Tiny crowd visits Nemacolin Castle during National Road Festival
BROWNSVILLE – Places along Route 40 were packed Sunday, except at Nemacolin Castle in Brownsville where the excitement of the 34th annual National Road Festival didn’t seem to extend. With cars and tents lined up along a 90-mile stretch of the National Road, only a handful of vehicles were parked in a grass lot across from the castle Sunday afternoon.
A few short years ago, the parking lot would have been full to capacity.
“It’s been slow,” said Nellie Mammarella of Brownsville, who serves as special events coordinator at the historical site. “Everything slowly started to decline when the wagon train stopped coming.”
Mammarella said the wagon train from Uniontown, headed by wagon master Charles “Doc” Sherry of Farmington, used to stop at the castle.
“Everyone used to come and see the wagon train. It really drew a crowd,” she said.
Mammarella said she’s not sure why the wagon train stopped coming to Brownsville, saying she was given multiple reasons: it was too far, insurance was too high and the road between Uniontown and Brownsville too dangerous.
“They came for years, so I don’t know what’s changed,” she said, noting that castle staff offered to help pay for the insurance.
Although Mammarella and other volunteers have tried to keep the festival at the castle going without the wagon train, attendance has declined.
The yard surrounding the castle used to be full of vendors and craft booths. This year, a couple food vendors set up shop for the weekend and High Ryder country band performed, Saturday and Sunday, to a crowd of about 25 people both days.
“It used to be packed. We had a lot of food, crafts, even Civil War reenactors,” she said. “People came to see the wagon train.”
Mammarella said she’s doubtful the annual festivities at Nemacolin Castle that coincide with the National Road Festival will ever be what they used to as long as the wagon train stays away.
“I don’t know that it will ever be what it used to be without the wagon train,” she said. “It really hurt us when the wagon train stopped coming.”
Norma Ryan of Brownsville, who is a member of the Brownsville Area Revitalization Corporation (BARC) and several other civic groups, said everyone in Brownsville misses the wagon train and said she’s hopeful something can be worked out in the near future.
“It’s very disappointing we were left out, and we all just hope and pray that whatever fences need to be mended are mended,” she said, noting it’s just not the same without the wagon train.
Ryan said several other communities between Uniontown and Brownsville who also depended on the wagon train to draw a crowd have been hurt.
Since the wagon train stopped coming to Brownsville, Ryan said the town has scaled back its activities.
The main attraction has become the Frank L. Melega Art Museum, located in the Historic Flatiron Building on Market Street. The museum features the Artist of the Pike to coincide with the National Road Festival.
This year, the museum selected the Artists of Washington Country as a collective group, and Ryan said the exhibit has been popular.
“We began featuring the Artist of the Pike as an addition to our main festivities, but it’s become a main attraction,” she said.
And though Brownsville is no longer a hotspot during the National Road Festival, Nemacolin Castle still receives a fair amount of visitors throughout the year.
Mammarella said a lot of people from out of town come to Brownsville to tour the castle.
Tours are given from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday throughout the summer months. Also popular is the ghost tour, which occurs in October, and the Christmas tour, which takes place November through December.
Tours cost $7 for adults and $4 for children 12 and under.
Ever hopeful, Ryan said she’s confident Brownsville will once again become the place-to-be during the National Road Festival.
“There’s some work to be done, but this town will come back, just watch and see,” she said.