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Fayette County, with an area of 800
square miles, is located in Southwestern Pennsylvania along the
state’s southern border and is the second county from the
western boundary. The center of Fayette County is about 45 miles
south and a little east of Pittsburgh. The County’s entire
western boundary is the Monongahela River. This river follows a
generally northward course for this portion of its length, but its
many bends make Fayette County’s western boundary a very
irregular one. For most of this distance, the Monongahela
separates Fayette and Greene Counties, but the northern portion
separates Fayette and Washington Counties.
Fayette’s neighbor to the north
is Westmoreland County, and to the east its neighbor is Somerset
County. Both of these boundaries are rather irregular lines. The
southern boundary of Fayette County, the state line, is the Mason
and Dixon Line running due east and west at parallel 39° 43’ 26”.
For most of this distance, Fayette County borders West Virginia,
but the last few miles to the east are a common boundary with
Maryland.
The eastern part of Fayette County
is mountainous, with Chestnut Ridge rising to heights of nearly
3000 feet. This area, which comprises the greater part of five
townships and two boroughs, is very sparsely populated and is
topographically quite different from the western two-thirds of the
county.
The part of the county to the west
of the mountains consists of rolling hills with a gradual slope
toward the Monongahela River. The great bulk of the county’s
residents live in this area.
There is one natural break through
the mountains in Fayette County, the pass through which the
Youghiogheny River flows from the east. This river arises in
western Maryland and flows generally northwestward through
Somerset, Fayette and Westmoreland counties until it joins the
Monongahela River at McKeesport. The Youghiogheny is not navigable
but its course forms a natural transportation lane through Fayette
County, a lane used by several railroads and bike trails.
The other natural transportation
lane of the county is the Monongahela River Valley, a north-south
lane between Pittsburgh and West Virginia. The Monongahela is
navigable as far south as Fairmont, West Virginia. Railroads and
highways follow its banks, some on the east for Fayette County
side, and some on the west or Greene County side.
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