Memories at Ryerson Station State Park still vivid
Celeste Van Kirk/O-R Alan Johnson, park manager at Ryerson Station State Park near Wind Ridge, looks over the former Duke Lake in May 2016.
Celeste Van Kirk/O-R Ryerson Station State Park.
Celeste Van Kirk/O-R Virginia Creeper grows on a wood bridge at Ryerson Station State Park near Wind Ridge.
Celeste Van Kirk/O-R Ryerson Station State Park near Wind Ridge.
Celeste Van Kirk/O-R A man-made channel forms near the Duke Lake dam at Ryerson Station State Park.
Celeste Van Kirk/O-R Ryerson Station State Park.
Photo courtesy of Alena Harris Steve Behe, former manager of Ryerson Station State Park, puts fish into Duke Lake in this undated photo.
Photo courtesy of Brandy Tuttle Katie Cahill, formerly Katie Tuttle, stands on the shoreline at Duke Lake in Ryerson Station State Park the day the lake was finished being drained, July 29, 2005.
Photo courtesy of Brandy Tuttle Work crews with DCNR used an excavator to clean out dead fish from Ryerson Station’s Duke Lake after it was drained in 2005.
Photo courtesy of Diane Clark Grace Greer, formerly Grace Clark of Aleppo Township, who was 8 years old when Duke Lake was drained, sits in a tree at Ryerson Station State Park for her senior portrait.
Photo courtesy of Alena Harris Carolyn Hughes of Richhill Township ice skates on Duke Lake in Ryerson Station State Park nearly 50 years ago.
Hearts broke July 28, 2005 – the day Duke Lake was drained. Nearly 11 years later, residents who once fished, ice skated or canoed on the beloved lake now hope that Ryerson Station State Park will soon be great again for future generations.
Last month, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources announced it has $38.5 million to spend on renovating Ryerson, with the initial redesign phase expected to begin within the next year.
Those renovations are expected to bring improved campgrounds with shower facilities, a renovated pool complex, a paved bike path and many other features that were suggested by community members at public meetings and through surveys.
Most residents in the area are happy to see something happen with the park, since replenishing the lake is no longer an option. The lake was drained in 2005 when cracks were found in the dam, which state officials say was caused by longwall mining near the park.
The community in Wind Ridge and neighboring areas waited a decade hoping the dam would one day be rebuilt and the lake restored, but last year the state announced it could not rebuild the dam because of continued ground movement near the park.
In saying a final farewell to Duke Lake and in moving forward with the future plans for the park, some residents shared their favorite memories of the lake.
JEFF ANNA
It was 4:30 a.m. and cold, but that didn’t stop the crowd of people swarming the gate. It was like shopping on Black Friday in November, but in April, and instead of bargain-buster Christmas gifts, the guests wanted trout.
That’s how Jeff Anna, manager of Ryerson Station State Park for five years in the late 1990s, remembers opening day of trout season at Duke Lake.
“They wanted to camp out and get their favorite spot for fishing, which didn’t officially open until 8 a.m.,” he said. “They would’ve camped out the night before if they could have.”
He remembers patrolling the park at 4:20 a.m. each opening day of trout season to make sure people were camping at the campground and not on the lakeside. As he made his morning rounds, people would follow him to the lake to be first in line to get the best spot.
“It shows how much people loved that lake and how far in advance they were willing to come for their favorite spot,” he said. “It always made me feel good that there were so many people who thought of this lake as their special place.”
Anna, who now lives in Butler, said he raised his five children near the lake. One of his fondest memories was hunting for morel mushrooms in the park with his family every spring.
“It was a generational thing because my dad was there and my boys were there and we’d just have a great time,” he said. “It was about the camaraderie and being out in the woods at that time of year.”
Even in winter, the lake had something to offer. Anna said ice fishing was his children’s favorite type of fishing.
“All they did was sled ride the whole time and when the flag went up to signal that they got a bite, they’d sled down the hill to catch the fish,” he said. “Then they’d take the sleds back up the hill and wait for another one.”
ALENA HARRIS
For Alena Harris, who’s lived in Richhill Township nearly all her life, remembering Duke Lake means thinking about the many good times with her mother, Carolyn Hughes.
“Mom was a pretty good skater,” she said. “The ice made some strange sounds that were a little scary at times, but it was so neat to be able to skate clear across.”
Hughes worked as a secretary at the park office for 25 years before retiring in 1997. Harris and her teenage siblings would often play in the park while their mom worked there.
“We always went down there at the end of the day because the pool was never busy then,” she said. “We had family picnics there.”
Harris also remembers all of the community churches that would hold vacation Bible school one week each summer.
“The last day of that week we’d spend the whole day at the park,” she said.
Harris, now 59, enjoyed the lake as an adult just as much as in her childhood. She and her husband, David, would go there often after they got married.
“We used to spend a lot of time fishing and just enjoying the peacefulness down there,” she said. “Mostly, I read a book and he fished.”
The couple started running together in 1987 and the roads around the lake were the perfect place for them.
“We’d run to the park and we started running around the trails,” Harris said. “It was just kind of a place to get away. It would be busy but it was still pretty peaceful.
“I miss seeing the water there,” she said. “But it’s still a beautiful place to run and to get out and enjoy the nature that’s there.”
DIANE CLARK
Grace Greer was at Ryerson the day Duke lake was drained in July 2005. She was 8 years old and in the park for a Girl Scout day camp, her mother, Diane Clark, said.
“For us, it was a part of our life,” Clark said.
Clark grew up in West Virginia and moved to Aleppo Township in 1994. Clark got involved with the lake as a conservation volunteer and helped put up blue bird boxes around the lake.
“The bird wildlife was much more abundant back then,” she said.
Clark said her family has a special place in the park where a large tree stands near the pool area.
“When I was a kid growing up in West Virginia, we used to go to Ryerson all the time because it was my grandfather’s favorite place to go,” she said. “He had a favorite tree there where we would have our family reunions. My daughter, Grace, had her senior pictures taken at that same tree.”
BRANDY TUTTLE
Brandy Tuttle told her friend numerous times as a teenager not to stand up in the canoe, but her friend didn’t listen.
“She stood up and we tipped over,” Tuttle said. “So, we went swimming in Duke Lake that day.”
Tuttle, now 44, doesn’t remember the name of that childhood friend, but growing up near the lake, she made new friends every summer because the park was always full, and not just with people who lived in the area.
“While camping, we used to play hide and go seek and you would meet so many different kids and sometimes you’d see the same kids you met the summer before,” she said. “My teenage years are the best memories of the park because we just did so much there.”
The summer she was 15, she would wake up, ride her bike three miles to get to the pool when it opened and stay there all day, since her sister was one of the lifeguards.
Camping and trout fishing on the lake were the highlights of her childhood. Park officials would show educational movies at the amphitheater for people to watch after dark, and some days they provided a large telescope for people to look at the stars.
She said the first day of trout season was an annual tradition she’ll never forget.
“Every year people would be getting out of their cars before the cars would stop moving,” she said. “They would all run to the gate as soon as it opened to get to their fishing spots. It didn’t matter if you were from this area, everybody knew each other that day and everyone was friendly and would just talk about fishing.”
Along with camping, fishing and canoeing, Tuttle and her family used to have family reunions in the park and they still do, generations later.
“I have a very soft spot in my heart for the park,” she said. “I still go down there and take our kids down and hike the trails.”