Greene County, Pennsylvania

Waynesburg, the county seat of Greene County, is 27 miles north of Morgantown, just over the Mason-Dixon Line, which is seven miles north of our house. This was the twelfth and last county I had scheduled for the year from July 2022 to June 2023. A temple member, a doctor who worked with black lung patients, has a farm there, and he told me recently he's involved with the Greene County Democrats, and we know gay people who live there. Still, from what I saw of this county, it's all about coal mining (dying out) and fracking (still going strong). I saw lots of heavily tattooed young men, people who stopped me on the street, suspicious that I was taking pictures of historic places, and unrepentant Trump acolytes, with F**k Biden banners and lawn signs saying "Still My President" with a picture of The Former Guy. My overall impression is that it's more stereotypically West Virginia than West Virginia. 

I visited the small towns of Waynesburg (3,987), Jefferson (253), Rice's Landing (426), Carmichaels (434), and Greensboro (267), all in the central and eastern parts of the county. That's five of the six boroughs (cities in Pennsylvania) in the county. The total population in 2020 was 35,924 divided among twenty townships. The census says the county is 91% White.

Waynesburg is a pretty town with a historic district, Waynesburg University, and a blocks-long park between downtown and the university.

                                                            Downtown Waynesburg

                                                                Monument Park

                                                          Miller Hall, Waynesburg University

                                                              Greene County Court House

East of Waynesburg is Greene Hills Farm, from 1861, now Greene County Historic Museum. The house had several additions, and for a time was the county poor house. I took a tour, and enjoyed spending time with the museum docents.

The John Rex Farm, from 1874, is in Jefferson Township, near the town of Jefferson.

Rice's Landing is a pretty, very small town on the Monongahela River. It's mostly below a cliff on the river.

W.A. Young and Sons Foundry and Machine Shop, a National Historic Landmark operated from 1900 to 1965, Rice's Landing.

                                                       Underpass in Rice's Landing

Carmichael has Greene Academy, a stone building built as a church and a brick building attached to it from 1820. There is also a covered bridge from 1889 connecting two neighborhoods.

Greensboro is a historic town on the Monongahela River. Joe and I visited there in 2020, and found almost every house sporting a sign for the incumbent president. A man came out and showed us his house, with multiple banners and signs. As I was walking around taking pictures on May 30, a woman came ut of her house talking on a cell phone and questioned me about what I was doing there. I told her I was taking pictures of historic places, and once she got a good look at me she calmed down, and said "We've had a lot of burglaries here, so I have to check." There is a bike path/trail along the river which may one day hook up with the trail in West Virginia, but it doesn't yet.

                                                   Former hotel, Greensboro Historic District

                                                          Trail/bike path in Greensboro

                                                       Greensboro School, 1909

                                                 County Street, Greensboro Historic District

Since this is the next closest county to ours, I feel like I should make it a point to visit each of the twenty townships. It's a pretty area up in the mountains and along the Mon River, despite the unfriendly politics and attitude I found.