History buffs, hikers, pie lovers converge on Jennings Center
BRADY TWP — Hikers, history buffs, Scouts and dessert lovers converged on the Jennings Environmental Education Center on Saturday for the annual George Washington Cherry Pie Hike event.
Nearly 250 people took part in the hikes beginning at 9 a.m. and running through 2 p.m. They also met with history authors Jason Cherry and Brady Crytzer, visited with French and Indian War re-enactors to learn about their clothing and equipment and enjoyed a piece of cherry pie.
Participants could choose from a 7-mile hike on the North Country Trail beginning at the boat launch under the Route 528 bridge at Moraine State Park to the center, two nature walks and seven short history hikes.
Jane Genaway, president, and Trudy Snodgrass, vice president, of the North Country Trail Association Butler Chapter, were at the center to publicize their organization, which maintains the 56-mile section of the trail that crosses Butler County.
Genaway said 15 miles of the trail is along roads, and her group is working to convince landowners along the route to donate land or grant easements to take trail travelers off the highways.
Dave Adams, in charge of trail maintenance for the group, said, “There’s a 2-mile gap between McConnells Mill and Moraine State Park that we’ve been working 20 years to get remedied, and we’re still working.”
He said there is another 6-mile gap in the trail between the Old Stone House and West Sunbury. “We’ve made some progress there. We’ve got 2 miles off the road,” he said.
Landowners are resistant to the trail, Adams said, because they either hunt on their property and don’t want other people hunting in their woods or they are afraid ATV riders would use the trail illegally if it was open on their land.
Snodgrass said the association was using the Cherry Pike Hike to get the word out about their association.
“We want to get people involved to become a member or help with trail maintenance,” she said. She said the Butler Chapter has 100 members and invites anyone interested in the trail to email but@northcountrytrail.org, visit the group’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/NCTAButlerChapter or attend the association’s meetings the second Wednesday of the month at the Butler YMCA.
Nancy Nalepa and Karen Flanagan, volunteers with the Moraine, McConnells Mill and Jennings Commission, a friends group for the parks, said they were at the center to get the word out about their organization which included restoring the Foltz one-room schoolhouse on Jennings property.
Working with volunteers and students from the Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School, the commission restored the building, disused since it was closed in 1963, replacing the ceilings and adding wainscotting, a wood-burning stove and desks.
“We’re working on giving tours once a month,” Nalepa said.
Also attending the event was Bryan Crytzer, a member of the faculty at Robert Morris University and the author of seven books on the history of Western Pennsylvania. He said, “At one time, this area was the central focus of a major imperial struggle around the planet. The Seven Years’ War that waged across five continents begins here.”
He said young George Washington’s travels across Butler County to confront the French at Fort LeBoeuf in what is now Waterford was at the onset of the struggle.
“The young George Washington was anxious to make his mark as a defender of the British way of life,” said Crytzer. “He learned important lessons that he would use later on even in his presidency.”
That included the incident on Washington’s return from Fort LeBoeuf when a Native American fired on Washington and his traveling companion somewhere between Harmony and Evans City.
The shot missed, but history could have been very different, according to Crytzer.
“I believe that if that bullet had found its mark, we’d all have different passports today,” he said.
Crytzer’s lastest book, “Whiskey Rebellion: A Distilled History of an American Crisis,” also concerns Washington and Western Pennsylvania.
Settlers in Western Pennsylvania, many Revolutionary War veterans, opposed a tax on the whiskey they distilled. When the opposition turned violent, in 1794 President Washington himself led an army of militiamen into the region to quell the unrest.
“It was the only time a sitting commander in chief led an army,” said Crytzer.
Fellow writer Jason Cherry greeted center visitors dressed as Washington’s contemporary, William Trent, a captain in the Virginia militia. The author of “Pittsburgh’s Lost Outpost” detailing Trent’s efforts to build a fort in what is now Point State Park to contest French control of the Ohio Valley, said, “Its nice to come up here and talk to people about the history of the area.”
Colleen Chamberlain, Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 6743 of New Castle, at the table handing out slices of cherry pie, said, “ I love doing the history hikes. I’m hoping to get another hike in today.”
Four members of Boy Scout Troop 73 from Lawrenceville, along with their scoutmaster and assistant scoutmaster, arrived at the center after completing the 7-mile hike from Moraine State Park.
Scout Jerry Dunton, 16, said it was the second time he had hiked the trail.
“It was a good hike, not a hard hike,” he said.
Fellow Scout Alex Powell, 17, said, “ It was great. I could have worn more clothes. I was focused on not tripping.”
Sarah Porter, a member of the Butler County Milers, also completed the 7-mile hike arriving at the center.
Porter said, “It was really nice. It was a chilly day, but it was a nice hike. I just came to spend some time with my friends.”
