Hartwood Acres Park

Recently, I attended a Macy Gray concert at Hartwood Acres Park as a part of Allegheny County's free Summer Music series. I really enjoyed the layout of the park and the open spaces. I have heard and enjoyed sveral of Ms. Gray's songs, but never imagined that I would really enjoy her music for more than an hour. Ms. Gray and her band were outstanding and she built quite a repoire with the audience.

One of my major concerns was that quite a number of concert attendees had their dogs off-leash during the concert. I realize that the park has an off-leash section, but I didn't think that it was where the concert venue was. Hmmmm! SMH! There could have definitely been more watchful eyes on that policy.

Additionally, the lighting situation getting in/out of the park at night should definitely be enhanced. I realize that park maintenance costs can be ridiculous, but I also imagine that lawsuit costs would be even more if someone were harmed or injured. I watched several people take tumbles trying to walk to their cars and I just missed stepping in a pile of horse poo. (Someone had their horses at the concert... Nice for the kids, but shouldn't you clean up behind your animals? Just sayin...)

All in all, an extremely memorable experience with a "super" moon and wonderful weather to boot!

This was an Allegheny County Event , the 2023 Wine & Spirits Festival. They had several vendors and food trucks. Some people brought their own seats, but, they did have a large tent with seating available. There were two sessions, and live music. If you are considering doing this next year, I highly recommend going. I am looking forward to going again. And I do enjoy a lot of the events the Allegheny County puts on. Check out their website and see if there's something for you!

Great walking paths (paved and trails).
Summer concerts are fun
Dog park is large but can get muddy

This place is very nice. I hear the dog park is great too but I've never been able to find it. We've done the bubble run a few times and that's great here! Music on the lawn is great with some vendors and food trucks for some events. I miss the Hartwood Acres Christmas lights.

We have been going to Hartwood Acres on a regular basis for almost 30 years. My husband and I walk there weekly and know it like the back of my hand. It's natural beauty is amazing and you always feel safe. The only change that has happened recently which I dislike immensely is the new "sculpture garden". That is such a nice and clever way to refer to these huge hunks of metal that look rusted and do not belong amongst the beautiful, historic mansion and gardens. It's quite frankly an eyesore. I don't know who thought this was a good idea but everyone I know who walks at Hartwood has said the same thing. These horrible rusty steel monstrosities need to go. Otherwise Hartwood is a wonderful serine place to walk and enjoy nature.

Loved this park! Lots of trails both paved and through the woods. The park was full of people enjoying the warm day. Plenty of ports potties throughout the park. We also loved the dog park with the little stream going through! I didn't take any pictures of the park because we were too busy enjoying it!

Our group of four 20-something's visited GLOW Pittsburgh tonight and we left very happy with our experience!

The parking attendants made it easy to navigate to our parking spot, close to the front gate, and every person greeted us as we passed them and told us to enjoy the experience.

There were a bunch of clean port-a-potties right past the front entrance with hand washing stations, which was useful.

Unfortunately to get to the experience you have to go through these tents with picture props while they try to convince you to take a professional picture (that'll you'll pay for later) but we politely declined and they didn't push too much.

The walk through the experience was completely flat and very easy to do as they had laid down a thick (almost like burlap?) covering on the walkways so mud or slipping on grass was not an issue.

There were not a ton of people that you had to fight off to taken pictures; they planned that out very well and we were really happy that we could take our time and enjoy the beautiful artwork on the pumpkins.

At the end, you have to walk through a pumpkin patch to leave. I of course thought this was a huge money grab, until I noticed there were 2 sizes at a flat rate: small pumpkins were only $3 and the large pumpkins were only $5! And they were all perfect looking pumpkins! That is VERY reasonable considering a lot of kids were convincing their parents to buy at least one small one, so they really could charge double that and get away with it.

At the end of the pumpkin patch is also where you review and purchase your souvenir picture, though since we didn't get one taken I am not sure how much those were.

Unfortunately, there aren't any concessions or other add-ons to the experience except for the small pumpkin patch, pictures, & a small merch tent that sells glowing/light-up items (headbands, necklaces, etc) and T-shirt's, again, pretty reasonable pricing.

I do wish they at least had some hot chocolate or apple cider, kettle korn, or other snack items but it was actually a relief to not end up spending a ton of extra cash - we only paid for the tickets and walked out very happy!

I would 100% recommend GLOW Pittsburgh for people of all ages. I actually think this would be more appreciated by young adults / adults, because children may tend to want to rush through it, but we really enjoyed ourselves. I would definitely be back again next year, where they'd hopefully switch it up a bit!

This review is for my experience at the Holiday Musical Dessert Tea & Tour at Hartwood Acres.
We started our experience by checking out the gift shop which is located in the cottage section of the home. I was really surprised by how reasonably priced everything was, the jewelry was on average $10-$20. After shopping for a bit we were seated at our table in the beautiful former livingroom area and the musical performance began. Our event featured A Man and Two Women that played a variety of Christmas, Hanukkah, Broadway, and by far my favorite song... the Yinzer version of Santa is Coming to Town. The performance featured the piano which was original to the home and all three performers singing. Their performance lasted 45-50 minutes and then the tables were served tea by Hartwood volunteers, Sharon was our volunteer and she was so passionate. I found out that she used to work at Hartwood and retired but the day after she retired she called the office and asked it she can come back and volunteer. She made our experience what is was and it was nothing short of fantastic.
Okay back to our experience... the tables were called up in order, we were luckily at table number one so we went up and got to pick desserts from a buffet. They had everything from mini cheesecakes to baklava in the shape of a birds nest and everything in between. We enjoyed our desserts and tea that Sharon continued to serve our table and after we were finished our tour of the home began.
Sharon gave us a very thorough history of the home, the family, and information of the animals that lived on the property. The tour went through the majority of the home which was decorated beautifully for the holidays. I wish photography was allowed because the county does an outstanding job of decorating the home.
I really enjoyed the entire experience, we arrived at 10:45 and left at 3:00. My only critique is that I wish they would have served tea or small bites while the performance was going on since it was almost an hour. Otherwise I have nothing but positive things to say about this experience, my family and I already picked our future events to attend.

I finally after 53 years made it to the Park and nicer than I thought it would be. Lots of parking and trails to walk on plus lots of bathrooms too. It's out in the country with businesses a few miles away. It's nice because it's only 10 minutes from Route 8 that takes you everywhere you need to go. The park is clean and well kept with tons of joggers and dog walkers. I saw a few police cars driving through so I would think safety isn't an issue. It's worth stopping and it's free

We have been walking here for years. There are paved and non paved paths throughout the area. There is a large hill to walk up to the mansion for some good cardio. There is a dog park near the amphitheatre. Mountain bike paths through the woods. Outdoor concerts in the summer months. Overall a nice place to spend outdoors.

A marvelous venue for a bridal shower or party. Beautifully restored mansion in scenic setting. There are tours, which are especially nice when the mansion is decorated for the holidays. If you serve alcohol at your event you need a $50 park permit. Admission for tours is about $6 for adults, but there are group rates. The mansion also hosts Tea Parties for $30 a person.

The Friends of Hartwood is a Board which oversees fundraising for the Mansion, and their yearly event is worth attending.