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Tours that note the region's history are available through Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation; categories include walking, school, customized and self-guided tours. There are free walking tours noon to 1 p.m. Fridays, May through October, and 2-3:30 p.m. Saturdays, September through Nov. 7.
For more information on those tours and special events, visit www.phlf.org/phlf-tours-events/walking-tours.
If you lack the time or familiarity for a walking tour around the city, the Heinz History Center in the Strip District offers a one-stop comprehensive historical overview. You can spend anywhere from a few hours to an entire day inside the six-floor museum, which is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institute.
Walk-through exhibits include the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum and the "Heinz 57" attraction, which shows how H.J. Heinz became a condiment king. Others exhibits highlight Pittsburgh's blue-collar immigrant origins.
The display "Pittsburgh: A Tradition of Innovation" centers on notable city inventions that changed American life. In addition to showing milestones like America's first radio station (KDKA, which began broadcasting in 1920), it also explains lesser-known Pittsburgh firsts, such as the Ferris Wheel, suspended bridge cables and beverage-can tabs.
The History Center, 1212 Smallman St., is open 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. daily. Admission is $10 for adults, $9 for seniors and $5 for students and children.
Other suggestions for traveling back through Western Pennsylvania's past:
• The Rivers of Steel National Heritage Trail offers guided and self-guided walking and bicycle tours that highlight ethnic and industrial traditions of the region.
Maps and other information at the Routes to Roots Web site (www.riversofsteel.com/routestoroots) lead you from mansions and milltowns to national landmarks and quirky local spots. The online story also offers a copy of the companion Routes to Roots driving guidebook. Among the sites featured in Routes to Roots are …
• Old Economy Village in Ambridge, Beavery County, where you can witness a contemporary interpretation of the Harmony Society, a 19th-century religious communal society. More information: www.oldeconomyvillage.org or 724-266-4500.
• Military history is contained within the walls of Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall in Oakland, a building dedicated to honoring the men and women of all branches of service. The museum, which explores the evolution of equipment and technology as well as the effects that military conflicts have had on society, has a collection of artifacts from the mid-1900s to today. More information: www.soldiersandsailorshall.org.
• Fort Ligonier is a full-scale, on-site reconstruction of the 1758-1766 original that graced a hilltop in the Laurel Highlands. Reenactments, battles, encampments, folkcrafts and archeological digs are the trademarks of the colonial outpost that stood on the edge of the unexplored West. Open daily April 15 through Nov. 15, Fort Ligonier is on U.S. Route 30 and Pa. Route 711, 50 miles east of Pittsburgh and 12 miles north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. More information: www.fortligonier.org.
• The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington, Pa., takes visitors on a ride through the past, when streetcars were kings of the roadways. The museum has evolved over the past 50 years from a handful of volunteers and three trolleys to over 600 members and nearly 50 preserved trolleys. Open April through December; hours vary. More information: www.pa-trolley.org or 724-228-9256
-- Compiled by Jennifer Rizzi and Sharon Eberson
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