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A
ROYAL AFFAIR
There
is much praise for Mary Schenley in Pittsburgh for her generous
donations of land and the Western Pennsylvania School for the Blind.
Although Schenley was revered in Pittsburgh, she was ousted by British
society for a number of years after her elopement with one of the
Queens dignitaries.
When
Mary Croghan was fifteen, she secretly eloped with a British Army
officer nearly three times her age. Her father became aware of the
marriage and he petitioned the government to use the Coast Guard
to stop her from fleeing to England with Captain Edward Schenley.
The federal gunboats were too late, and the couple lived in England
for the rest of her life. Although William Croghan eventually forgave
his daughter, Queen Victoria was not that generous. For years the
Empress of the British Empire forbid Mary Schenley from court because
she had been a disobedient daughter.
 www.clpgh.org
www.pittsburghparks.org
trfn.clpgh.org/pvgpa
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Oakland
is more than just a Pittsburgh neighborhood. It's a second center
for the city. In this program WQED's award-winning producer Rick
Sebak ("South Side," "Kennywood Memories," "Pennsylvania
Diners," etc.) celebrates some of the unusual people, places
and things that make Oakland unforgettable.
It
all started when Mary Schenley donated land for a beautiful wooded
park. Soon Andrew Carnegie built a great library and several museums
nearby. There was a grand hotel, a spectacular greenhouse, and a
beloved old ballpark called Forbes Field. Before long, students
were coming from around the globe. The University of Pittsburgh
built a great tall building known as the Cathedral of Learning,
and Carnegie Tech merged with Mellon Institute to form CMU.
We
marvel at the Bug Rooms, the murals and the Music Hall at the Carnegie
Museums. We race through Schenley Park with the Vintage Grand Prix,
stop in at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, and several of the shops along
Craig Street. We also visit the Shrine to the Blessed Virgin that's
perched on the hillside above the Parkway. This entertaining documentary
is full of surprises, history, and reasons why it's always great
to come here. The program is called Something About Oakland because
it would be impossible to include everything about this amazing
neighborhood.
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