Skip to main content

The Church of the Turnpike - St. John the Baptist Catholic Church - New Baltimore, PA

Image
By
St. John The Baptist Catholic Church and Retreat Center
Along the 36 miles that are between the Somerset and Bedford interchanges on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, there is not much to break the monotony of this segment.  Yes, there is the Allegheny Tunnel and a full service rest area that motorists can use to countdown the miles along this 30 minute drive between the two interchanges.  However, it is at milepost 129 that maybe one of the most unique features of the Pennsylvania Turnpike appears.  In the town of New Baltimore, a rare town the original Turnpike actually runs through, steps from both sides of the Turnpike can carry motorists, if they desire to stop, to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.  "The Church of the Turnpike" has become a travelers' tradition since the 1950s.

A vintage PA Turnpike Postcard showing St. John's Church.  (Image courtesy Doug Weasner)
New Baltimore and the church's importance to the Pennsylvania Turnpike System has slowly decreased over the toll road's 75 plus years in existence.  A service plaza once existed nearby.  It has been years since Greyhound Bus Lines picked up or dropped off passengers at the church.  The town of nearly 200 residents is without direct access to the turnpike.  However, the church, cut off from the town by the turnpike, still attracts curious passers by like myself along a busy ribbon of concrete and asphalt.

The quiet village of New Baltimore
St. John's Cemetery
In 2007, it was announced that the connection between St. John's and the Turnpike is coming to an end.  A highway improvement project that widened the Turnpike and updated it to modern standards was to result in the staircases on both sides of the the highway being removed.  Because there is no formal requirement for access to the church from the Turnpike to exist and Interstate highway safety standards, the stairs were not to be replaced.  The project began in 2009 and was completed in 2011.  However, reports as late as May 2014 say that the eastbound stairs are still there.   (Editor's Note: Though my family has driven past St. John's numerous times since 2012  - we do so late at night and cannot tell if the westbound stairs are still in place.)

There are plans to widen the turnpike through here to six lanes beginning in 2021.  When this occurs, it is most likely that the stairs and all access to the church will be removed.

Stairway from the eastbound lanes of the PA Turnpike leading to St. John's Church (Bee Family - 2001)
 
Mass listings for St. John's Church along the Eastbound lanes of the Turnpike (Bee Family - 2001)


Site Navigation:
Sources & Links:
  • The Bee Family
  • Joe Klunk
  • Doug Weasner
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ghost Town Tuesday; Vineland, Florida; the town killed by Disney

By
Vineland is a small ghost town located in southwest Orange County, Florida near the junction of Florida State Road 535 and Interstate 4.  Vineland is somewhat unique due to it largely being squeezed out of existence by Lake Buena Vista which is the company town where Disney World is located. Vineland was founded in the late 1800s as Englewood.  The town name of Englewood changed to Orange Center in 1911 before finally assuming the name Vineland in 1924.  Much like the rest of Orange County the community of Vineland was centered around Citrus Grove.  In the case of Vineland said orange groves were centered around Ruby Lake. The end of Vineland came as the Disney Corporation began purchasing parcels of citrus grove land to build Lake Buena Vista.  Vineland fell into a sharp decline in the 1960s but the community managed to continue to exist to modern times.  Much of the street grid of Vineland still exists east of FL 535 but most of the original structures are either gone or falle
1 comment
Read more

Old NY 10 and Goodman Mountain in the Adirondacks

By
  Old highway alignments come in all shapes and sizes, as well as taking some different forms after their lifespan of serving cars and trucks has ended. In the case of an old alignment of what was NY 10 south of Tupper Lake, New York, part of the old road was turned into part of a hiking trail to go up Goodman Mountain. At one time, the road passed by Goodman Mountain to the east, or Litchfield Mountain as it was known at the time. As the years passed, sometime around 1960, the part of NY 10 north of Speculator became part of NY 30, and remains that way today from Speculator, past Indian Lake and Tupper Lake and up to the Canadian Border. At one time, the highway was realigned to pass the Goodman Mountain to the west, leaving this stretch of road to be mostly forgotten and to be reclaimed by nature. During the summer of 2014, a 1.6 mile long hiking trail was approved the Adirondack Park Agency to be constructed to the summit of the 2,176 foot high Goodman Mountain. For the first 0.9 mi
1 comment
Read more

Oregon State Highway 58

By
  Also known as the Willamette Highway No. 18, the route of Oregon State Highway 58 (OR 58) stretches some 86 miles between US 97 north of Chemult and I-5 just outside of Eugene, Oregon. A main route between the Willamette Valley region of Oregon with Central Oregon and Crater Lake National Park, the highway follows the Middle Fork Willamette River and Salt Creek for much of its route as it makes its way to and across the Cascades, cresting at 5,138 feet above sea level at Willamette Pass. That is a gain of over 4,500 in elevation from where the highway begins at I-5. The upper reaches of OR 58 are dominated by the principal pinnacle that can sometimes be seen from the highway, Diamond Peak, and three nearby lakes, Crescent, Odell and Waldo (Oregon's second largest lake). OR 58 is chock full of rivers, creeks, mountain views, hot springs and waterfalls within a short distance from the highway. OR 58 was numbered as such by the Oregon State Highway Department in 1940. OR 58 is a del
Post a Comment
Read more