friendship hill national historic site

Beautiful park, with great walking and hiking trails. Paths go around the park edges and there are many cut through trails to take for shorter hikes. The house and grounds are beautiful, but the interior is limitedly furnished,

My son and I walk/hike there often. It's well maintained and has the beautiful home of Albert Gallatin on the grounds. Breathtaking fall foliage in sept/oct.

We visited this park (June 30, 2014) on our way to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. Our family, 2 adults and 3 children, plus dog walked the trail and enjoyed the scenery. This was a very nice stop and adventure as the area was very clean and the trails were marked well and easy to walk (I have MS and the trail was comfortable for me). Our dog, Luie, stayed on the trail and our children (ages 12, 15 and 17) enjoyed the hike and the view from the bluff overlooking the Monongahela River.

We attended the special event on July 26, 2014 with Thomas Jefferson and Albert Gallatin and also, got to see Captain Lewis--loved the presentations and being able to "talk" to the gentleman in the period time. The park rangers and volunteers did an excellent job setting this up. We attended the morning talk on the Louisiana Purchase. We just wish that more people would take advantage of such events; there was a fairly good attendance, but certainly more folks could have attended--they don't know what they missed. Can't wait for the next one----loved this event! Would highly recommend it to all ages.

We went to Fort Necessity and had no idea what Friendship Hill was but it was only about 20 miles away and we like historical sites so we went. I'm so glad we did. It is the home of Albert Gallatin who was Secretary of Treasury for both Presidents Jefferson and Madison, he helped draft the PA constitution prior to that and helped work on the Treaty of Ghent to end the War of 1812. This home is beautiful and well kept. For me, it gave me a feeling of what it was like to live in the late 1700s to early 1800s. The grounds are quite peaceful. There is little furniture in the house but the rooms are open and airy. Plus, the self guide your is free! The rangers were very knowledgable and personable. Strongly recommend taking this step back in history if you are in the area!

This is a great historical site! It is way out in the Pennsylvania country, but if you like history or visiting the National Parks, this is worth it. It is the home of Albert Gallatin, who is one of our founding fathers, but is forgotten probably because he was not born in the Colonies, he was very important in many ways, he helped end the War of 1812, was Vice President under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and helped with the Lewis & Clark Expedition and National Road, from the parking lot, you take a trail up to the house with a statue of him, once you get to the house, you walk through the house, there is not many furnishing but it is still neat, past the house is a old gazebo overlooking the Monongahela River, and there are 10 miles of trails, I took a short one up to Sophia Gallatin's grave. This is a great place to visit and it is free.

The house itself and the grounds are very nice and appear to be well-kept. However, once at the house itself, while the interior is in good condition it's seriously lacking more information to denote the significance of the site. The volunteers/staff/rangers didn't appear too engaged, but maybe it's because the site doesn't get a lot of visitors. There's a video that can be seen and a small gift shop/ranger booth in the lobby, but the upper levels are closed off and there's next to nothing in the rooms that are open. Ok for a brief stop, but only if you're passing through the area. Parking is at the bottom of the hill, so be advised you have to work up the path (handicap accessible) to the house. Restrooms and picnic area are located at the bottom of the hill as well in the parking lot area.

I drove from Western Indiana to Southwestern Pennsylvania over the weekend to meet my sister and visit a few National Park sites in the area. I collect the passport stamps from the National park sites I visit to commemorate my visit so I research what is available before I come. We arrived at the Friendship Hill site about 9:10 on a Sunday morning. The site was closed up. The information we had researched told us the site opened at 9 am. Since we had driven all that way, we decided to walk the grounds, dodging the infestation of gypsy moths along the way. We followed the trail to the unmarked grave of Sophia Gallatin and then returned to the house. By now the house was open and the ranger was in the middle of a history lesson on the life of Albert Gallatin and the house. I guess they open whenever they get there. The house was sparsely furnished with period furnature and the tours were self-guided. After our tour, we stamped the passport stamp available and then asked about another stamp that had recently become available but was not out. The Ranger snapped back that they did not have the stamp and all the extra stamps were sent back. Someone else had just stamped the new one two days earlier so I knew that was not true but I did not argue. I left very angry and disappointed as I had travelled over 500 miles to see this site and collect the stamps and then I was treated like that. I vowed I would not return to the site. It's too bad because the ranger was very well versed on the history and was extremely knowledgable but her people skills need some work.

Very interesting to learn about Albert Gallatin, one of our Founding Fathers who most people have never heard of. The house is absolutely beautiful, and I think that there isn't much traffic through it (which is a shame). The Ranger gave us a great history of the building and the man and then let us wander around through the house. A great place to visit and would love to do some hiking around the park if the weather was nicer.

My wife was able to earn another junior ranger badge and we both learned about Mr. Albert Gallatin and his importance to the nation. It was nice to hear stories with a Western Pennsylvania slant and explore Mr. Gallatin's home. The friendly folks in the home explained everything well which helped in our exploration.

Would not have know of this had it not been for the National Park Passport. This should be built up more, and promoted more. The on duty ranger was excellent at telling the story. There could be alot more done with this site to attract more visitors. It is a beautiful setting.

Stopped here the other weekend for the Festifall event that is held every September. It is the home of the first U.S Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. Very nice to hike around and the festifall is very fun and a free event to attend. You can tour the house, learn about Albert Gallatin's life{ we need him as US Treasurer now to get our country out of this government shutdown and lack of budget!!}, and see people dressed in era clothing talking about life then . There is also a picnic area and nice gift shop. Nice to see in fall with changing leaves and for the change of seasons as well. Also free to tour and peaceful place .

None of us had known much about Albert Gallatin, so this was highly informative for us. The ranger had us watch a short video before touring the house on our own. My son enjoyed the Jr. Ranger activity. If in the area, this is definitely worth the time for a detour. We didn't have time to tour the grounds, so can't comment on the walks available.

I tour historical parks regularly. This site could easily be made in to something very interesting. It may be a funding shortage, but I felt that this facility was set up for guided tours and then hastily converted into something you could tour yourself. There were lots of signs, many out of sequence, that were clearly printed on plain white paper and glued onto cardboard, covering the walls. I felt sort of lost. The grounds were lovely, however. If you're a big fan of Albert Gallatin I suppose the trip would be worth it.

I enjoy walking at Friendship Hill you can walk at your on pace and the land is keep up with. Love watchuing the deer in the evening, relaxing place to visit