Between the quiet and monotone farms of the Midwest and the dirty, brick-laden cities of the Northeast lies the Rust Belt, dubbed so because its cities, once at their height during the post-war steel and heavy industry boom, have since rusted away all their population.
This was our experience passing through one Wheeling, WV, a city on a narrow strip of land between Ohio and Pennsylvania, where the entire infrastructure and downtown of a city stands, but its residents are nowhere to be found. What's left are empty buildings, some of which are fully in disrepair, and major boulevards closed off for apparent repaving paid for by the city's meager tax revenue.
But only one hour due east of Wheeling sits Pittsburgh, PA. Recently cited by the San Francisco Chronicle as a model for urban renewal that SF could learn from, Pittsburgh, or PGH, or the 'Burgh, luckily no longer has the same reputation for a rusted-away city, but is instead on the upswing.
Visually, Pittsburgh is a stark contrast and improvement compared to our recent Midwestern destinations. The city is spread among multiple stretches of land crossing two rivers and a peninsular-like downtown. Legitimate hills divide neighborhoods and necessitate elevated roadways and bridges above the boulevards beneath. Will and I admired how much we could walk through the popular Schenley Park's creekside trails and totally forget we were right in the middle of a city.
In addition to its college-age population (somewhat confined to the university-adjacent neighborhoods), the city now boasts the HQs for newer tech companies (and other hardware/research jobs) and welcomes in young professionals with a fantastic low cost of living. The people are earnest, friendly, and incredibly welcoming to their growing city. Actually encouraging you to move there, so their home values and the quality of life keeps moving in the right direction.
A plus to Western PA: the surrounding region is absolutely full of lush, dense nature and mountains. The famous Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater is a great day trip from Pittsburgh, with its own estate that captivates dozens on its property every day. We visited on a rainy Sunday (even had to use their umbrellas to walk around the grounds, not our own), and got to see a few other FLW buildings on another property, Polymath Park.
