Rain Day is special not just because it has been a tradition for more than a century and a half, but also because it is an event where people throughout the county and even around the globe hope for rain to fall in Waynesburg.
Founded in 1796, Greene County was established when Washington County was split as an act of Legislature. That brings over two centuries of history and mystery from the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania. Travel around the County with me as we explore a few historical sites.
Driving through country roads and farmlands, one can get a clear view of Greene County’s historic heritage through its preserved buildings and landmarks. Rustic barns with the words “Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco” painted across their sides are easy to spot surrounded by the scenic countryside.
Prior to the glaciers, the ancestral Monongahela River flowed from present day north-central West Virginia across Pennsylvania and northwest Ohio.
When it comes to taking its place in American history, Greene County is unparalleled. And it’s because of a parallel of latitude that Pennsylvania’s southwestern-most county stands above all others. The famous Mason-Dixon Line, run from 1763-67 by British astronomers and surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, ends its journey at the edge of Greene County.
History can be full of surprises and sometimes even a mystery or two. Maybe even a ghost. Greene County Historical Society has all of this and more.
But the real story of this little county airport and others of its kind scattered across America, is how many kids stopped by to check out the planes and ended up becoming pilots. There’s that magic age of twelve to fifteen years when the young mind is in flux, waiting for the right adventure to become the passion that the career of a lifetime can be built around.
Waynesburg is perhaps best known for a summer-time event, their annual Rain Day celebration on July 29. The local holiday is known around the globe and receives national attention each year as locals enjoy the festivities on High Street in Greene County’s “County Town” hoping that rain will fall from the sky, keeping a tradition alive that dates back a little over a century. But how did such a small rural community get their own holiday?
One of the best known steamboat tugs and the only one still on a river is the W.P. Snyder, Jr., originally built in 1918 and owned by the Carnegie Steel Company. It was originally named the W.H. Clingerman and was one of the first steel hulled steamboats. In September of 1945, it was sold to the Crucible Steel Company and renamed W.P. Snyder, Jr.
The Pennsylvania, Monongahela & Southern Railroad was organized in 1902 under the Pennsylvania Railroad to extend the rail line from West Brownsville to Rices Landing. In May 2000, the abandoned rail bed was dedicated as a rail-trail along the Monongahela River.