About "Friends"

Who We Are

We are a non-profit organization of volunteers. President, Kim Curtis Vice President, Mark H. Christy Secretary/Treasurer, Jeanie Oesterling Board Member, Ellen Dillon Board Member, Scott Parry Board Member, Leonard Oesterling

What We Do

Our purpose is to promote environmental education programs, outdoor recreation, maintenance of historical attributes, conservation of park assets and to encourage people to use the park for recreational activities. For instance, did you know that the Wildflower Reserve at Raccoon Creek State Park is 314 acres and contains over 500 species of flowering plants. Development of an educational program at the Wildflower Reserve began in 1962 under the ownership of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy with grants from the Maurice and Laura Falk Foundation.  Upon receipt of the grant funds, more than four miles of trails were developed under the direction of Dr. Max Henrici, distinguished authority on the Raccoon area; Dr. L. K. Henry, curator of botany at the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh; and James McClain, Conservancy director. During the previous summer a slag-paved entrance road and parking lot were provided and work began on the restoration of the picturesque lodge, located on a high point of land, to be called "The Hungerford Cabin", in honor of the Post-Gazette's famous cartoonist.   Dr. Hungerford was a member of the Hickory Club, a group which formerly owned a major portion of the reserve.  He contributed $1,000 to the Conservancy for the restoration of the cabin in which he had found many hours of relaxation and inspiration for his daily work over a period of many years. Other funds for the improvement of the Hungerford Lodge, the entrance drive, parking lot, and trails were previously provided by a grant of the Richard King Mellon Foundation.  Acquisition of the Hickory Club property and of the adjoining 92-acre Enlow farm was made possible by funds provided by The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust. The wild flowers of the Hickory Club lands have been visited by lovers of the outdoors for generations, and studied for nearly 50 years by Dr. O. E. Jennings, Pittsburgh's internationally famous botanist and author of Wild Flowers of Western Pennsylvania.  It has been most intensively studied by Dr. Max Henrici, nature writer and for years editorial writer for the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. The Reserve commands unusual significance because many species of its flora find in this region their limits of range, either north or south, and east or west. Dr. Jennings writes, "No other area in Western Pennsylvania is known to have so many characteristically southern and midwestern species which are able to extend their range for a short distance into southwestern Pennsylvania. ... It is difficult to conceive of a more beautiful, natural, wildflower garden than is to be found in mid-May in places along the moist, open flood plain of Raccoon Creek on this property.  It has for many years been the mecca of botanists and flower-photographers because of the variety and abundance of bloom." Dr. Henrici reports that the curator of the New York Botanical Garden sent a questionnaire to hundreds of botanists in every state of the Union and in seven provinces of Canada, asking them to "list the twelve showiest, most conspicuous, and most interesting wild, herbaceous plants in their area."  More than a thousand species were nominated.  Of the top fifteen in this national vote, seven are found in the Hickory Club tract and thirteen either there or within five miles. Forty members of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania visited the Hickory Club on May 13, 1962 and exactly forty species of birds were identified.  The society's reporter wrote, "They had seen or heard many warblers, the spectacular scarlet tanager in force, and high overhead an increasing congregation of turkey vultures, which finally totaled eleven." The previous excerpts were taken from Water Land and Life, a publication of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Volume IV, Number 3, Autumn 1962. If you would like to become a member of the Friends of Raccoon Creek State Park organization or just make a donation, email us using the Email "Friends" link on the left.