From what I was told,
our family received a land grant for maintaining the Forbes trail on the western face of Laurel Mountain from the summit to the base of it. In 1926 Great grandpap sold 5 acres of mountain to some city folk to build a hunting camp. They contracted one of my great uncles and I believe a few of his brothers and half brothers to build what has always been called "The Stone Camp". Another of my great uncles had a steam driven sawmill not far from here and I was also told they hauled all the material up here on mule trains. The whole place is framed and sheeted with wormy chestnut that came from the great effort to salvage that wood immediately after it had blighted.
Some guys who worked for the former Bureau of Forestry for the state of Pennsylvania told me it's the most isolated dwelling in PA's Southwest division.
our family received a land grant for maintaining the Forbes trail on the western face of Laurel Mountain from the summit to the base of it. In 1926 Great grandpap sold 5 acres of mountain to some city folk to build a hunting camp. They contracted one of my great uncles and I believe a few of his brothers and half brothers to build what has always been called "The Stone Camp". Another of my great uncles had a steam driven sawmill not far from here and I was also told they hauled all the material up here on mule trains. The whole place is framed and sheeted with wormy chestnut that came from the great effort to salvage that wood immediately after it had blighted.
Some guys who worked for the former Bureau of Forestry for the state of Pennsylvania told me it's the most isolated dwelling in PA's Southwest division.
I crawled through a broken window in the early 70's and fell in love with the place and arranged to move in.
36 years later with a lot of work and a lot of help from friends it has become the answer to a challenge, that being, "true self sufficiency is an unattainable Utopian dream". It even succeeded the challenge in the sense that it was done in the harshest setting with little resource.
It's estimated that close to 4,000 people have visited The Stone Camp, yet to this date it has never been advertised or solicited. Among them were groups of students and teachers from 11 colleges and universities, a number of yearly scheduled field trips for both youth and adult organizations, and also over the years we have hosted groups of kids from 5 different adjudicated youth organizations. The remainder were friends, and friends of friends who quickly became friends and in turn brought their friends, like a Facebook page that both is and is not.
It's estimated that close to 4,000 people have visited The Stone Camp, yet to this date it has never been advertised or solicited. Among them were groups of students and teachers from 11 colleges and universities, a number of yearly scheduled field trips for both youth and adult organizations, and also over the years we have hosted groups of kids from 5 different adjudicated youth organizations. The remainder were friends, and friends of friends who quickly became friends and in turn brought their friends, like a Facebook page that both is and is not.
