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LAUREL MOUNTAIN PARK HISTORY #1
By LMBoroLMPark(2,097)
| When brothers-in-law Lawrence William (Bill) Darr and Charles B. Hegan purchased Ligonier Township acreage at the bottom of Laurel Mountain in 1926 some people asked “Why are you building houses there? No one will ever want to live in rock pile!” Eighty-one years later just over one hundred cottages exist, most of which have been remodeled and added to repeatedly. Over 60% have evolved from summer retreats to full-time residences. Phil Rose, Jim Foster and Daneen Kinsey are among the residents whose history goes back to the beginning of the park. Other residents are descendents of original cottage owners. Still others are people who simply fell in love with the quaint atmosphere and friendliness of the residents and decide Laurel Mountain Borough is the place they want to make their home. A stroll through the borough shows distinct stylized differences among the homes. “You don’t need a street address to find a residence,” Monte Holland said, noting that each house is so unique all you need is a description to find it. These variations symbolize the evolution of this small community from a simple summer cottage community to a borough where over 75% of the homes are occupied year-round. Some have manicured lawns, landscaped lots and paved driveways, while others are rustic, exhibiting seasonal wildflowers scattered profusely among Mountain Laurel bushes, hemlock pines and the rocky landscape typical of mountain hillsides. Through the years residents came here for a variety of reasons. “In 1920 our parents built a summer home in Rector,” James Foster related. “My aunt and uncle visited them, and liked it out here. This place was starting, and in 1926 a cousin on my mother’s side bought the third of the first five houses built.” Foster’s family had a summer home in the Park between 1930-1941, at which time they began living here full time. Foster’s ongoing association with the Park has a seventy-seven year history that has involved two homes. Former cottage-owner Pete Allshouse’s parent’s rented one of the original cottages for a year, then in the late 1920s built the eighth cottage in the Park on the corner of Waterford (State) and Walnut Roads. Stephen Harwig’s mother had heard about Laurel Mountain Park from Holyoke College classmates who lived in Laughlintown. The swimming pool was one attraction that convinced them to build a cottage in 1930. The family has since used the cottage as a summer retreat. Harwig only recently sold the family cottage. Daneen Kinsey has been exposed to the Park environment since her 1937 birth. Her initial summer visits to her grandmother’s Walnut Road home, grew into full-time residency when she purchased her late grandmother’s home in 1961. She’s lived here full-time ever since. “My dad bought this cottage,” Tom Butler, a former resident said. “We were Pittsburghers. My mother wanted a place in the mountains. I think it was in 1947 or therein.” Glenwood and his wife, the late Dorothy Scott, were house-hunting when they visited friends in Laurel Mountain Park. While here, they saw a cottage they liked. Unfortunately it was already purchased by the late Rev. Dr. Dixon Rollit. He was, however, was selling another Park house. The Scott family had bought Rollit’s home in the early 70s. The slightly edited material above is part of an article, Laurel Mountain Park: Residents Remember, Part I, published in Westmoreland History, a magazine published by the Westmoreland County (Pennsylvania) Historical society in their summer 2001 issue. The article, used by permission, was written by Carolyn C. Holland. The remainder of the article will be published in parts in the future. | |
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Posted to ProBlogs.com on Monday, January 01, 2007
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