Cement City walking tours returning for 2 weekends

By Matt Petras
For the Mon Valley Independent
Brian Charlton lives in Cement City and has taught history and social studies for the Belle Vernon Area School District for decades. He loves history, so much so that he also volunteers with the Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum.
“At the Donora Historical Society, we’re kind of conceptual historians. We want to give you a sense of what life was like back then,” said Charlton, 61. “A lot of us kind of think we know what life was like but it’s been cleaned up.”
The group will start the ninth year of Cement City Tours, which include an in-depth presentation at the museum and looks into two actual Cement City homes owned by residents, next month.
There are four dates for the spring 2019 Cement City tours: Saturday, April 13; Sunday, April 14; Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5. All tours cost $15 per person and begin at 1 p.m. The whole event will last a few hours.
Over the almost decade-long span of these tours, Charlton alongside fellow volunteer and Donora resident Mark Pawelec, 59, have seen them grow considerably. Eventually, the tours became successful enough that they expanded to also conduct tours of Eldora Park, which are also done regularly.

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