Old Stone House - Spring House EarthCache
Old Stone House - Spring House
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The Old Stone House Museum has available parking. The Spring House is a short walk on the museum grounds. Even though the museum is open only on weekends, the Spring House is accessible daily.
Use the coordinates to find the Spring House and Spring. Please take and post a picture of this site.
Email the answers to the following questions to receive credit:
Is there standing water near the Spring House?
Is there a temperature difference near the Spring House? If yes, how noticeable is the difference?
What year was the Old Stone House built?
According to the rules of the Tavern, where did the Organ Grinders sleep?
A spring is a component of the hydrosphere, namely any natural occurrence where water flows to the surface of the earth from below the surface. Thus it is where the aquifer surface meets the ground surface.
A spring is the result of karst topography where surface water has infiltrated the Earth's surface (recharge area), becoming part of the area groundwater. The groundwater then travels though a network of cracks and fissures - openings ranging from intergranular spaces to large caves. The water eventually emerges from below the surface, in the form of a spring.
The forcing of the spring to the surface is the result of a confined aquifer in which the recharge area of the spring water table rests at a higher elevation than that of the outlet. Spring water forced to the surface by elevated sources is called an artesian well.
Historically, natural springs have been used for drinking water and refrigeration. By building a Spring House over the water source, people could store meat and perishable items, since the water of the spring maintained a constant cool temperature inside the spring house throughout the year.
The Historic Old Stone House was a working tavern in the 19th century, utilizing the spring on the property for such a Spring House. The museum is free to the public and open May-October Saturday 10-5 and Sunday 12-5.
Travelers staying at the Stone House mingled with locals anxious for news from other parts; the house’s “tavern room” was a lively place of conversation, merriment, and hearty food. In the evening, travelers bedded down in simple (and often uncomfortable) quarters in the house’s upper rooms.
During its long history, the Stone House also served as a local post office and was used as a muster point during the Civil War. The inn was sometimes visited by highway bandits, and also was the hangout for two separate gangs of counterfeiters, one of which was led by a sinister figure whose cold demeanor earned him the nickname “Old Man North Pole.”
By the 1870s, the growth of the railroads meant the house was no longer needed as a stopping place for highway travelers. Consequently, the structure was rented as a family farmstead. Tenants still accepted occasional travelers for the night, and on Sunday, served chicken dinners to guests. The last occupants abandoned the venerable, old structure in 1918. For years, motorists along Route 8 could still see the crumbling walls jutting over the dense underbrush that covered the site.
Finally, in 1963 the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, hoping to attract visitors to the northern side of Moraine State Park, undertook the task of restoring the historic building. When the project was finished, the house was furnished with artifacts donated by local citizens. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy turned over the restored structure to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) which operated the site as a museum for 20 years.
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