Discover Connellsville

Connellsville offers two concrete starting points for planning your trip: the Great Allegheny Passage, a cycling and hiking trail through the city, and local history that can be explored through several historical themes. This lets you decide whether a route is your main focus or whether you are interested in railroad, wartime, and city history.

Cycling and hiking trails through Connellsville

Connellsville is one of the places in Pennsylvania along the Great Allegheny Passage, a cycling and hiking trail from Washington, D.C., to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the city, the trail runs along Third Street, right through Connellsville. The Connellsville Bike Loop offers a ride through a residential neighborhood or the business district. This gives you a specific distinction to consider: the Passage is a cycling and hiking trail with the stated endpoints, while the Bike Loop offers two local settings for a bike ride.

Connellsville is on the Youghiogheny River. Braddock’s Crossing is an annual event in June that commemorates Braddock’s army crossing the river in 1755. On each day of the event, visitors have the opportunity to cross the river. Exact event dates and programming can vary from year to year; check the current details before your trip.

History at the Connellsville Canteen and around the city

The Connellsville Canteen honors more than 800 women volunteers who served around 600,000 soldiers during World War II. Some of the Canteen’s World War II exhibits are interactive; exhibit details may change. It is also home to a 55 × 25-foot model railroad layout built entirely by Harry Clark himself. Railroader Magazine rated it the best handcrafted layout in America.

A historical walking trail through Connellsville was planned and created by the Fayette County Cultural Trust. Along the trail, eleven poster-sized panels explain Connellsville’s history with images and text. The route was chosen to lead visitors away from the main roads and support local businesses. In this way, the walking trail combines historical information with a route through the city.

The Connellsville Depot is also connected to railroad history: it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 for its authentic design and materials, and is considered a defining symbol of Connellsville’s railroad history. Numerous public art locations are spread throughout the city; individual artworks may change.

Events and local highlights

At Savor the Avenue, numerous restaurants prepare and serve food to several hundred guests at Fayette County’s Longest Dinner Table. Dates, participating restaurants, and the event’s scope may vary. This is a different kind of event from Braddock’s Crossing: here, restaurants and a communal table take center stage, while the other event commemorates a historical event and offers the opportunity to cross the river during the festivities.

The public art locations add another perspective on Connellsville to its historical themes. Together with the Great Allegheny Passage, the Bike Loop, the Canteen, and the walking trail, they offer different options for planning your trip: getting active on a route, learning about the city’s history, or visiting during one of the events mentioned. If you are looking for a hotel in Connellsville, these interests can help you decide what to focus on during your trip.

Discover more destinations: Champion, Uniontown, Wharton, Perryopolis

For the overview of the wider area: Fayette County.