Make left and walk on low side of Shelly St. Stay on Shelly. Ahead is a large grassy field known as Monongahela Park. At the end of Shelly, look up and down the hill and you will see yellow markers of a 16” gas line that now occupies the former path of the J & L Coal Incline which carried coal from the American Mine near the top of the Slopes to J & L’s iron making facility on the Flats below. The 1300 foot long incline was in operation from 1854 until sometime prior to 1930.
StepTrek Route: Blackroute_2018
Black Route 2018
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Shelly St.
Make right. Around you are six of the eight townhouses built in 2003 by the South Side Local Development Company in cooperation with the SSSNA. Even these new homes had to be shoe-horned into the hillside. Continue walking as Shelly loops to the right.
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Oakley Way Steps
Make left and descend 22 steps to Shelly St. A total of 289 steps, built in 1928, climb the equivalent of 18 floors from Josephine St. below to Mission St. above.
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Stella St.
Go ahead . . . give it your best Marlon Brando! Walk to the right of the metal fencing that divides the road. In 1935 the Work Projects Administration (WPA) terraced this part of the hillside and created the bi-level street topped with an iron fence. In 1998 Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation designated the Stella-Shelley fence as a historically significant landmark. Stay right on the upper level and walk to first set of steps on left.
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Leticoe St Steps
Located at the eastern terminus of Leticoe St., the lower 3-ft. wide wooden steps were rebuilt 2017, while the rest were reconstructed in the 1990’s. There are 58 steps. At the top cross Barry St. to Stella St.
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Leticoe St.
Make left and stay right as you descend Leticoe. At bottom of street, descend 23 steps where Eleanor St. meets Leticoe. Continue up Leticoe. In the 2500 block, just past the crest of the hill, look left to the houses tucked behind houses. Close quarters! Continue to Kosciusko Way, named for one of the Polish generals who assisted America in the Revolutionary War for independence.
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Eola Way Steps
Make a left and walk to the stairs built in 1947. As you climb these 96 steps, each 4-ft wide, notice the ruins of stone or brick foundations perched over the hillside on the right. At the top of the steps is Leticoe St.
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Greeley St.
Turn right and continue up Greely 100 yards to Eola Way Steps on the left.
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* Gardens on the Slopes
Here are the first of six gardens maintained by SSSNA members. Part of an effort to put a green face on the Slopes, the garden was planted in 2002 in conjunction with the Western Penna. Conservancy.
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Josephine St.
Make right and walk east toward S. 22nd St. Continue to Greeley St.