Pittsburgh, July 30th 1819
My dear father
I left Philadelphia on Sunday morning last at 7 o'clock in the mail stage.
The moring was raining but it soon cleared up & a fine day for travelling succeeded. We arrived at a small
village called Downings-Town where we dined, arriving at Lancaster about
8 o'clock in the evening, only staying long enough to change horses. This
place is 62 miles from Philadelphia containing about 8000 inhabitants.
We then drove 18 miles to Elizabeth-Town, quite a small Village, which place we reached
12 o'clock at night, found a surly landlord, eat our supper, went to
bed at one o'clock, rose again at 3 and set off for Harrishburgh, where we
breakfasted which is 18 miles farther. Harrisburgh is the seat of government
of Pennsyvania. It is about as large as Po'keepsie. Carlisle, the
next place we saw, distance 18 miles, is a very pretty Village, say
2500 Inhabitants. There is
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Somerset in the evening, distance 38 miles, the County town of Somerset
Co. 29th Left Somerset for Greenburgh. In the way we passed
the villages Lackland, Legonier & Youngs, the distance is 42 miles.
Pittsburgh the next place is 32 miles where we arrived to dine on Fryday the 30th
A Quaker gentleman has been my companion from New York to this place