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http://www.nbc25.com/content/fulltext/?cid=9844
A Look Back At The Way Penn Mar Used To Be
Play Media

Reported by: Gretchen Gailey
11/17/2006 05:51pm
PenMar-Today2006-11-17-1163805795.jpgNBC25 NEWS - If you head to Pen Mar, you won't find the hotels, the amusement park rides, or the thousands of people looking for an escape from reality.

The hotels, the amusement park, and the storybook nights of dancing under the stars in gowns and tuxedos are long gone, but a much quieter Pen Mar has not missed a step in giving visitors a pleasant experience. “I’ve come up here since I was young and my parents have brought me up here, and it's just really pretty; the view of everything. You kind of see the patch work field going on,” said Patrick Dingee, who enjoys the view.

The view from High Rock and the gusting winds are a favorite for hang gliders, and bring out dozens on a blustery day. “Once you get up to altitude, it's absolutely beautiful,” said Dave Green, hang glider.

The lookout's amazing sights and winding, scenic mountain roads cater to the area's vast amount of bikers and some unwilling passengers while local students see the mountain escape as a place to reflect. “It's a real eclectic experience, you have the hang gliders, you have that; people up here playing music, the people that don't talk to anybody; they just sit on there thing. Who knows what's going through their mind, but they all come up here for different reasons,” said Ryan Coleman, graduate student from Mt. Saint Mary’s.

For others, the beautiful vistas remind them of their youth. “If you like nature, it was like paradise on Earth sort of. The Appalachian Trail ran right by it, there was a golf course, and a baseball and a softball field and all that kind of stuff,” said John Conner, Jesuit Priest.

For those a few years older, the familiar mountain brings back a fond era long gone. “The music still goes around in my head,” said Virginia Bruneske, who worked at Pen Mark Park. Pen Mar is now known as a sleepy community with just a breath taking view, and as the leaves begin to fall, a quiet calm falls over the mountain of memories.

If you enjoyed Gretchen’s look back at Pen Mar, you can look forward to a new series she will be working on that will showcase forgotten historical places. Feel free to email Gretchen with any story ideas you may have by clicking on her name above.