What's that? Buddtown Knob is a mix of interesting sculptures along the Great Allegheny Passage

(Editor’s note ‘What’s That?’ is a recurring feature in the Tribune-Review’s Westmoreland Plus edition. If there’s something you’d like to see explored here, send an email to gtrcity@triblive.com.)

A garden of five metal sculptures greets people who people who hike, bike and run along the Great Allegheny Passage through the village of Buddtown, which lies in West Newton and Rostraver.

With the thousands of people who pass through every year, Paul Pritchard hopes the sculptures situated between the recreational trail and the Youghiogheny River bring them joy.

“If everyone gets some happy, positive energy and a smile from looking at them, then I feel good about the whole thing,” Pritchard said.

The sculpture garden has been a retirement project for Pritchard, who was chief financial officer for a food manufacturer in Tampa, Fla.

Pritchard, a West Newton native, said he was inspired to create Buddtown Knob on his Rostraver property after visiting a house that famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed near Chalk Hill in southern Fayette County. The sculptures at Wright’s Kentuck Knob were added after the original owners, Uniontown dairy company operator I.N. Hagan and his wife, Bernardine, sold the property to Lord Peter Palumbo of London in 1986. The sculptures — close to 30 — were added by Lord Palumbo, a Kentuck Knob spokeswoman said.

“I took a tour of the sculpture garden and thought it was really cool thing to look at and be around. It elicits a happy, positive vibe. So, I decided to put one in here,” Pritchard said.

And trail users are not the only ones who may get a boost of positive energy as they use the trail.

“I get a good vibe every day walking around them with (my) morning coffee,” Pritchard said.

To create his own sculpture garden, Pritchard tapped the skills of artists and companies near and far to assemble his Buddtown Knob.

A Salt Lake City artist, Joy Dutta, made two of the sculptures — “Balanced” and “Levitation” — which are mounted on wood bases. The orange steel pieces look like they could have been made from remnants of the giant U.S. Steel Tower in downtown Pittsburgh.

“Balanced” is made of three pieces of steel, with the middle cut out and moved off center, with the top piece moved to the side as well.

“Levitation” is a tall steel piece cut diagonally to give the illusion that the top is not connected to the bottom.

Westmoreland Steel & Fabrication Inc. of Madison created the sculpture “Calm C’s,” based on a photo Pritchard said he saw online.

Another one, which he named “Friends,” is a bronze sculpture created from pieces he purchased from England. It is two small people that is difficult to see from the trail because of their size, Pritchard said.

A fifth sculpture is an unnamed moving set of round wheels.

While he can admire what he has in his special garden, Pritchard said he has no plans to add to his yard of sculptures.

“Just wildflowers,” he said.