Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area is a federally designated

National Heritage Area In the United States, a National Heritage Area (NHA) is a site designated by Act of Congress, intended to encourage historic preservation of the area and an appreciation of the history and heritage of the site. There are currently 62 NHAs, some ...

in southwestern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, centered on

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

and oriented around the interpretation and promotion of the region's steel-making heritage. The area roughly covers the valleys of the

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, Monongahela and lower Allegheny rivers. Major interpretive locations include the

Carrie Furnace Carrie Furnace is a former blast furnace located along the Monongahela River in the Pittsburgh area industrial town of Swissvale, Pennsylvania, and it had formed a part of the Homestead Steel Works. The Carrie Furnaces were built in 1884 and they ...

Pinkerton's Landing Bridge The Pinkerton's Landing Bridge (officially known as the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Bridge at Munhall) is a truss bridge that carries CSX Transportation's Pittsburgh Subdivision across the Monongahela River between Munhall, Pennsylvania and ...

and other features of the

Homestead Steel Works Homestead Steel Works was a large steel works located on the Monongahela River at Homestead, Pennsylvania in the United States. The company developed in the nineteenth century as an extensive plant served by tributary coal and iron fields, a rai ...

. The national heritage area comprises Allegheny,

Armstrong Armstrong may refer to: Places * Armstrong Creek (disambiguation), various places Antarctica * Armstrong Reef, Biscoe Islands Argentina * Armstrong, Santa Fe Australia * Armstrong, Victoria Canada * Armstrong, British Columbia * Armstrong ...

Beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...

Greene Greene may refer to: Places United States *Greene, Indiana, an unincorporated community *Greene, Iowa, a city *Greene, Maine, a town ** Greene (CDP), Maine, in the town of Greene *Greene (town), New York ** Greene (village), New York, in the town ...

, Fayette,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and Westmoreland counties. Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area was designated in 1996 and is managed by the Rivers of Steel Heritage Corporation. The managing organization supports the designation of Homestead Works National Park, centered around the Carrie Blast Furnaces. The visitor center, museum, and offices for the national heritage area are located in the

Bost Building The Bost Building, also known as Columbia Hotel, is located on East Eighth Avenue (Pennsylvania Route 837, PA 837) in Homestead, Pennsylvania, Homestead, Pennsylvania, United States. Built just before the 1892 Homestead Strike, it was used as head ...

Homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept t ...

.Heritage Areas, National Park Service: Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

, n.d. Accessed 2012-04-27.

References

External links

Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area official website

Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area @ LOC
{{Authority control 1996 establishments in Pennsylvania National Heritage Areas of the United States Protected areas established in 1996 Protected areas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Protected areas of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania Protected areas of Beaver County, Pennsylvania Protected areas of Butler County, Pennsylvania Protected areas of Greene County, Pennsylvania Protected areas of Fayette County, Pennsylvania Protected areas of Washington County, Pennsylvania