The Lost Kingdom of Pittsburgh: A True Story of Art and Exile in the Steel City

A century-old mystery links a Pittsburgh heiress, a famed artist, and a Chinese bishop through hidden, decaying structures in the woods.

A Pittsburgh steel heiress, a world-renowned artist, and a Chinese Bishop on the run from communist authorities cross paths due to a set of spellbinding circumstances put in motion more than 100 years ago.

The first clues of their story are discovered when the author’s boyhood travels in the early 1970s lead him to a series of amazing structures hidden in the woods outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Over the years and decades that followed, a series of owners came and went from the property, each increasingly unfriendly. Some were openly hostile. The woods surrounding the property became thicker, and the trees were tagged with a series of signs: “Posted,” “Private Property,” and “No Trespassing.” Stories even spread of a curious visitor being met with the barrel of a shotgun.

Decades later, the author takes a chance return to the woods and finds that the structures are still there but deteriorating badly. Time is running out to learn about this remarkable place and the fascinating group of individuals that created it.

This true story has never been told.