The Progressive Era's Chautauqua Movement, a national socio- educational program promoted by President Teddy Roosevelt, inspired the building of learning communities throughout the Mid-Atlantic (and the nation) where nature served as an important backdrop for institutes of adult learning in literary arts and sciences. Some Chautauqua towns made environment central to their development and the town of Mt. Gretna in Lebanon County, PA, is a great example of this. Nature is not so much a backdrop but an actual community member.
 |
| A close-quarters town made for walking with narrow streets and footpaths. |
Mt. Gretna is a small late 19th century historic camp village of just about two hundred residents who with their historic society and many associations maintain Pennsylvania's best known Chautauqua town. There were gatherings in many communities from the 1890s to the 1920s, most of these sites arising from the Methodist Church Camp tradition, true for Mt. Gretna. With appropriately scaled Greek-columned halls of learning and quaint rustic cottages built all around, the town is snuggled into a forest of pines, oak, and maple. It is relaxed and inspiring and in summer - as we emerge from this past pandemic year-and-a-half, busy! We chose to visit after Labor Day so it was serene and peaceful.
 |
| Hall of Philosophy |
This 120 year-old village is part of a network of historic Chautauqua learning communities that seek to restore the movement by restoring both the physical space of their communities-in-nature and the spirit of learning-in-nature programs. Chautauqua was tied closely to the Nature Study Movement and shared many of its Progressive Era aims to educate all people with equal access to classes and outings. Modern Mt. Gretna accomplishes this goal by providing summer arts and sciences shows, classes, camps, and meetings. The experience of Mt. Gretna is not just of a time capsule but of a dedicated modern commitment to environment and humanities.
 |
| Mt. Gretna Lake and Beach |
The Chautauqua Trail is a group of organizations and individuals committed to the communication and implementation of the chautauqua concept of building community by supporting all persons in the development of their full potential intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically. The Chautauqua Trail facilitates interaction and communication among its members to further their preservation, growth and development.
 |
| Celebrating Camp Meeting Founding, 1892 |
Mt. Gretna was founded by iron industry heir Robert Coleman in 1889 to serve as a recreational haven for tourists and locals visiting by train. It was soon developed as a Chautauqua site by the Evangelical United Brethren in 1892 and they set about building all the required institutions of learning within the forest: lecture halls, tabernacle, performance venues, trails, and outdoor classrooms. A dining hall and several smaller eateries were established. The cottages did not have kitchens or running water since they were designed for airy summer living with big open windows and and wrap around porches. Today there are pocket gardens and seating areas that create quiet places for outdoor reading and visiting. Now folks live here year-round in renovated cottages that include kitchens and bathrooms, but area asked not to cause construction noise until after Labor Day.
 |
| Small cottages with big porches |
The scene is of small cottages built within the trees, or - as with a few properties - to allow the trees to maintain their space by making room for their growth by cutting sections out of eaves and overhangs. Given that the village looks like it popped right out of an old hand-colored linotype, the landscape bears little resemblance to what the church camp founders encountered. At the time of the town's purposeful development within the forested hillside, American Chestnuts would have dominated the woods all around. By early 20th century, however, the chestnut blight had caused a devastating die-off of trees. Surely the community members mourned their loss.
 |
| Turreted cottage among White Pines and Hemlock |
In the open gaps grew White Pine, Hemlock, Ash, Maple and Oak. Banks of native Rhododendron cascade down the hills. But evidence of the Chestnut woods are all around. I saw a few saplings growing up from still living roots below the ground. They won't reach the size of their grandparent trees, though, as the blight continues to take young trees of a certain girth (10-20 years). We were able to see chestnut beams and floorboards in the State Historic Site Cornwall Furnace later in the day and I'm sure their are Chestnut rafters and joists in many of the historic buildings of the village.
 |
| Make way for White Pines |
During the early 20th century Mt Gretna also mourned the loss the last Pennsylvania breeding colony of the now extinct Passenger Pigeon, Ectopistis migratorious. I tried to imagine the wooded hillsides full of these birds during nesting season, full of dove-song and swirling flocks at sundown settling into their roosts. As we walked along the narrow paths that wove back and forth between the narrow streets, I saw a large antique parrot ornament planted in a tiny front yard and I wondered if villagers noticed too the passing of our only native parrot, the Carolina Parakeet, Conuropsis carolensis, in 1910? With the recent USFWS release of its report on species now officially removed from the endangered species list and considered extinct, these losses were on my mind.
 |
| A hall of learning turned antique and Halloween shop. |
What about other Chautauqua towns? In Pennsylvania, there were summer gatherings in New Hope and at church camps along the shores of Lake Erie. Ohio claimed many active Chautauqua sites as did New York and Massachusetts. In the context of Nature Study, none can beat Pacific Grove, California, however. Founded in 1875, the western-most site for Chautauqua, Pacific Grove hosted summers chock full of marine science courses, natural history expeditions, summer theater and orchestra, and walking tours. It was one of the few places where guest instructor John Muir would speak in public. Pacific Grove is still deeply connected to the national Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (CLSC) and maintains a strong commitment to environmental education with a natural history museum, Stanford marine research station "Seaside", and a large winter sanctuary for monarch butterflies.
 |
| Signpost to learning and recreation. |
As we walked (which always helps me think out loud) I began to wonder how Mt. Gretna in the past has dealt with fires and if and how it plans to adapt to the very real possibility of prolonged drought and fire danger as our climate changes. I thought about Western forest communities that have been damaged or destroyed by this year's terrible summer fires and how in many areas fire "season" is now a year-round concern. Of course, the more we walked, the more I wondered. So with questions about fire history and birds of early Mt. Gretna I contacted the Historical Society there and hope to dive into their collections later this fall. Now I have my sights set on the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail within a stone's throw of the corner general store and lake...maybe next weekend?
Notes:
History of the Chautauqua Movement https://www.chautauquatrail.com/the-chautauqua-movement
Mt Gretna town history http://mtgretna.com/about-gretna/our-history/
The Chautauqua Trail Network https://www.chautauquatrail.com/chautauqua-network
Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station Seaside at Pacific Grove https://seaside.stanford.edu/ specifically, the chapter "Chautauqua: The Nature Study Movement in Pacific Grove, California," https://seaside.stanford.edu/Chautauqua
Lost to extinction, blogpost on the report by the USFWS https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/23-species-from-19-states-lost-to-extinction-2021-09-29/
No comments:
Post a Comment