Loving life along the Mon River
Lifelong Rices Landing man recalls town’s heydey
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in a series of articles about the people who live in our community in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.
Chris Bertugli is a walking miracle.
“They didn’t ever expect me to walk again,” said Bertugli.
Eight years ago, Bertugli was en route to work on his motorcycle when he was struck by a vehicle. He spent six months in the hospital before continuing his recovery at home along the Monongahela River in Rices Landing.
He no longer rides motorcycles, but, despite a left arm that has never been the same, Bertugli maintains his riverfront property, taking pride in the pristine lot he calls home.
“I garden. I mow grass as much as I can. We’re homebodies,” he said.
For Bertugli, “home” has always been Rices Landing. His grandparents lived up the hill from where he lives now and owned a bar-restaurant in the heart of town, back when Rices Landing was a bustling riverfront town that boasted a population of more than 2,500.
“This was a boomtown,” Bertugli recalled, eyes wide. “The Foundry was open. There used to be a lot of businesses and a lot of people.”
His parents raised him in that energetic big-small town. As a child, Bertugli would pedal his bicycle to the W.H. Foundry to pump the tires full of air. Now, he lives just a couple doors down from the metal casting factory, which shuttered its doors in 1965, with his wife, Margie, an artist who hails from Washington County.
The couple met in Pittsburgh where Bertugli, a 1978 Jefferson-Morgan High School graduate, was working as a photographer. After graduating from J-M, he earned a degree from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and shot photos for a company that did sports plaques, and work for St. Jude.
“She worked in the lab,” developing film, and caught Bertugli’s eye, he said.
The couple was married Sept. 10, 1994, the first couple to tie the knot inside the Rices Landing gazebo, right along the Monongahela River.
When Margie isn’t creating her county fair award-winning mosaics, and Bertugli isn’t pruning the apple tree that grows at the corner of his lot, or planting “a little of everything” in his garden, the couple admires that spectacular view of the Mon from the comfort of their riverfront home porch.
Bertugli is a second-generation volunteer firefighter with the Rices Landing department.
“We don’t have a very big fire department, but we get it done,” he said.
He also volunteers with the borough, and is responsible for opening and closing the park gates daily.
“They just put in a new playground,” he said. “We have the bike trail.”
These attractions and others, like the Rices Landing Coffee Company, are hidden gems tucked away in the corner of a rural county. Bertugli is hopeful that the annual Rices Landing RiverFest, slated for June 20, will bring people to the town – and once they’ve visited, he hopes they’ll return to enjoy the scenic trail and all the quiet, outdoorsy entertainment the community has to offer.
“I’ve lived here most of my life,” he said, eyes resting on the river. “The town is awesome. We like our spot. It’s quiet. Sometimes all you can hear is the mosquitoes.”