Falling Water, Polymath Park and Frank Lloyd Wright
Executive Summary:
Fallingwater and Polymath Park are excellent.
Plan on having some paper maps or the maps downloaded to your phone. Internet at Fallingwater can be non-existent
Pack hiking shoes if you will do the Fallingwater Nature walk
The visit to Fallingwater is one that should not be missed. Due to the dependency on the internet, it is important to immediately point out that there is a small lack of Internet at Falling Water. Albeit a brief outage, until you are over the hills, you should download some paper maps or offline maps to know where you are going once you are leaving the compound. At the minimum identify if you will make a left or right once you leave the area.
Another important item is to book tickets well in advance, especially if you want the brunch tour!
For the weekend of June 28 — June 30, 2019 the team at Fallingwater provided an amazing visit to the facility complete with brunch at the home. Falling Water is over 80 years old and the team keeps the home in pristine condition. If you are planning a trip to Falling Water, here is the schedule that I executed from the Washington DC area and tips for future travelers.
Depart the Washington DC area on Friday, June 28th and make a stop in Johnstone, Pennsylvania. (This will be a seperate post and deserves dedicated attention). Arrive at the Fairfield Marriott Inn located at: Fairfield Inn & Suites Pittsburgh New Stanton, 107 Bair Blvd New Stanton Pennsylvania 15672 USA.
Saturday, June 29th, arise and take in the great breakfast at the Fairfield Inn & Suites, then travel to the Fallingwater Site. Upon arrival at the site, you are greeted by the well-designed rotunda that guides you straight to the information desk. Where the helpful team will check you in and assign your group number. Once your group is called, you will join your helpful tour guide and start the walk. A few tips about the walk:
- Use the awesome restroom at the Information Center. Check out the sink! What an architectural wonder!
- If you have trouble walking, they have a golf cart shuttle where you can avoid the walk to the house and take advantage of the shuttle. While the walk down the ramp to the house is nice, you will not miss much
- This is a walking tour into a house that is 80 years old. You may not bring backpacks or shoulder bags that could “Swing around” and knock something over.
Scott our tour guide was incredible! His love of the property comes through in his in-depth knowledge. He can focus on a range of topics about the home and if he does not know the answer he has multiple resources to find out.
Combining the tour with brunch on the patio is a wonderful ending to the tour. You get to sit and think what it must have been like for the Kaufmann family to wake up and dine at their summer home. The brunch consisted of some very “homemade” eggs, muffins, salad, coffee and tea. All of the menu items were delicious.
Upon completing the tour at Fallingwater, the June 29th day continued with a visit to the Polymath Park: (Polymath Park, approximately 40 mintues from Fallingwater. The address is: 187 Evergreen Lane, Acme, PA 15610. Please use caution when using GPS systems as these often place you on secondary or unpaved roads. For directions, visit franklloydwrightovernight.net)
Tree Tops. The Tree Tops is a location nearby that has built several of the Frank Lloyd Wright homes on their property and you can even stay there! The team at the TreeTops provides a wonderful tour of 4 separate homes.
Upon arriving at the TreeTops “Lodge”, you will use the downstairs door and check in. If you have booked the “Dinner Tour”, you will select your menu item in order for your meal to be available to you when you return. If you want to dine outside, you should specify that when you are checking in.
The tour starts by boarding a mini-coach bus that will drive you out to the homes on their property. Our tour guide for the day had an incredible knowledge of the property and history behind it. You get to stop at each home and tour through it. Please note, these homes are rented out and therefore you may find other people in the home or their stuff. Please be courteous of the environment.
Upon completion of the tour, you are taken back to the “Lodge” where you head upstairs to have your dinner. It is important to note that you could dine here without taking the tour. If you are staying down the street at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort (www.nemacolin.com), you may want to put this on your dinner itinerary.
Upon completion of the dinner, it is back in the car to the Fairfield Marriott.
Sunday, June 30, 2019 is another early start with breakfast and hotel checkout from the Fairfield. From there it is another trip back to Fallingwater for the nature tour. This 90-minute walking tour is a great recap from the inside house tour. I recommend the inside tour first and then using this nature tour to come back to see the property one more time. Once you are back at the Information Center with your hiking boots, you will meet your tour guide. Tom, the tour guide gave a great tour of the property. The tour gets you to the iconic shot of the stream that looks like it is running through the house, but is in fact on the side. The tour takes a 20 minute trip through the woods to see the remnants of other sites that contributed to Falling Water and then you are out a “Paradise Point” which gives you a quick view of the river and you may even hear “industrial commerce” with a train rolling by. The nature walk allows you to be on the property and see the home again, but don’t plan on going inside the home. Once again, before the trip start use the restroom at the information center.
Once your nature walk is complete, you have the car packed and you start the journey home.
Thanks to the team at Fallingwater and Polymath Park for an amazing experience!