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Pennsylvania · Laurel Highlands · #420
Fayette County, Pennsylvania
In the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania, Fayette County holds the most famous house in American architecture - Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater - amid a coal and coke landscape that shaped the Pittsburgh steel industry and now quietly competes for recognition alongside the masterpiece in its midst.
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Office: Fayette County Emergency Management Agency (911) – 24 E Main Street, Uniontown, PA 15401 | (724) 430-1277 | Fax: (724) 430-1281 | Hours: 24/7
Services: Comprehensive planning, prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery program for natural and man-made disasters; maintains the county’s Hazard Mitigation Plan; coordinates the CodeRED-style community notification system
Related: 911 Addressing Division – new addresses require an approved zoning/building permit before assignment; GPS correction requests for third-party mapping apps (Google Maps, Waze, etc.) are handled separately, as the county only maintains GIS data for emergency dispatch purposes.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-40 (the historic National Road) and US-119 serve Uniontown, the county seat, in the Laurel Highlands region of southwestern Pennsylvania
Transit: FACT (Fayette Area Coordinated Transportation) provides local transit service – confirm current routes directly.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: No countywide building department – permits are issued at the MUNICIPAL level
Services: Uniontown City Zoning – 20 North Gallatin Avenue, Uniontown, PA 15401, (724) 430-2925
Notes: Confirm the correct jurisdiction for your specific municipality.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Fayette County Veterans Affairs Office – Uniontown, PA
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Fayette County has multiple independently operated public libraries rather than a single unified county system (15 libraries countywide)
Main Branch: Uniontown Public Library – Uniontown, PA | Hours: Mon 9:30 AM–6 PM, Tue–Fri 9:30 AM–5 PM, Sat 9 AM–4 PM (closed Sun); Pennsylvania Room (local history/genealogy) has limited, reduced hours – call ahead
Services: James F. Gismondi Learning Center & Computer Lab for children
Related: California Area Public Library, Mount Pleasant Free Public Library, Brownsville Free Public Library, Masontown Library, and other community libraries serve the county – confirm the correct branch for your area.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Fayette County is genuinely the site of FORT NECESSITY NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD, preserving the location of the ONLY military surrender of George Washington’s entire career, and the opening engagement of the French and Indian War; in the spring of 1754, 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington led a force of Virginia militia into the contested Ohio River Valley, tasked with confronting French forces refusing to withdraw from territory claimed by the British; after a small, controversial skirmish at nearby Jumonville Glen on May 28, 1754 – in which Washington’s men and Native allies killed 10 French soldiers and captured 21 others in just 15 minutes, an event some historians consider the true opening shot of the war – Washington withdrew to a natural clearing called the Great Meadows and built a small circular stockade he named “Fort Necessity” as a supply depot while awaiting reinforcements; on July 3, 1754, a larger French and Native force led by Louis Coulon de Villiers (the older brother of the officer killed at Jumonville Glen) attacked the fort in pouring rain; after an 8-9 hour battle that left roughly a third of his command dead or wounded, his gunpowder soaked, ammunition exhausted, and escape routes cut off, Washington accepted French surrender terms that night, completing a peaceful withdrawal the following morning, July 4, 1754; in signing the surrender document – written in French, a language Washington did not speak – he unknowingly acknowledged responsibility for the “assassination” of French officer Joseph Coulon de Jumonville, a diplomatic misstep (compounded by a poor translation from interpreter Jacob Van Braam) that inflamed tensions and helped trigger the wider French and Indian War, which in turn escalated into the global Seven Years’ War; despite this early defeat, Washington would later write of his first experience under fire, “I heard the bullets whistle, and believe me, there is something charming in the sound”; today’s reconstructed fort, along with the nearby Mount Washington Tavern (a historic inn along the National Road), the grave of British General Edward Braddock (killed in a separate 1755 campaign), and the Jumonville Glen site are all preserved as part of the National Park Service’s Fort Necessity National Battlefield
Notes: Fort Necessity’s genuine, extensively documented status as the site of Washington’s only surrender – and the spark that helped ignite a war that reshaped the map of North America – is one of the most historically consequential sites in this entire project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Fayette County GIS – accessible via fayettecountypa.org
Parcel Search: Fayette County Assessment Office
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Fayette County Emergency Management Agency (911 Addressing Division)
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Fayette Friends of Animals – Uniontown, PA 15401 | (724) 245-7815 | Email: [email protected] | Hours: Daily 12–5 PM (confirm current schedule)
Services: A no-kill shelter and rescue where animals stay until adopted, providing personalized care; all animals are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped before adoption; adopters must be 21+
Related: Fayette County SPCA – Uniontown, PA, a separate 501(c)(3) charitable organization focused on preventing cruelty to animals, sheltering homeless animals, humane education, and enforcement of PA Animal Protection Laws.
Notes: A search result for “Fayette Regional Humane Society” appears to reference an Ohio-based organization (referencing Ohio-certified humane agents) rather than Fayette County, PA – verify carefully before citing, as this is a likely naming trap.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Environmental Complaints: PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) – dep.pa.gov
Notes: Contact your specific municipality directly for current refuse collection and recycling program details.
NOTES
Fayette County is genuinely home to Fort Necessity National Battlefield, the site of George Washington’s only career military surrender and the opening battle of the French and Indian War. All contact information above was sourced from official county, city, library, and shelter pages as of this writing; phone numbers and hours should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit.
About Fayette County
Fayette County’s claim on American architectural history is singular: Fallingwater, the house Frank Lloyd Wright designed for the Kaufmann family in 1935 over a waterfall in Mill Run, is widely considered the greatest American work of residential architecture and is visited by more than 170,000 people annually. The Bear Run Nature Reserve surrounding it belongs to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. The Kentuck Knob, another Wright house in the county, adds to the architectural heritage. These two works have given Fayette County a cultural tourism identity that its coal and coke history would not have created alone – and the Ohiopyle State Park, one of Pennsylvania’s most popular outdoor destinations with world-class whitewater on the Youghiogheny River, completes a genuine destination tourism cluster in the county’s south.
The rest of Fayette County tells a different story. Uniontown, the county seat, was once one of western Pennsylvania’s more prosperous small cities, enriched by coal and coke production and the National Road (U.S. 40, the nation’s first federally funded highway, which runs through Uniontown). The coke ovens of Connellsville – beehive coke operations that fed Pittsburgh’s steel furnaces – made the county economically central to industrial America for generations. Their closure and the broader deindustrialization of southwestern Pennsylvania left Fayette County with persistent poverty and population decline that the Laurel Highlands tourism economy helps but does not solve. The county has some of the lowest per-capita income figures in Pennsylvania, alongside one of the most extraordinary concentrations of natural and architectural beauty anywhere in the state.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Pennsylvania counties assess at 100% of market value; Fayette County’s last full reassessment was in 2006, creating divergence between assessed and market values in many areas. Property owners may appeal to the Board of Assessment Appeals by August 1. Pennsylvania has no estate tax; Pennsylvania’s inheritance tax: 0% surviving spouses, 4.5% direct descendants, 12% siblings, 15% others. Gifts within one year of death are subject to inheritance tax.
Courts & Legal
Courts & Legal
SENIOR SERVICES
Fayette County Area Agency on Aging
100 New Salem Road, Room 106, Uniontown, PA 15401
Phone: (724) 430-1370
Senior transportation, Meals on Wheels, APPRISE Medicare counseling, caregiver support, home modification, and long-term care options counseling for Fayette County residents.
Senior Services
Fayette County Area Agency on Aging
100 New Salem Road, Room 106, Uniontown, PA 15401
Phone: (724) 430-1370
Senior transportation, Meals on Wheels, APPRISE Medicare counseling, caregiver support, home modification, and long-term care options counseling for Fayette County residents.
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Fayette County Register of Wills, Uniontown (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Fayette County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Register of Wills, Fayette County Fayette County Courthouse, 61 East Main Street, Uniontown, PA 15401 (724) 430-1206 Fayette County is in southwestern Pennsylvania, seated in Uniontown.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Pennsylvania has NOT adopted the Uniform Probate Code. Probate runs through its own statute, the Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries (PEF) Code, Title 20 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes. Probate begins at the Register of Wills – an elected county official – in the county where the decedent lived. Routine, uncontested probate happens entirely at the Register of Wills; only disputes escalate to the Orphans’ Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas.
Small Estate Petition (20 Pa.C.S. § 3102) – available when the estate’s personal property (excluding real estate) totals $50,000 or less. This lets an interested party petition the Orphans’ Court directly for approval of a proposed distribution, skipping the need to formally open a full probate estate. Real property is never covered by this simplified process.
Formal Probate – required for estates exceeding $50,000 in personal property, or for any estate involving real property that needs to pass through probate. The Register of Wills validates the will (if any) and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
Step 2: filing for administration
The personal representative files with the Register of Wills in Fayette County, along with the original will if one exists.
The Register of Wills reviews and, if in order, issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
The personal representative gathers assets, notifies heirs and known creditors, and begins settling the estate.
Pennsylvania has a one-year creditor period running from the date of death, not from any published notice.
A Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax Return (REV-1500) must be filed with the Register of Wills, regardless of estate size.
Once debts, taxes, and expenses are settled, remaining assets are distributed according to the will or Pennsylvania’s intestacy laws, and the estate is closed.
What it costs
Filing fees vary; check with Fayette County directly for current fees.
Pennsylvania has NO separate state estate tax, but its INHERITANCE TAX applies to virtually every estate: 0% to a surviving spouse (and to a parent inheriting from a child 21 or younger), 4.5% to children and other lineal descendants, 12% to siblings, and 15% to everyone else. No dollar exemption.
A 5% early-payment discount applies if paid within 3 months of death; the return and payment are otherwise due within 9 months.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
REGISTER OF WILLS
61 East Main St, Uniontown, PA 15401
(724) 430-1267
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
61 East Main St, Uniontown, PA 15401
(724) 430-1256
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
BOARD OF ELECTIONS
61 East Main St, Uniontown, PA 15401
(724) 430-1289
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Human Services
22 East Main St, Uniontown, PA 15401
(724) 430-1370
Assistance Office (DHS)
100 New Salem Rd, Uniontown, PA 15401
(724) 439-7220
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Fayette County Public Health / PA Department of Health regional office – Uniontown, PA
Services: Immunizations, WIC, environmental health, vital records
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Editorial Trust
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Uniontown
Population: 128,000
Tier: 3
Inmate Services
Care Packages
Send care packages to inmates in Fayette County facilities via Amazon.
