Want to see something cool, but also kinda sad + anger-inducing?
Today I went to a nearby state park, and hiked to this cabin:
Hand-built by a local man named Armar Bordner in the 1930's, it was occupied by Mr. Bordner until his death in 1994. It's not for rent or anything; it's just sitting there, with all the doors and windows open, for anyone who's up for a mile-and-a-half hike to stop in and have a look around. There are a few framed photos on the walls showing how it looked when he lived there, and a couple of signs explaining the history.
And that's kind of a bold move, considering that, if you have any ability to read between the lines, the parks department really comes off bad in it.
Here's the sign:
A clearer and more detailed version of the text is available here, the site of a private conservation organization that maintains the cabin.
Mr. Bordner, who was an Industrial Arts teacher, bought the land and built the cabin by hand, with some help from friends and students, over a 2 1/2 year period ending in 1939. All of the logs for the cabin were felled and hewn by hand, he used local materials, mostly obtained at the site, and was reportedly inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright.
In the 1970's, the state decided that they wanted to create a state park in the area. The original plan was fairly elaborate, including damming the creek to create a lake for recreational boating, fishing, etc. (PA state parks have a lot of these "man-made lakes," mostly built in the CCC era or shortly after WWII.) Under eminent domain, the state seized private land--mostly hunting camps--for the project.
One of the seized properties was Mr. Bordner's cabin. He fought the seizure--I mean, who wouldn't?--and at some point the state apparently decided that it was not a great look to force a senior citizen out of the family home that he built with his own two hands, and granted him the privilege of continuing to live in it for the remainder of his life, for what is described as a "nominal fee."
Mr. Bordner went on to live two more decades, passing in his cabin in 1994, at the age of 90. During the decades since his cabin technically ceased to belong to him, the park project kind of fell apart. The park was officially formed in 1987, but it was considered an "undeveloped park"--meaning, it was public land, but the state wasn't doing anything to encourage people to visit it or accommodate them if they did--until 2012, when the parks department took an interest in developing it.
Now, in 2023, the park has several hiking trails, three parking lots with port-a-potties , and that's about it. (Most state parks here have things like campsites, picnic grounds, etc.) Some of the trails--the equestrian trails and the Swatara Rail-Trail--are on park land but maintained by other groups. As is the cabin itself, which was allowed to fall into disrepair after Mr. Bordner's death, and was restored by a group called the Swatara Watershed Association.
It's an absolutely beautiful cabin, in a lovely setting, and I'm glad I got to see and explore it--but once you learn the history, it's hard not to feel that it should still belong to Mr. Bordner's daughter. (Or, if she didn't want to live there or keep it up, to a group that Mr. Bordner had chosen while he was alive to preserve it and make it available to the community.)
Anyway, here are some more pretty photos:
Here's a big porch-balcony that looks out over the stream and waterfall:
Sophie and I sat there to have a little snack after our hike:
Then we got to exploring the inside. Here we're in the main room looking out toward the waterfall:
And here we are on the other side of the window, looking in:
The main room, here, faces the creek/waterfall on two sides, as the stream wraps around it. Over to the right (from this POV), there is a small room that might have been a bedroom or kitchen. (There's a photo of a large woodstove for cooking in it, but the watershed or site seems to say it was a bedroom?) The balcony from the earlier picture is to the left, and at the far end of the cabin there's a staircase leading up to a loft, with some little bedrooms tucked under it.
Here's one of the framed photos on the wall, showing how this area looked at one point during Mr. Bordner's time there:
And my attempt at re-creating the photo from the same angle:
Here we're looking down from the loft, at the fireplace that Mr. Bordner built with stone collected on the site:
Another look at the fireplace:
Surprisingly, there are no signs saying not to light a fire in it.
Here's a photo from the wall showing one of the small bedrooms:
And the room today:
And here's Sophie hanging out next to the post for the library hiking program:
That's about all I have--I thought I took some pictures of the waterfall, but I guess I didn't. The Watershed Association site has additional photos, if you want to see more. I definitely want to go back and see it another time.
22 notes
·
View notes