The Rocket

Issue date: 4/20/07 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Submitted Photo Junior Scott Filer, top, "belays" senior Dave Pavone. In climbing lingo, belay means to secure a rope by attaching the climber to another person who offers stable support. [Click to enlarge]

With the end of the semester nearing with each day, class work and busy schedules have been looming over the heads of nearly all.

But what if, even for a few hours, those on campus could go somewhere else to escape all that stress?

Just 13 miles from the SRU campus, students and locals can take advantage of what many believe to be a serene location at McConnells Mill State Park, located in Lawrence County.

Officially opened as a state park in October 1957, the 2,551 acres of land and the Slippery Rock Creek Gorge that make up the Mill are not only full of scenery, but are also very rich in history.

Greg Patterson, the environmental education specialist at nearby Moraine State Park, said the park came to be what it is today after being in the hands of various owners.

Daniel Kennedy built Slippery Rock Creek's first gristmill, used for grinding grain, in 1852. Since it was destroyed by fire, Kennedy rebuilt it in 1868 and sold it to Captain Thomas McConnell.

"After buying the mill, Captain Thomas McConnell, the person whom McConnells Mill was named for, improved it by being one of the first in the country to use rolling mill technology, which was state-of-the-art in 1885," Patterson said.

Patterson said that after the elder McConnell passed away, his son, James McConnell, took it over. But because the younger McConnell had no children, when he passed away, the property was given to Thomas H. Hartman, Capt. McConnell's grandson.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' Web site, in 1942, Hartman gave "the mill and surrounding property to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and later to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with the wish that it be preserved for future generations."

Continued...

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