Welcome - Historic Moutain Lake Park
Start Here3017 G StreetWelcome to the Historic Mountain Lake Park walking and driving tour, which is a part of Chautauqua Then and Now. This project was made possible through The Maryland Heritage Ares Authority, Maryland Humanities and the Town of Mountain Lake Park. We hope you enjoy the tour.
Introduction & Ticket Office
Begin at the corner of G & Spruce Streets in Mountain Lake Park; 39.397379, -79.381960Our tour starts here at the old ticket office. Before we get moving, we'd like to give you some historical perspective.Mountain Lake Park is a fine example of a Victorian resort that grew out of two American activities of the nineteenth century ... the Methodist Camp Meeting which was aimed at spiritual renewal and the Independent Chautauqua, one of the greatest adult education movements of modern times. The fact that these were outdoor events that sprang up beside lakes or in woodland settings added to their popularity. They quickly spread to small towns across the country.In 1881 a group of businessmen and Methodist ministers from Wheeling, West Virginia were inspired to create their own Chautauqua resort. It would be based on strict Christian principles. They visited eight hundred acres here known as Hoye's Big Pasture. Impressed by the picturesque scenery, the cool, clean mountain air, and convenient train service, the men saw this as the ideal place to refresh the body as well as the soul. After forming The Mountain Lake Park Association, they promptly purchased the land for the sum of four thousand six hundred seventy-two dollars and renamed it Mountain Lake Park.Turning our attention back to the ticket office ... this small structure is one of three public buildings remaining from the Park's heyday. It was built in 1900 to serve the Bashford Amphitheater.Standing with the ticket office to your right, look towards the main highway and try to imagine a circular five-thousand seat auditorium with an umbrella-shaped roof. Every year during the month of August people filled it to capacity for concerts, operas, plays, and lectures by such notable figures as President William Howard Taft, William Jennings Bryan. and the famous evangelist Billy Sunday. Unfortunately, the auditorium was demolished in 1946. The town of Mountain Lake Park has restored the ticket office as a museum.
Assembly Hall
The large white building you see behind you is the Assembly Hall which was the first building constructed in the Park. It was dedicated in the spring of 1882. The first camp meeting was held on these grounds in July of 1882 and the first Chautauqua session. a month later in August. This was the heart of the Park where the Methodist faithful gathered for services, classes, and cultural events. For the comfort of those early visitors, the Mountain Lake Park Association provided tents that could be rented for the season. Despite its religious origins, the Association broadened the subject of its programs to include schools of languages, art, literature and the sciences ... making the first season a huge success. A building boom of cottages, hotels and boarding houses soon followed.
Baltimore Connection and the Lake
1606 Youghiogheny Dr.Another Baltimore connection is worth mentioning now that you've had the opportunity to experience our little town. Mountain Lake Park retains much of its original wooded setting and street plan that was designed by H.E. Faul who was the engineer of Baltimore's Druid Hill Park. The community’s physical layout enhanced the campground atmosphere that the residents appreciated so much. The feeling of togetherness is highly evident. Most cottages were close-knit, without fences, and immersed in lush greenery. However, there was no lack of recreational space. The Mountain Lake Park Association spent much time and money in creating tennis courts, a bowling alley, golf links, ball fields, and refreshment stands. As for a lake ... one didn't exist until about 1896 when a twenty-two acre artificial lake was developed for swimming and boating. It was on the other side of what is now Route 135. Today all that remains is a marshy wetland There are hopes that the lake can be restored sometime in the future.
Martin House
102 E StreetThe last cottage on the right is the Martin House built in 1898 by Attorney Frederick Martin of Taylor, West Virginia. He and his wife Mary were known to take pleasure in spending the summer here with their family. This house was moved to the corner from an adjacent lot at a later time.
Bulard House
104 E StreetAs the park expanded, so did the services available to residents and visitors. There were a variety of general stores, a drug store, a post office, a telegraph office, and here at the Bulard House a veterinarian once setup shop. This house was built in 1893. Dr. Provost, the veterinarian, owned it in 1900 and had an operating room in this house.
Armstrong Cottage
22 F StreetThe Armstrong Cottage was completed in 1884 by Robert Armstrong, a merchant from Baltimore who sold millinery supplies. While some cottages have been enlarged or modified over the years, this one looks much as it did when it was first built.
Teagarden Cottage
114 F StreetThe Teagarden Cottage was built by the Reverend Enlow sometime prior to 1903. The number of clergymen living in the community is symbolic of the high moral tone the founders sought to promote. The Mountain Lake Park Association's values were so strict that they forbade the use of alcohol, card playing, gambling, and dancing .... even in private homes. The Association actually threatened to revoke the deeds of property owners if violations occurred. There's no proof it ever happened. To enjoy those forbidden vices, people merely flocked across the railroad tracks to the nearby town of Loch Lynn Heights which was more liberal minded. That led to the popular saying; "If you want to sin, go to Loch Lynn ••• for Jesus sake, go to Mountain Lake".
Richardson Cottage
104 F StreetThe Richardson Cottage was built in 1898 by Richard and Agnes Richardson of Piedmont, West Virginia. In June of 1901, Mr. Richardson also opened a furniture store within the Park.
Elberon
101 F StreetYou should now be at 101 F Street, known as The Elberon. It was completed in early 1901 by W.H. Sheats of Pittsburgh. Amazingly, there were about thirty hotels and boarding houses in the Park. Some were large enough to accommodate 200 guests. The Elberon is among a handful of those structures that has survived. Many have been lost to decay and fire. A century ago, room and board here was considered modestly priced at less than nine dollars per week.
Railroad
Near Allegheny and G StreetThe train tracks of the Baltimore and Ohio went through Mountain Lake Park. Today the train system is known as the CSX. The railroad's arrival in 1851 quickly launched this area as a resort destination. Tourists were coming from as far away as New York, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. For those of you who don't know, Garrett County was named in honor of John W. Garrett who was president of the B&O Railroad at that time. In support of Mountain Lake Park, the B&O offered passengers special excursion rates and for many years it gave the Park ten percent of all tickets sold. The Baldwin Engine shown here dates from 1920 and is located next to the Oakland train station. Like many railroads during that period, the B&O ventured into the resort hotel business. They owned one in Oakland, two miles to the west of where you're standing. And they also owned the fashionable Deer Park Hotel, four miles to the east. That created six miles of continuous summer resorts with trains frequently stopping at all three stations. True to its strict religious character though ... The Mountain Lake Park Association prohibited train service on Sunday.
Stone Cottage
100 G StreetThe Stone family from Wheeling, WV had a prominent presence. Here on the comer at 100 G Street is the Elijah James Stone Cottage. It dates from 1883. Mr. Stone is believed to have salvaged the windows from homes that were destroyed in a devastating flood on Wheeling Island. They give the house an unusual look on the inside because none of the windows match. This front porch was a favorite meeting place of the Mountain Lake Park Civic Club well into the 1940' s.
Day Cottage
101 G StreetThe Day Cottage which was built before 1905 by the Day family of Clarksburg, WV. The Lady who owned the house always had a little Pekinese dog under her arm whenever you saw her.
Ruhl Cottage
105 G SteetThis elaborate yellow and green house is the Rubl Cottage. It's one of Mountain Lake Park's Victorian gems and the colors are original. This is Queen Ann architecture which most people instantly recognize by its decorative gingerbread trim-work, scalloped shingles, and wrap-around porch. The gazebo has been artfully added by the present owners. Mrs. Mary Walker of Clarksburg, West Virginia had the house built in 1895 as a wedding gift to her daughter Julia who married John Ruhl, a wholesale grocer. The house was built by the Bradford Brothers Planing Mill for a total cost of $1,669.75The Ruhls made this their home for the next eighty-two years until 1977. Since we are miles from any port, it's a mystery why the ghost of a sea captain was occasionally spotted winding a mantle clock in the front parlor
Gilbert Cottage
106 G StreetGilbert Cottage was built by Mr. Gilbert of Piedmont, WV. The beauty and tranquility of the Park was lost on the Gilbert's daughter who remarked out of youthful protest that "Mountain Lake Park was not a town, but a graveyard". Her utterance was so shocking; it's become part of Mountain Lake Park lore.
Hayden Cottage
112 G StreetDirectly across the street is the Hayden Cottage. Its construction dates prior to 1895 by L.T. Yoder of Pittsburgh. We know from records that a four-room addition was built in 1901. The home belonged to Captain James A. Hayden who was a Civil War veteran and the first editor of The Republican Newspaper which has operated in Oakland, Maryland since 1877. The Captain's descendants still live here.
Bardall Cottage
208 G StreetThe Bardall Cottage was built in 1885. It remained in the same family for 100 years. John Bardall was a partner in a very successful business that manufactured buggy whips.
Stauver Oaks
217 G StreetThis cottage was built in 1890 by the McLaine family from Wheeling, WV, and they retained ownership of it until 1976. It has recently been renamed the Stauver Oaks Cottage.
Creedmore
510 G StreetCreedmore was built in in the Queen Anne style in 1903–1904 and has many distinctive architectural features, including oval windows, an unusual roofline, and an extensive use of shingling. It was constructed originally as a summer residence "for a projected cost of $3,500," according to a Mountain Lake Park item in The Republican newspaper. The owner/builder was Creed Collins of Pennsboro, W.Va., a well-known entrepreneur in that area who fought in the Civil War, was captured, escaped, etc. The five-bedroom house, now with a finished basement and third floor, has had seven owners over its 116-year history, with the current owners having purchased the property in 1977.
Tennis Courts
1007 Allegany DriveThe tennis club is located on Allegheny Drive. Its red clay courts were built in the early Twentieth Century by the Women’s Civic Club of Mountain Lake Park. The Western Maryland Championships were first held at the club in 1915. The Lawn Tennis Association sanctioned the tournament in 1920 making it the oldest sanctioned tournament in the state. With breaks during the two World Wars the tournament has been held every year at the beginning of August.The Tennis Courts and its Clubhouse were given to the residents of Mountain Lake Park by the Civic Club in the mid 1940’s. The Clubhouse now serves as the Mountain Lake Park Town Hall.
Carr Cottage
502 Allegany DriveThis two-story house was built in 1882 by Mrs. L. E. Carr of Fairmont, West Virginia. Both of her sons were doctors. Lamey would eventually use this house as his summer cottage. His brother Logan had a splendid place of his own known as the Cecil Cottage. The First Telephone lines in town connected their two homes.
Allegany Cottage
112 H StreetThe grand Alleghany Cottage is considered to be the first boarding house in Mountain Lake Park. It opened for business in June of 1882. If you take a few steps further up Cedar Street, you'll see that The Colonial is just behind it. This was probably the liveliest spot in the Park when the Baltimore Epworth League held their annual convention. The Epworth League is a Methodist young adult association for people aged 18 to 35. The high-spirited teens staying in the Alleghany would sing loudly at mealtime. Their friends staying at the Colonial would break into song along with them ... making it a thunderous competition.
Winslow Cottage
200 H StreetThe Winslow Cottage was built in 1899 by the Winslows. In 1929 it was owned by Mrs. Spear. The porch brackets on the porch were added by the present owner and are reproductions of the ones on the Mountain Lake Park Hotel.
Maryland Home
207 H StreetThe Maryland Home dates from 1900 and in 1916 it became the Maryland Inn managed by Mrs. C. S. Tower.
Deaconness Home
214 H StreetThe Deaconness Home was built in 1882 by the Reverend John Thompson who gave the first sermon in Mountain Lake Park and was in charge of the first camp meetings and those that followed. The Burlington Hotel was built by Miss Julia Orum of Philadelphia. Located on the corner of Spruce and H Street, the hotel's front door faced H Street. In time, the Burlington was connected by an annex to the John Thompson Rest Home for Deaconnesses.
End of the heyday and President Taft
One of the greatest days in the Park happened to occur in 1911 when over seven thousand people came to see President William Howard Taft. The White House may have its story about President Taft getting stuck in a bathtub but Mountain Lake Park has its automobile story. At six foot two, and weighing 332 pounds, he was a very big man. After his lecture, the President wanted to tour the Park in a car. When it was discovered that it was too small for him, a larger car was quickly commandeered, and a seat removed so that he could have his drive.
Seldon Cottage
201 I Seldon CottageBuilt in the late1800’s for a Methodist clergyman, the Missionary Gothic style Seldon Cottage is named after a retired Army Officer who resided in the house for many years. The main tower was originally one story taller, but was damaged by lightning in 1910, and repaired to its current height.
Gables Cottage
25 G Street25 G Gables CottageComfortably settled back from the road, The Gables cottage was originally built in 1882 by Soloman Allen of Grafton, West Virginia. It was purchased in August of 1910 by Elijah Stone's other son Edward and his descendants still occupy the house. The Gables is a wonderful example of Country Gothic architecture which was meant to imitate the lofty cathedrals of medieval Europe. This was achieved primarily through the use of steeply pitched roof angles, high pointed dormers, and vertical board and batten siding. The overall effect was to draw your eyes upward.
