PHOTO BY HUCK BEARD

In Pittsburgh, we have plenty to remind us of famous names like Carnegie, Frick and Mellon. We have historic sites like Clayton; we have institutions like the Carnegie Museums. Less common, though, are monuments to the hundreds of thousands of workers who made those industrialists rich — often at tremendous personal cost for little reward.

Fortunately, one site stands as a stirring and somber tribute to the city’s workers — and it towers over the surrounding landscape.

The Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark, stretching across the border between Swissvale and Rankin, is what remains of the U.S. Steel Homestead Steel Works, centered around Carrie Furnaces No. 6 and No. 7 — two towering blast furnaces, standing like metal mountains against the sky.

Those massive structures are the most visible, dramatic and photogenic elements of the site. Much more, however, still remains. On one of the rambling tours offered by Rivers of Steel, the nonprofit that maintains and hosts events at the site (and other industrial and cultural spots in the region), you’ll cover plenty of ground and walk in the footsteps of the workers who once toiled there every day — often under unfathomable conditions that you’ll learn about in striking detail.

You’ll also find a great deal of art. Rivers of Steel has transformed this site into a center of art-making as well as history, owing in part to the natural development of the site; in the years after it was decommissioned, it became a favorite spot for underground parties, graffiti and even large-scale installation art. (Wait until you hear about the deer head.) In the dramatic Iron Garden, you’ll find jarring works of metal sculpture — treasures you can’t believe are nestled in a quiet patch of an old steel-mill site.

The most affecting artifacts, however, are quieter and smaller: remaining lockers in old buildings, bits of coke and slag left under massive structures, the wear on handholds and levers. In those details, you can feel the lives lived here as clearly as if the workers were standing beside you.

Insider’s Tip

In recent years, the blast furnaces have provided an unlikely — but decidedly dramatic — background for the works of William Shakespeare. Quantum Theatre presented “King Lear” in 2019 and “Hamlet” in 2023, using the industrial shadows to reinterpret the classic works. Mark your calendars: They’ll be back, with “The Tempest,” next summer.

While You’re Here

Don’t miss the small but mighty gift shop, to the left of the check-in desk. You’ll find books, iron trinkets — look for the aptly named piece of “pig iron” — and a series of fantastic T-shirts and magnets made using vintage safety posters.