County reveals plans for Mingo’s Henry House, other park projects
Washington County plans to demolish a log house deemed to be beyond repair that is next to a Cross Creek park entrance but renovate the interior of another house at another county park.
The structure that will remain is the Henry House, owned by the John Henry family from 1817 to 1961. Washington County acquired the property two years later as part of Mingo Creek County Park, according to a presentation prepared by the county Planning Commission.
The original landowner was Enos McDonald, who claimed the 304-acre farm in 1785. He lived in a log home on the Henry House site during the Whiskey Rebellion, which began in 1791.
The county restored the limestone structure in the mid-1990s, but Lisa Cessna, executive director of the Washington County Planning Commission, which oversees county parks, told the commissioners recently that renovation of the interior will “allow us to open it for public use. We could use it internally for programs, and we could also use it as if it were a shelter.”
The project will be paid for from Mingo Park natural gas lease proceeds. The park is also home to the Henry Covered Bridge that dates to 1881.
Also at Mingo park, the commissioners approved advertising for bids from a contractor to repair a small landslide, pave two sections of road damaged by the slide and flooding, and reinforce the creek bank.
Related to Cross Creek County Park, the commissioners awarded a $22,400 demolition services contract to LM&R Excavating, LLC, Hookstown, Beaver County, to dismantle a log house at the intersection of Route 844 and Thompson Hill Road in West Middletown.
The contractor is to be paid from Cross Creek natural gas lease funds.
Officials of both the county and West Middletown Borough deemed the log home covered with siding to be unsalvageable as a structure, but the building’s logs and stone foundation will be stored in a maintenance shop until they can be reused in a park project.
The county purchased the tax-delinquent East Main Street property at a judicial sale in 2015.
At the request of the Planning Department, the commissioners approved a $24,650 supplement to its contract with GAI Consultants for the first part of an archaeological survey, storm sewer work and testing required by the state Department of Environmental Protection at the lakeside pier dubbed Discovery Cove.
The pier is designed to provide Cross Creek Lake access to those who do not have watercraft.
The supplement brings the total cost of the contract with GAI to $239,610, which the county is paying from natural gas lease proceeds from wells at the park.