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Lupher's
Landing
Lupher's Landing
is a 3 acre parcel along French Creek immediately north of
the McGuffintown Bridge on Route 19 between Meadville and
Saegertown, in Hayfield Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania.
The property is bounded on the north by Black Road, on the
south by French Creek and on the east by U.S. Route 6/19.
The western boundary of the property is problematic in the
field, so the entire open space between the bridge and a home
to the west was surveyed. Lupher's Landing was inventoried
on April 13, 1998, with subsequent follow-up visits later
that spring.
The Lupher's Landing
site is forested with riparian bottomland hardwoods, and contains
sloughs and ponds. The forest onsite contains at least 2 virgin
black willow trees, one of immense size, and other trees of
significant maturity, perhaps exceeding 100 years age. Traces
of historic human activity can be detected. These include
the trace of an old road bed and paralleling canals in what
are now slough habitats.
Lupher's Landing
was the site of the first bridge in Hayfield Township to cross
French Creek. Constructed in 1805, some of the original supports
reportedly can still be seen there. The Landing was also the
site of two paper mills, one built by William Magaw in 1840
and one built by H.H. Fuller in 1880. The canal dug to utilize
the creek's power remains as a trace today.
The property was
donated to the Conneaut Lake &French Creek Valley Conservancy
by Charimina Hazen and Rebecca Hodges of Saegertown, and named
for John Lupher, founder of the First Methodist Church in
Meadville and an ancestor of Ms. Hazen and Ms. Hodges.
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