These tours celebrate the big names and everyday people who’ve shaped the Pittsburgh region into the place it is today.
Local Legends
A Beautiful Day in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
Tour Length: 3 Days / 2 Nights, Customizable | Seasons Available: Anytime
Activity Level: Light Impact
Let’s make the most of this beautiful day! Fred Rogers lived and filmed Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in Pittsburgh, and he will forever be the city’s most famous neighbor. This tour celebrates the loving kindness that he shared with his television audience, with visits to the largest collection of original set items from the show on public view, and includes a ride on two trolleys—the best way to travel to the Neighborhood of Make Believe. We’ll also visit Mister Rogers’ hometown in nearby Latrobe, PA, and some of the places that were special to him.
Mister Rogers Neighborhood display at the Heinz History Center.
Pretty as a Picture—An Artistic Exploration of Warhol’s Hometown
Tour Length: 3 days / 2 nights suggested, Customizable | Seasons Available: Anytime
Activity Level: Light Impact
A trip to Pittsburgh is a thing of beauty, with natural landscapes, slice-of-life scenes, and scores of museums, galleries, and studios, including The Andy Warhol Museum—the largest collection of Warhol art in the world! Pop art pilgrims can explore Warhol’s roots and pay respects at his grave. Other highlights: Carnegie Museum of Art, The Frick Art Museum, Randyland, The Mattress Factory, and more. The city’s 14-block Cultural District will be home base with endless performance possibilities!
The Warhol Museum, image by Abby Warhola.
It’s a Wonderful Life in Indiana, PA
Tour Length: 2 days / 1 night suggested, Customizable | Seasons Available: Anytime, with special options in November & December
Activity Level: Light Impact
A visit to Hollywood actor Jimmy Stewart’s hometown in Indiana, PA, reveals where he developed the all-American values that were ingrained in his 80-film career. This tour includes a tour of Vinegar Hill where Jimmy was born, the church where his family worshipped, and a fascinating museum dedicated to preserving his life. Dinner includes a visit from a Jimmy Stewart performer who will perform some of his most beloved scenes. And because Indiana is also the Christmas Tree Capitol of the World, groups can tour a local tree farm with a ride through the fields to learn about growing and harvesting pine trees, with a visit to a holiday gift shop. In late November and December, groups can plan to attend the annual It’s a Wonderful Life Festival, and can even participate in the parade down the town’s charming Main Street!
The Jimmy Stewart Museum
Babushkas & Hard Hats: The Steel Town Tour
Tour Length: 1/2 Day to 3 days/2 night, Customizable | Seasons Available: Spring, Summer, Fall
Activity Level: Light Impact
This tour gets to the heart of the steel town story, getting to know the people, places and historic events that once made Pittsburgh the epicenter of steel production. Immigrants and migrants were drawn to the region as industry rose, bringing a rich collection of cultures and traditions with them as they forged new lives. Visits to the Carrie Blast Furnaces, The Bost Building, Pump House, The Frick Pittsburgh, The Murals of Maxo Vanka, and the Nationality Rooms root this tour in the Pittsburgh experience, and a special immigrant-inspired lunch elicits the smells and flavors of Grandma’s kitchen. This tour can expand into the region at large to explore the experience of coal miners’ families in patch towns, and also visit industrialist Henry Clay Frick’s birth place and Gilded Age mansion to learn about “the coke king’s” roots and riches. The themes of American innovation and multiculturalism present touch points that are relatable to travelers from across the country and around the world.
Babushkas & Hard Hats. Images courtesy of the Rivers of Steel Archives.
Words of Truth: Black Pittsburgh’s History & Culture
Tour Length: 3 days/2 nights suggested, Customizable | Seasons Available: Anytime
Activity Level: Light Impact
Black history and culture are foundational to Pittsburgh’s character, and this tour reflects on the people who have given a voice to the struggles, triumphs, and contributions that have shaped the Black experience in the region. Abolitionist Martin Delaney founded the first African American newspaper west of the Allegheny Mountains at a time when Pittsburgh was a key hub of the Underground Railroad. In the early 1900s as jobs in the city’s steel industry drew Black families during the Great Migration, The Pittsburgh Courier newspaper was founded and would soon become the nation’s largest circulating and most influential Black newspaper. Playwright August Wilson was born and raised in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, a vibrant Little Harlem where Black businesses, culture, athletics and jazz flourished. Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Pittsburgh Cycle, a series of ten plays depicting Black life in each decade of the 20th century, was mostly set in The Hill. And today, at a time when Pittsburgh often wins accolades declaring it a “Most Livable City,” contemporary writers like Damon Young (Very Smart Brothas / What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker), and historian Dr. Keisha N. Blain (Set the World on Fire / Four Hundred Souls) speak to the vast differences in the way that Black and white residents experience life in the city. Highlights of this tour include The LeMoyne House, The Hill District, The Roberto Clemente Museum, and more. Time your travel to coincide with Barrel & Flow, the country’s first Black brewing and arts festival; the Western Pennsylvania Juneteenth Celebration & Black Music Festival; or the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival.
Press Operators Adjust Feed Paper On Rollers in the Home Offices of the Pittsburgh Courier. Photo by Otis Finley, Jr. of the National Urban League, courtesy of Historic Pittsburgh.