More Weird Pennsylvania Place Names 🤯 | New @noles.exploring on WQED+!
Did you hear? We just added 5 new episodes of Noles Explores & Explains to WQED+! Join our good buddy Noles as he travels around exploring Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania’s wonderfully weird and expansive history, including this latest installation of his fan favorite series exploring the more “out there” origin stories of how places in PA got their names.
Head on over to WQED+ (wqed.org/plus) for the full ep and even more Noles! 🗺️
4/18/26 • Westinghouse Atom Smasher
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The atom smasher, a 65-ft tall pear-shaped steel tower, is all that remains of the world’s first Van de Graaff generator. It operated from 1937-1958, and the rest of the facility was demolished in 2015. Inside the atom smasher, particles were collided in a high voltage environment, leading to several early atomic discoveries.
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#abandonedpittsburgh #abandonedpennsylvania #explorewesternpennslyvania #urbex #rurex
4/4/26 • Gazzam Cemetery
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Third times the charm! Two years after exploring the ghost town of Gazzam, I finally found the cemetery, thanks to a tip from a follower. It’s serene, very old, and in disrepair. Most recent burial looks to be 1928. Gazzam was a coal town built in 1884 and dismantled in 1913.
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#abandonedcemetery #ruralcemetery #explorepennsylvania #abandonedpennsylvania #rurex
Why This Pittsburgh Neighborhood is Mostly Forest 🌳
Pittsburgh is one of the greenest cities in America, as a percentage of tree cover to land area. From our good buddy @noles.exploring comes the story of how the neighborhood of Hays, in particular the large hill across the river from Hazelwood, has managed to avoid major development and what the future holds for Pittsburgh’s largest urban forest.
Full episode + more Noles Explores & Explains on WQED+! (plus.wqed.org)
More Weird PA Names w/ @noles.exploring
Our good buddy Noles has even MORE interesting origin stories of some of the unique names you see on a map of Pennsylvania. 🗺️ Check out the full series on WQED+ at wqed.org/plus!
The Steel City Beautiful w/ @noles.exploring 🤩
Oakland, which was a largely agricultural suburb at the turn of the century, was transformed by a public-private partnership into the city’s cultural center. Join Noles Explores & Explains as he discusses the foundations of the urban planning movement in creating the Oakland we know today. Full ep’s on WQED+! → wqed.org/plus
3/8/26 • Turtle Creek Flood Gates
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The flood gates were built in the late 30s to protect the Westinghouse factories which lined the Turtle Creek Valley from floodwaters backfilling from the Monongahela. They prevented an estimated $30 million worth of damages during the flood of 1954. The channelization of the creek itself reduced their necessity, and no one seemed very interested in paying for maintenance. Sometime around 2000, they were abandoned.
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#abandonedpittsburgh #turtlecreek #explorewesternpa #explorepennsylvania #urbex
The Churches of Homestead w/ @noles.exploring ⛪️
Would you believe that the churches you can find throughout Homestead tell a story that touches upon immigration and labor within Pittsburgh? 😮 In this latest episode with Noles Explores & Explains, he’s giving a thorough look at what we can learn from these buildings. Full ep’s on WQED+ and our YouTube (link in bio!).
Weird PA Names with @noles.exploring 🤨
Our good pal @noles.exploring is a WONDERFUL YouTube creator who makes videos about history, geography, and their intersection, with a focus on the Pittsburgh region and the Rust Belt as a whole. We’re teaming up with him to host some of his videos on WQED+ and kicking things off with some history on the surprising origins of names of places in PA! 😳 Full video’s available to watch on WQED+ and our YouTube!
1/19/26 • Glen Hazel Heights
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Glen Hazel was a neighborhood of temporary “barracks” for housing Homestead steelworkers during WW2. After the war the neighborhood rapidly deteriorated in the hands of the public housing administration. Yet it was decades before anything was done. Finally in the 70s, the old housing was demolished and partially replaced by newer housing. Still, old stairs and curbs and small details remain.
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#abandonedpittsburgh #explorepittsburgh #abandonedneighborhood #glenhazel #urbex
1/17/26 • American Reduction Company
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Built in 1898, this incineration plant burned multiple trains’ worth of Pittsburgh’s trash every day. It’s still visible in 1938 aerial imagery, but was apparently defunct by WW2. Not much left today, and it’s lorded over by a barred owl.
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#abandonedpennsylvania #explorewesternpennslyvania #explorepennsylvania #rurex #incinerationplant
1/17/26 • West Newton Reservoir
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I know nothing about its history, but I had a great time exploring this old dam. Crazy to think there used to be a lake in the middle of the forest. Video coming soon.
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#explorepennsylvania #abandonedpennsylvania #rurex #westnewtonpa #explorewesternpennslyvania
