Sheepskin trail coke oven photographs

Partnership Project Photos taken on 19 August 2016

-Dunbar Coke Oven ProjectDunbar Borough Dunbar Historical Society Pennsylvania Environmental Council

Preservation Pennsylvania Fayette County Cultural Trust

Sheepskin Trail Dunbar Borough Fayette County, Pennsylvania

Uniondale / Reid Brothers Coke Works – Dunbar, Pennsylvania Circa 1880 Thomas W. Watt was born at County Donegal, Ireland on August 12th, 1828. He came to America in June of 1853, with his wife Sarah, and settled in Dunbar. Thomas worked at the old Union Furnace near Dunbar for his brother John. He built a section of the Fayette County Railroad in 1859, known as the Fairmont branch.

He then built the Uniondale Coke works.

The Uniondale/Reid Brothers site is historically significant as an example of an early, innovative and independent coke operation.

The remaining ovens possess integrity that help convey an important historic shift from small-scale, scattered coke production to larger, concentrated commercial coke works. The first 40 of 76 beehive ovens at Uniondale were completed in 1869 under the leadership of Thomas w. Watt, at a time when the coke industry was in relative infancy. In 1870, for example, the number of coke works in the entire Connellsville Region numbered only around 20, and consisted of a mere 550 or so individual ovens. Prior to construction of the Uniondale works, coke operations tended to be small, consisting typically of a dozen or so ovens. The site further conveys the operations of a coke production facility in the era before Henry Clay Frick dominated the industry and became “The Coke King,” beginning around 1880.

The Sheepskin Trail is a lovely rural trail located in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The trail currently connects the town of Dunbar with the popular Great Allegheny Passage, just south of Connellsville.

The trail is well surfaced with crushed stone and meanders through mixed deciduous woods and shrubs. Remnants of the original "Sheepskin Line" and other rail-line crossings are apparent along the trail.

This is just the first part of a three-phase project which will eventually create 34 miles of non-motorized trail connecting the Great Allegheny Passage to Morgantown, West Virginia, via the Mon River Trail North.

Along the Sheepskin Trail

Coke Oven #1

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Coke Oven #1

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Coke Oven #1 – Side View

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Coke Oven #1

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Coke Oven #1

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Coke Oven #1 – Left Corner

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Coke Oven #1 - Top

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Coke Oven #1 – Top Looking Down

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Coke Oven #2

Coke Oven #1

#3

#2

#3

Coke Oven #2

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Coke Oven #2

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Inside Coke Oven #2

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Inside Coke Oven #2

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Coke Oven #2 Top

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Coke Oven #2 – top Looking Down

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Coke Oven #3

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Coke Oven #3 Side View

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Inside Coke Oven #3

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Coke Oven #3 Top

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Other Coke Ovens to the Right

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Other Coke Ovens to the Right

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Other Coke Ovens to the Right

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Other Coke Ovens to the Right

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Uniondale / Reid Brothers Coke Works –

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Uniondale / Reid Brothers Coke Works –

Coke Oven #1

#2

#3

Photos & Booklet put together by the Fayette County Cultural Trust.