HISTORY SERIES
The Wopsononock Hotel
Broadway. The road that led to the Wopsy Lookout.
The four story tower that sat atop the Wopsy Lookout.
Wopsy Lookout
The Wopsononock Hotel
A train stopped in front of the hotel
At GZ, you are standing in the railroad bed of the once famous Wopsy Railroad that led to the Wopsononock Hotel. Unfortunately, the Hotel has been complete covered by soil. A local resident covered the last of the foundation in the early 2000s. All that remains as evidence of the hotel grounds is a cement foundation of a merry go round that once stood on the property. Sadly, that is also on private property along with the exact location of the hotel. With your back to the existing road, standing at GZ, the hotel once stood about 600 ft away at your left and slightly deeper off the now existing road.( two houses to your left )
The Wopsononock Hotel:
Major development of the Wopsononock Mountain area, part of the Allegheny Mountains located west of Altoona, Pennsylvania, originated in the late 1880s when a group of local businessmen decided to exploit the cooler summer temperatures and scenic beauty found on the mountain top and also to take advantage of the recent discovery of a rich vein of coal in the northeastern corner of Cambria County near the village of Dougherty.
Prior to the development of Wopsy in the late 1880s, a smaller Wopsononock Hotel existed on the mountain. The following appeared in the Altoona Tribune, April 4, 1889: "Almost directly in front of the new house is the old Wopsononock hotel, which is dwarfed by the statelier building which is now being erected. This old building has been built for at least forty years, having been erected by Mr. Alex Holliday, of Hollidaysburg, who then owned the property, and for whom Mr. Thomas Keyes was tenant. Mr. Keyes afterward bought it and the present company bought from him shortly before his death. The contrast between the two houses is most marked, yet both represent the period in which they were built."
The centerpiece of the resort community was the Wopsononock Hotel. The hotel was a 60 room, three story wooden structure with a large verandah across the entire front and along the left side. 'Wopsononock' was written across the top front of the hotel. Other resort attractions included a dance pavilion, bowling alley, baseball field, shooting range, merry-go-round and lawn tennis courts. A mountain top forest fire destroyed the hotel along with many of the cottages located on Lookout Road on April 30, 1903. Fire damage to the hotel was estimated at $25,000 and insurance on the building was only $2,500 so the historic Wopsononock Hotel was never rebuilt.
An outstanding attraction near the Wopsy Resort was the four story observation 'lookout tower' at the edge of the mountain. It opened in June 1891 and it was said that on a clear day, one could view six counties from the top platform. After the Wopsy Hotel was destroyed by a forest fire in April 1903, regular maintenance ceased on the Lookout tower and its condition deteriorated until it was razed, date unknown.
The Wopsy Railroad, originally a narrow-gauge railroad but standard gauged in 1916, extended about 15 miles from Juniata near Altoona, Pennsylvania west to the plateau of Wopsononock Mountain and then to Dougherty in Cambria County and was first operated to the mountain top on June 11, 1891. After the loss of the Wopsy Hotel in 1903, the railroad continued to transport picnickers and sightseers until lack of funds forced abandonment in 1919. At that time, nearly everything made of metal was sold for scrap (a few wooden cross-ties and narrow-gauge spikes occasionally may be found on the old railroad bed)
An interesting bit of local history involves the disposition of the remaining wooden structures, which were dismantled and used to build the dance pavilion at Ivyside Park in 1923. Ivyside Park is now the site of Penn State Altoona.
The financial history of the Wopsy Railroad was turbulent and involved many legal squabbles; the two opposing factions were often in litigation, fighting for control, and the railroad changed hands numerous times. Almost as often, the official name of the rail line changed. Throughout its history, the Wopsy Railroad was known as the Altoona & Wopsononock; Altoona, Clearfield and Northern; Altoona & Beech Creek; Pittsburgh,
Johnstown, Ebensburg & Eastern; Altoona, Juniata & Northern and lastly, the Altoona Northern. But whatever the official name bestowed at any given time in its brief history, rail fans more often referred to the little mountain train simply as the Wopsy Railroad.
The cache is a preform tube container wrapped with olive green duct tape. Parking can be found at the SGL gate, right along the road about 200ft from the cache. Please do not block the gate. Look for the yellow downhill sign with the truck on it.