KENNERDELL

KENNERDELL�S BIG MYSTERY
By Carolee Michener
The News � Herald
August 10, 1983

The Kennerdell Music and Art Festival is about the biggest happening in that community today. Hundreds of visitors who trek there every year don�t look beyond that hilltop setting of Wilson Park and may think they know a lot about the village.

But there is a whole other world in the Allegheny River community and it spells the real Kennerdell to those who have lived there all their lives and to the newer arrivals � many of them summer residents who have cottages in the tranquil setting. The history of the village is unique and there is still a bit of mystery that puzzles residents. Perhaps it will never be solved.

Venango County is filled with ghost towns- old oil boom settlements which have scarcely a trace of building rubble or the foundation stones of past grandeur. But Kennerdell has an interesting brick structure, held together with crumbling mortar and overgrown with brush that causes one to pause and wonder about its origins.

Accompanying the structure which is off in the woodlands, not far from the north end of the Kennerdell Tunnel, is a story which has been repeated in the community for several generations.

The name �Charley� is one which has strong links with Kennerdell�s past � even before the name Kennerdell had been given to the community. Maps used by the early settlers showed Charley�s Eddy and Charley�s Riffle clearly marked on the Allegheny River guidebooks which were designated with landmarks and points of concern for those traveling the stream. Frequently they bore the names of settlers who lived in nearby home and farms.

Tradition has it that Charley was Charley St. George, a noted fisherman and hunter, who assisted in rafting coal, oil and supplies from that Venango County community to Pittsburgh. His cabin was located south of the village in a section which is still known today as St. George.

dThe other mystery title is that of Charley�s Oven and this leads residents of the village today to wonder if the mysterious brick structure may have been utilized by Charley St. George as his �oven,� even though it is north of the St. George�s home.

The brick works are toward the hillside from the railroad tunnel which was the site of much activity about 1913 when it was being constructed to take the railroad through the hillside as a shortcut for the express run. Only the local trains continued to go through the village.

Although there was a commissary and some residences for crews which worked on the tunnel for about three years residents don�t believe there is a link between the brick project and the tunnel.

They are then wondering whether this is Charley�s Oven. Tradition has it that bread, a type of hardtack, was baked at Charley�s Oven and rafted south to Pittsburgh where it was hauled by wagon or train to provide food for the Union Army.

A few years ago a group of Boy Scouts decided they would try their skill at utilizing Charley�s Oven as a spot to bake bread. They found that even though it was overgrown with trees and moss, it was still possible for it to hold a fire and be utilized to bake biscuits.

The brick structure puzzle has been added to the question of �Who�s Charley,� supplying Kennerdell with a double mystery, according to Lavenia Sines and Sally Thomas, who showed us the location of the oven.

Any light which can be shed on either Charley or the brick �oven� will be most welcome.

At the time Charley�s Oven reportedly was in operation, the Kennerdell community was known as Scrubgrass, being located opposite the mouth of Scrubgrass Creek as it flows into the Allegheny River. The community of Kennerdell at that time was in Scrubgrass Township, along the creek which had been used to power the woolen mills run by the Kennerdell family. At one time there was even a spur from the railroad going from that site, across the Allegheny and connecting with the railroad in the village of Scrubgrass (now Kennerdell). That spur was of short existence and now the village railroad line has also been removed. The railroad bed is converted into a highway and the land on either side used for homes and cottages.

At one time the railroad was an important part of life in the village but now the few trains still in operation go through the tunnel and one has to be alert to even know of their passing. Instead of a thoroughfare for boats and rafting for commerce, the Allegheny is for pleasure boating, water skiing or swimming, with some fishing � but an alert river navigator can still tell you where to spot Charley�s Riffles or Charley�s Eddy.

Note: June 2005 - The railroad bed leading through the tunnel near Kennerdell is part of the Allegheny Valley Trails Association and provides a multipurpose recreational trail. The association was formed in 1990 by Jim & Caryl Holden and Dave and Mary Ann Howes. At present there are 28 miles of asphalt surface trail, 6 bridges and three tunnels. Expansion of The Allegheny River Trail will continue with 6 miles to Emlenton and the Sandy Creek Trail will go 4 more miles to Fisherman�s Cove Road.

Jim Holden and Carolee Michener have combined talents with a recent publication �Rails to Trails in the Allegheny River Region� which is for sale at various locations in the Venango County area.

Transcribed by Penny Haylett Minnick
minnick862@verizon.net

Disclaimer:there may be errors due to transcription of information from both early and late (current contributors) work.