Heinz: A Biography

by Quentin R Skrabec

Though Heinz Ketchup is one of the most recognized corporate symbols in the world, few people know anything at all about H. J. Heinz. Industrial giants Rockefeller, Carnegie, Westinghouse, and Mellon became household names, and Heinz slipped into obscurity. Yet during a time of great transfers of wealth brought about in part by these famous robber barons, Heinz was well known for his humane treatment of his employees, customers, and suppliers. At the same time Heinz built a commercial empire by his use of industrialized food processing before Henry Ford. This book includes 45 photographs many of which are being published for the first time.

Steel: Diary of a Furnace Worker

by Charles Rumford Walker

"In the summer of 1919, a few weeks before the Great Steel Strike, I bought some second-hand clothes and went to work on an open-hearth furnace near Pittsburgh to learn the steel business. I was a graduate of Yale, and a few weeks before had resigned a commission as first-lieutenant in the regular army...In these chapters I have put down what I saw, felt, and thought as a steel-worker in 1919." --from the Foreword

Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City

by Stefan Lorant

Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City follows Pittsburgh from its frontier beginnings through its evolution into the most heavily industrialized city in the world, to the city's renewal of itself as "America's Most Livable City." This beautiful volume though, is much more than the story of a single city; it is the history of the United States. This book is based on years of research and includes contributions by such noted American historians as Henry Steele Commager and Oscar Handlin. More than 1100 pictures recreate the city's dramatic 200+year history. Featured are photographs by W. Eugene Smith, Margaret Bourke-White, Norman W. Schumm, Lorant himself and others. A chronology of events from 1717 offers historical snapshots in the day to day life of the archetypical American city.

Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Changed America

by Les Standiford

Two founding fathers of American industry. One desire to dominate business at any price. The author of Last Train to Paradise tells the riveting story of Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the bloody steelworkers’ strike that transformed their fabled partnership into a furious rivalry. Set against the backdrop of the Gilded Age, Meet You in Hell captures the majesty and danger of steel manufacturing, the rough-and-tumble of the business world, and the fraught relationship between “the world’s richest man” and the ruthless coke magnate to whom he entrusted his companies. The result is an extraordinary work of popular history.

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At a Glance

Best of all, you’ll…

General Notes

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