Date Stone Problem
A design SNAFU has resulted in two donated date stones being cemented into the wrong location on the south-west wingwall. The Historical Commission had specified that the date stones were to be placed in the wall at the eastern end of the Hotel parking lot where they would have been readily visible. Instead they were placed around the corner in a location where they would be hidden behind the guard rail.
The Donated Date Stones
The community is grateful for the donation of two historic date stones for display in the wingwall.
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| The 1825 date stone may have come from Chandler's Mill which was constructed that year on the South-West corner of the nearby intersection. It was donated by Scott Wilkinson. | The 1871 date stone was installed that year as part of the stone work for the bow-truss bridge which preceded the Pony truss bridge. The date stone was donated to the community by William Skalish. |
The intended mounting location, and where the stones were actually mounted
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This Historical Commission had specified that the
1871 date stone was to be remounted in its original
location off of the Hotel parking lot. The 1825 date
stone was to be mounted next to it. This detail of an historic photo dates from around 1905. |
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Instead the stones were mounted off of what will be the roadway. Plans had called for guiderails in front of these stones. |
Probable Solution
An emergency meeting was held at the bridge on April 9th to try to determine what could be done about it. The professionals in attendance were in agreement that the stones would likely not survive being chipped out and remounted in the desired location. Sandy Martin, the engineer that has been the township's consultant on this project, suggested that making a break in the guard rail at this point was probably the best option.
PennDOT has provided the following preliminary sketches of how this might look:
View from Across the Road
View from Above
