From Here to Granere

Granere is a ghost town if ever I met one. It's exactly the kind of discovery that makes life in this woodland region worthwhile.

I heard about Granere from Troutdude, a member of that vast Kane Diaspora, a faithful reader of The Journal, and a fellow blogger. Unlike most of the Diaspora, who now live in North Carolina, Troutdude has the originality to spend his exile out in Columbus. So, let's all lift our collapsible water bottles to the Troutdude!

Unlike other ANF ghost towns that I've documented (McKinley, Guffey, Windy City, and Corduroy), Granere's name does not appear on any map. You can Mapquest it and come up with nothing. It was a logging town with 65 homes and a large sawmill, centered around a logging pond. It was a straw fire of a place, active from about 1898 through 1903.

In fact, it seems that Granere was the successor to Gardeau. As one logging company made its destructive path through the forests of Northern Pennsylvania, it built temporary towns, used up all the lumber, and then abandoned the towns. When the lumber at Gardeau was depleted, the company moved on to Granere. In the long run, Gardeau fared a little better than Granere, since the tomb of a once-famous Civil War officer is located there, as well as many hunting camps.

So what will you find if you visit old Granere? You'll find a broad clearing with the swampy remains of a pond. East of the pond is where the town's residential neighborhood stood, and if you pay attention, you'll see the telltale red pines standing in rows. The highlight of any trip to Granere is the stone foundation of a large sawmill that was constructed in a small tributary to the Kinzua Creek. There are some old millstones. There also seems to be the silted-up remains of a canal, not pictured.

I also chanced across a few shards of crockery. It appeals to the latent archaeologist in me, sifting through the remains of these old towns. Who were the unfortunate souls who spent five toilsome years here? What were their names, and where did they go from here? Surely no one ever considered this sad little shantytown "home," and yet surely some child made his or her first steps here. Surely a mother died giving birth somewhere on this site. Surely a man, wracked with the desperation that only the poor can know, hanged himself from the rafters of one of its gloomy houses. Surely there was love here once, and generosity, and addiction, and fear, and hope. Who were they? And where did they go?

At times, when I'm fed up or underwhelmed by my lot in life, I wish I'd paid better attention in Hebrew class. I could have made a life of archaeology.

I've double-checked, and Granere is on public land. To get to it, take US219 north from Lantz Corners about 2 miles, then turn left onto Mead Run Road. Take that to FR186, and follow the forest road for 1.2 miles to a place where it intersects with a well-marked snowmobile trail. (This trail is the old railroad grade for the trains that took the dead tree trunks out of Granere.) Follow the snowmobile route south until it veers back east and descends into the town. You can hear a rooster crowing from the town site, so it's sure that there's a current settlement nearby.

Troutdude also sent me some photos of Granere when it was a living place. I'll try to include those in a future post.

[An anonymous message to The Journal on August 23, 2011, claims that Granere is actually on private land, so it's off limits to hikers.]