The Boardwalk

The Boardwalk. . , When Mountain Lake Park was founded in 1881, clearly the only means of transportation were horse and buggy and possibly bicycles. Consequently, walking was the most practical way to go from point A to point B, so the developers of this Chautauqua-like community believed that a network of boardwalks would greatly enhance the walking experience, particularly on rainy days when the dirt streets would turn to mud., An 1884 entry in the minutes of the Mountain Lake Park Association called for the "creation of a boardwalk from the southwest corner of E and Spruce across the glades to the campground," and "creation of a boardwalk and sawdust walk from Cedar to H, down H Street to Mrs. Bullard's Hotel, crossing to Mr. Sharp's corner and along the front drive, intersecting with the boardwalk leading from the depot." Then in February of 1887, the minutes stated that the Park superintendent was "ordered to make a walk between the office and the Assembly Hall, 10 feet wide of 2-inch plank or of stone.", It is unclear if the above sections of boardwalk were all completed as described, but the first section, constructed sometime prior to the 1884 minutes entry, extended from the residential area southeast, relatively parallel to what is now Rt. 135, to the B&O train station and the post office, which was at that time located along the railroad tracks just west of the train station. A bowling alley/billiard parlor (what is now Town Hall) was built alongside the west end of that section of boardwalk in 1906 (pictured). Just east of where the Little Youghiogheny River flowed under the boardwalk there was a gazebo-like structure known as Pilgrim's Rest (pictured), where travelers could sit, read their mail, and chat with other walkers. The segment of boardwalk added in 1887, as described above, connected to the original boardwalk and extended northwest, past the Bashford Amphitheatre/ Auditorium (as pictured) , and finally to the Assembly Hall located just off G Street., A later reference to the boardwalk in the Association minutes was an order for its repair in 1889. As was the fate of many wooden structures in Mountain Lake Park, as the hey-day period of the town gradually drew to a close beginning with the beginning of the Great Depression, the maintenance of the boardwalk was discontinued. While most of the boards had rotted by the 1940s, Pilgrim's Rest remained intact until around 1960.