[PRCo] Re: Redd's Beach and Westside Transit

[Jerry "Matt" Matsick]

Rich - in the l950s as a teenager from Donora many of us, plus each valley  High School layed claim to certain grass areas at Redd's Beach, it was the in place to go along with Mineral Beach just north of Monongahela on Rt 88 
Jerry Matsick 

Jacksonville 



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rich Rockwell" <rrockwell at comcast.net> 
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org 
Sent: Friday, January 1, 2010 5:32:19 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: [PRCo] Redd's Beach and Westside Transit 

Does anybody on this list know anything about the history of Redd's Beach 
(now Pine Cove Swim Club) on Rt 481 (Charleroi area) near exit 35 on I-70? 
  

I was contacted by Judy Florian who is compiling information about the 
history of Washington County 
[http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~florian/ 

] and is looking for information about the owner prior to Redd. 

  

She contacted me because of the reminiscence of Tom Phillips I have on my 
web site [http://eldorapark.com/Charleroi_Memories_PTM_%204-20-02.htm] in 
which Tom said (in reference to the Berryman Building in Charleroi that 
housed Montgomery Wards from the 30's to the 60's) "John Berryman, the 
owner, was not only one of the principal stockholders of Westside Transit 
and Webster, Monessen, Belle Vernon, and Fayette City Railway Company but 
also the builder of Berryman's Beach, a traffic generator, located on the 
trolley line about 3 miles southwest of Charleroi. The park was sold after 
Mr. Berryman's death in the mid-1930's and renamed Redd's Beach. Again 
changing hands and now named Pine Cove Beach Club." 

  

Florian's research on Redd's Beach has a Sam Nelson building the pool called 
Nelson's Bathing Beach...later just Nelson's Beach. Â He sold to Sam Redd 
about 1935, and she finds no mention of Berryman owning the site. Â Articles 
from the pool's opening in 1927 point out easy access by auto, street car, 
or omnibus. 

  

If anybody has any information about this, let me know, and I'll pass it on 
to her. 

  

Rich Rockwell 

 Â