Fallingwater in Pennsylvania had been on my list of places to visit someday for a long time. I kept on putting it off for various reasons though.
In October, a few weeks after my Europe trip, something reminded me of Fallingwater and I decided to try to make the visit there happen this year. I invited my brother, Tim, to join me and we found a Saturday in early November that worked for both of us.
We started researching things to do around there. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere but we actually found there were two other Frank Lloyd Wright homes in that area. We ended up going to one of the other homes, but not both. It was a great trip!
Since our tour was at 8:30 on a Saturday morning and it was a 3-1/2 hour drive from here to there, we decided to drive most of the way there on Friday evening and then stay at a hotel nearby. We stayed in Cumberland, Maryland, which is still about an hour from Fallingwater, but we got to wake up at a much more reasonable time to get there for the tour.
The picture above is the view we got as we walked up to the house from the visitor's center.
There were varying levels of tours to choose from. We chose the one that cost a bit more, but we were allowed to take pictures inside and got an extended tour of the house and had full access to the grounds. Although it cost a bit to take this tour, I think it was worth it. It was really interesting to learn about Frank Lloyd Wright and get the in depth tour.
See that water behind the statue on the right hand of the picture. Well the Kaufmann's (the owners of the house) used that little pool as a polar plunge pool. (It's hard to tell from this picture though.)
Edgar and Liliane Kaufmann were the people who hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design the house. The Kaufmann's mainly only used the house on the weekends and holidays.
The kitchen! Look at those windows!
The main entrance into the house! ( I think).
The main common area was large and was divided into sections but still open to all of the different areas. This part was the office/library.
I loved the big common area! It was an open concept living area before open concept living areas were popular. The house was designed and built in the late 1930's.
This was one of the sitting areas!
Another sitting area. I love all of the windows!
This was the music area! They had a record player with speakers there on the left.
The dining area!
This was the main bedroom. It was large room and had a lovely balcony.
The whole house had a lot of outdoor space. Every room in the house had a door to an outdoor balcony.
This was part of the main bedroom.
The balcony of the main bedroom.
The Kaufmann's loved the outdoors so Wright designed the house around nature and with lots of outdoor living space so that the Kauffman's could enjoy the beauty of the area.
The balcony of the main bedroom was right above the waterfall!
This window was cool because the way it opened up. Because this wall of windows was not load bearing, the windows were able to open up fully as seen in the picture above (although it may be hard to tell from the picture).
I loved this staircase lined with bookshelves!
The Kaufmann's had one son, Edgar Jr. When he stayed at the house, this was his room.
Edgar Jr's room from the inside. There was another part of his room also, but this is where he chose to put his bed. There were no blinds or curtains in his room, so it seems like it he would've had to wake up with the sun. ;)
Although we were allowed to take pictures inside the house, I didn't take a ton of pictures. (A lot of the pictures from inside the house are Tim's pictures.)
Fallingwater has a main house and a guest house. We also got to visit the guest house. I don't have many pictures from inside there, but this is the view from the front of the guest house. (Looking down on the main house.)
Inside the living area of the guest house.
A Frank Lloyd Wright chair in the guest house! Actually one of the only Wright chairs the Kaufmann's had at Fallingwater.
Looking at the door of the bedroom of the guest house to the outside.
This was a pool right next to the guest house (just outside the door of the bedroom in the picture above) that the people staying there could use. Although the water doesn't look so nice now, when the Kaufmann's actually lived there, they made sure the pool was kept clean.
At the end of the tour, we were allowed to wander around outside and on the balconies that were easily accessible. I really liked our tour! I learned a lot about Frank Lloyd Wright and loved seeing his unique architectural design.
Look at that view of the house! Isn't it so cool?!
I am so glad that I finally made it to Fallingwater! It was worth it to go!
I bought postcards at Fallingwater and wanted to get them sent before the post office in town closed for the day. I wrote the postcards in the car and then I needed to find the post office to buy stamps and send them.
Since we had a little bit of time before our tour at Kentuck Knob, we parked at the waterfall while I went in search of the post office and Tim went to the waterfall. I went to the waterfall after I dropped off my postcards at the post office.
I liked the waterfall! I thought it was pretty cool!
Ohiopyle Falls on the Youghiogheny River. (Youghiogheny being pronounced Yock-i-gheny. Who knew -ough could be pronounced as -ock?! 😂)
We made it to our tour of Kentuck Knob. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house.
Frank Lloyd Wright designed the house in the mid-1950s for I.N. and Bernadine Hagan. The Hagan's were friends with the Kaufmann's who owned Fallingwater. They loved the design of Fallingwater and wanted Wright to design a home for them too.
Once Kentuck Knob was completed the Hagan's lived in the house full time for almost thirty years.
The shapes in the windows have meaning but I can't remember what they were. 😂🤷 I thought they were cool looking though!
This is one of the views from the back porch of Kentuck Knob. Isn't it gorgeous?!
Another view from the back porch!
And another view from the back porch!
This was the roof of the back porch. The holes in the roof have coverings, it's not just open to the air.
The back porch!
Another view of the outside of the house!
This was the view from a certain part of the Hagan's property. Isn't it beautiful?!
So pretty!
At the end of the tour, we went back to the front of the house and took pictures there.
Although we were allowed to walk back to the visitor's center after the tour, my leg was hurting (from my injury I got on my Europe trip) so I took the bus back down the hill. Tim walked back to the visitor's center.
I got back to the visitor's center before Tim did so I was just hanging out for a little while.
I got ice cream at the visitor's center while I waited for Tim. I don't remember what flavor I got, but it was tasty!
After we finished at Kentuck Knob, we started driving back to Virginia. We made it back to Viriginia safely!
I am so glad that I was able to visit Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob. It was worth the time and money it took to get there! And it was a really nice day the day we were there!
