FALLINGWATER & THE BRADDOCK TRACE

A house in the Pennsylvania woods designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

From 1937 to 1963, Fallingwater was the weekend home of the Edgar Kaufmann family of

Pittsburgh. They owned some property about 50 miles out of the city and had some cabins

near it.  When the camp there had gotten in bad enough shape that the cabins needed replacing,

Kaufmann had the idea of having a more substantial home built there for his family. A survey

of the area was made, a VERY thorough survey which included all the boulders and trees as

well as the topography.  Kaufmann had hired Frank Lloyd Wright, with whom his son had

studied briefly, as his architect and thought Wright would design a house overlooking the

small waterfall.  But Wright, well, he wanted to build a house ON the waterfall.

Wright wanted the house to be organic, to be "engaged" with its surroundings and used broad

expanses of window, long balconies off the main rooms so that the inhabitants would always

have a sense of closeness to what was around the house. He wanted, too, that the ceilings

be low so that attention would be directed outward as from the shelter of some deep cave

in the many rock ledges of the area. There are no huge, high halls, not even a main entrance.

A small door tucked into a corner was considered by Wright to be the entrance, though it

is but one of several small entries into the house. Before the house was built, the Kaufmanns

liked to sun themselves after swimming atop one of the large boulders just above the falls.

When the house was constructed atop these boulders, the sunning boulder was left protruding

through the living room floor as the hearth of the fireplace. The stone floor of the living room

is highly waxed, giving it a smooth, shiny look as though it were wet. The hearth was left unwaxed,

plain, like dry rock sticking above the stream. Wright attended to every detail of the house, even its

furnishings, to carry out his theme. The house, however, has always had mold problems due to being

built directly over running water. Mr. Kaufmann liked to jokingly call it "Rising Mildew" instead of

"Falling Water" from time to time!

I took these a couple of years back on my second trip to Fallingwater. The house

is 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, nestled deep in the woods of the Laurel Highlands.

This is just approaching the bridge entrance. You walk down a long path through

the woods to get to the house.

Standing on the entrance bridge, looking across to where the steps come down from

the living room to Bear Run.

From the fork in the path where the right one goes to the entrance bridge and

the left to the viewing site.

The pathway behind the house, leading up to the guest house on the right.

I took this standing on the entrance bridge because I liked the way the wisteria vines

curved over down toward Bear Run.

Tips of the balconies over Bear Run. The camera was tilted a bit. The balconies don't

really slant down like it looks here.

Standing on the entrance bridge looking across to living room balcony and steps.

Outside of the guest house, looking down toward the covered walkway between it

and the main house.

Part of the path on the back side of Fallingwater.  The house is just built right into the landscape.

Bear Run on the upcreek side of the entrance bridge.

The classic view from the viewing site across Bear Run.

Same view but zoomed in a bit.

Again...

A more overhead view from a different path. They don't allow you to photograph the

inside of the house, alas.

On the way home, we stopped here, which is the original Braddock Trace, along

which the wounded General was carried on a cart after the Battle of the Wilderness

in July 1755. Major General Edward Braddock was 60 years old and leading an

expedition against Fort Duquesne, at what is now the Point in Pittsburgh. He was

hauling huge siege cannon with him and the French at the fort knew it would not

withstand such firepower. Braddock was lugging it through over 100 miles of

wilderness. A group of about 250 soldiers and a bit over 600 Indians was dispatched

from the fort to intercept Braddock as he forded the Monongahela River. The British

crossed the fords before the French arrived and were making their way west through

the woods with cannons, both field and siege, a train of supply wagons, 200 sutlers,

and between 40 to 50 women. There were 2 regiments of British regulars in full

scarlet.  Among them rode both George Washington and Daniel Boone.

The French had not attacked earlier in two places Braddock considered ideal for

ambush, so after crossing the river, he decided that there would be no ambush.

When they'd gotten a mile from the river, the two forces accidentally collided.

The French were still rushing toward the river to attack at the fords and the English

had crossed and then developed a false sense of security.

Lt. Col. Thomas Gage, leading the vanguard of of 330 British troops, was the first to

encounter the French and Indians. In the finest European tradition of battle, he ordered

his men into line to fire volleys.  One ball did kill the French commander, Beaujeu, but

the Indians began streaming down both sides, taking aim from behind the trees in a scene

very like one from The Last of the Mohicans. The French had deployed in the forest,

and were almost invisible to the British. Gage ordered a retreat but ran straight into a

forward British work party and the baggage train that followed it, all hope of escape

blocked now by their own supplies!

Meanwhile, the main force of the British surged ahead at the sound of battle and a second

collision occurred on what was, actually, nothing more than a pathway through a forest.

The horses, frightened by the gunfire, the war whoops of the Indians, were out of control.

Gage's retreating force, mingled with the work party and the wagons, now had the main

body of the British troops crashing into it from the rear.  The French and the Indians? Well,

they took advantage of the chaos and within an hour had the British completely surrounded.

Braddock had his horse shot out from under him four times. American militiamen decided it

was best to revert to what they knew of forest warfare, but in their attempt were mistaken

for Indians and killed by their own allies. Over two more endless hours the British tried to

get out of the trap they were in. Daniel Boone and Daniel Morgan left, deciding the whole

resistance was futile. Of the fighting men, nearly 2/3 were dead or wounded and George

Washington was the only member of Braddock's staff alive. The survivors broke, fleeing

back toward the ford. Stragglers were caught, tortured, then killed. Supply wagons, guns,

artillery, ammunition, cattle, horses, a chest of gold, Braddock's personal effects and papers,

all lay abandoned in the woods.

Several bullets had passed through Washington's clothing, but he was unharmed. Braddock,

though had been shot in the right arm and the bullet had traveled onward into his lung, a

fatal wound. He was carried off the field by Washington and another officer and put on a

cart as the retreat of what was left of the British troops continued southeastward. Four

days later as they made their way along an Indian trail not far from where Fallingwater

is today, the dying General gave his ceremonial sash to Washington. It is said that Washington

never was without that sash for the rest of his life, both as Commander of the Colonial Army

or during the time he was President.

When Braddock died, Washington had him buried right in the middle of the small road and then

ordered the men to march over the grave and the wagons to roll atop it so that the body would

not be found and desecrated. In the picture above, that original grave was in the area where you

see the person in the aqua shirt. It's almost amazing somehow, walking down this road, because

you can still hear the creak of the wagon wheels, the jangle of harnesses, the pound of marching

feet. If you stop a moment, you can feel the weariness of the men who walked there, the pain

of their wounds, the stunned aftermath in their minds of what they'd just been through, the possibility

that there were still Indians in the thick forest. Because it looks so much the same, the feelings come

easily, sharply.

George Washington presided over the burial service because their chaplain lay severely

wounded on a wagon.  A crew of workers found human remains believed to be Braddock's

in 1804 and the remains were reburied atop a slope beside the trace. In 1913 a marble

monument was erected over the new grave. You can see that just to the left of the umbrella

in the picture above. The steps in the center of the picture lead down to the old trace. What

I like is that they have clearly marked where the trace leaves the woods at this point and

goes across the meadow, even across the bit of asphalt path. 

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