Post by L Roebuck on Jun 12, 2006 12:52:36 GMT -5
Steeped in legends, Penns Cave flows with American entrepreneurial spirit
By Rich Kerstetter
rkerstet@centredaily.com
Penns Cave -- or, as some insist, Penn's Cave -- is associated more with mystery than history. It is where young pioneer Malachi Boyer is said to have received his punishment for the capital crime of wooing the American Indian princess Nita-nee.
Fiction, of course, but it is among the delightful stories included in former state historian and taleteller Henry W. Shoemaker's 1916 work "Penn's Grandest Cavern: The History, Legends and Description of Penn's Cave in Centre County, Pennsylvania."
The Gregg Township land on which John Penn's Creek carved out the famous limestone cavern was, in 1773, granted to James Poh, whom genealogists link to another writer of note, Edgar Allan Poe.
By 1855, Samuel Vantries owned the property and rented the farm to Jacob Harshbarger. As Jeanne Schleiden wrote in the fall 1975 issue of Centre County Heritage, Harshbarger had his own Penns Cave story.
The first European to enter the cave, according to Harshbarger's version, was James Martin, a native of Ireland, an honor graduate of Trinity College in Dublin, and pastor of one of the earliest Presbyterian congregations in Penns Valley.
"The old gentleman, it is said, caught a cold in the cave from which he never fully recovered," Schleiden, echoing Shoemaker, wrote. Martin died in 1795.
Seneca Indians, according to the cave's promotional material, discovered the natural wonder from which Karoondinha (called the Big Mahany on early maps and later John Penn's Creek) flowed. Arrowheads, pottery and beads have been found inside.
Among the first to recognize the all-water-cavern's commercial potential were Jesse and Samuel Long, who inherited the property from their father who, according to Shoemaker and repeated by Schleiden, "was a man of serious nature and objected strongly to pleasure-seekers entering the cave."
Not so his sons.
"These two men had traveled extensively and realized the financial possibilities of the cave," Schleiden wrote.
According to Shoemaker, "They built a larger boat and began charging admission to the cave."
They also built, in 1885, what was to become known as the Penn's Cave Hotel.
"For a time they prospered, and hundreds of people visited their unique resort annually," Shoemaker wrote. What Shoemaker euphemistically called "financial embarrassments," however, ultimately forced the Longs to abandon the hotel.
Eventually the Campbell brothers -- Pennsylvania State College graduates H.C. and R.P., described by Shoemaker as "young men of education and foresight" -- purchased and "improved the property extensively, making it one of the most unique resorts in Central Pennsylvania."
As hotel and cave manager R.P. Campbell explained to Shoemaker: "Now has come the age of the automobile, and the cave again has become a place of interest to the tourists. The number of visitors has increased steadily each year since we bought the place, and we expect 1914 to be the banner year."
Today, visitors can tour the cavern by boat or, above ground, the wildlife park by bus. And if the legends can be believed, they will come away refreshed. Shoemaker closed his "history" of the cave in the Altoona Tribune with this glowing tribute:
"If the fountain of youth is in Pennsylvania, surely it must have flowed out of the unsounded depths of Penn's Cave, for all who have been there have come away strengthened and spiritually purified by its rare beauty and precious flood of memories."
This is part of a series, appearing Mondays, of historical photographs from the Centre County region. If you have a historical photo that can be used for publication, contact Rich Kerstetter at 231-4621, or via e-mail.
Full Article:
www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/local/14796910.htm?source=rss&channel=centredaily_local
By Rich Kerstetter
rkerstet@centredaily.com
Penns Cave -- or, as some insist, Penn's Cave -- is associated more with mystery than history. It is where young pioneer Malachi Boyer is said to have received his punishment for the capital crime of wooing the American Indian princess Nita-nee.
Fiction, of course, but it is among the delightful stories included in former state historian and taleteller Henry W. Shoemaker's 1916 work "Penn's Grandest Cavern: The History, Legends and Description of Penn's Cave in Centre County, Pennsylvania."
The Gregg Township land on which John Penn's Creek carved out the famous limestone cavern was, in 1773, granted to James Poh, whom genealogists link to another writer of note, Edgar Allan Poe.
By 1855, Samuel Vantries owned the property and rented the farm to Jacob Harshbarger. As Jeanne Schleiden wrote in the fall 1975 issue of Centre County Heritage, Harshbarger had his own Penns Cave story.
The first European to enter the cave, according to Harshbarger's version, was James Martin, a native of Ireland, an honor graduate of Trinity College in Dublin, and pastor of one of the earliest Presbyterian congregations in Penns Valley.
"The old gentleman, it is said, caught a cold in the cave from which he never fully recovered," Schleiden, echoing Shoemaker, wrote. Martin died in 1795.
Seneca Indians, according to the cave's promotional material, discovered the natural wonder from which Karoondinha (called the Big Mahany on early maps and later John Penn's Creek) flowed. Arrowheads, pottery and beads have been found inside.
Among the first to recognize the all-water-cavern's commercial potential were Jesse and Samuel Long, who inherited the property from their father who, according to Shoemaker and repeated by Schleiden, "was a man of serious nature and objected strongly to pleasure-seekers entering the cave."
Not so his sons.
"These two men had traveled extensively and realized the financial possibilities of the cave," Schleiden wrote.
According to Shoemaker, "They built a larger boat and began charging admission to the cave."
They also built, in 1885, what was to become known as the Penn's Cave Hotel.
"For a time they prospered, and hundreds of people visited their unique resort annually," Shoemaker wrote. What Shoemaker euphemistically called "financial embarrassments," however, ultimately forced the Longs to abandon the hotel.
Eventually the Campbell brothers -- Pennsylvania State College graduates H.C. and R.P., described by Shoemaker as "young men of education and foresight" -- purchased and "improved the property extensively, making it one of the most unique resorts in Central Pennsylvania."
As hotel and cave manager R.P. Campbell explained to Shoemaker: "Now has come the age of the automobile, and the cave again has become a place of interest to the tourists. The number of visitors has increased steadily each year since we bought the place, and we expect 1914 to be the banner year."
Today, visitors can tour the cavern by boat or, above ground, the wildlife park by bus. And if the legends can be believed, they will come away refreshed. Shoemaker closed his "history" of the cave in the Altoona Tribune with this glowing tribute:
"If the fountain of youth is in Pennsylvania, surely it must have flowed out of the unsounded depths of Penn's Cave, for all who have been there have come away strengthened and spiritually purified by its rare beauty and precious flood of memories."
This is part of a series, appearing Mondays, of historical photographs from the Centre County region. If you have a historical photo that can be used for publication, contact Rich Kerstetter at 231-4621, or via e-mail.
Full Article:
www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/local/14796910.htm?source=rss&channel=centredaily_local