Crestmont (43 page)

Sloan was an officer of the New Jersey Bowling Association for many years and served as representative of the American Bowling Congress. His untiring devotion to the sport was evidenced not only by his excellence as a bowler (averaging close to 200 for numerous years), but also by his dedication to instructing and forming leagues for area young people. Sloan, nominated by his son-in-law, N. John Weiss, (father of the author) is a member of the South Jersey Bowling Association’s Hall of Fame. Sloan also invented the electric scissors in 1939.

Woodshed on
Crestmont
Hill

February 5, 1926

*A fascinating detail about Eagles Mere history found in
Looking Back at Eagles Mere
, a history by Joe
Mosbrook
, published by the
Eagles
Mere
Museum
, 2008, p. 145.

*
Mosbrook
, p. 144.

*Captain Chase was a civil engineer in Eagles Mere in the early 20
^th
century.

The
Crestmont
Inn

Summer 1926

II

*Collins,
Wilkie
.
The Woman In White
, 1860.

*
La
Forza
del
Destino
,
opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi, 1861.

*Rosa Ponselle reigned as queen of the dramatic sopranos at the Metropolitan Opera in
New York City
for nineteen years. In 1927, at the age of forty, she retired from singing on the opera stage at the height of her career. She never lost her love for singing, but the ever-present stage fright, worry over the condition of her voice, coupled with the pressures and rigors of performing wore her down. After her retirement she married, moved to
Baltimore
and actively promoted the Baltimore Opera. She concertized and recorded for several years. Maria Callas called her “the greatest singer of us all.” Ever supportive of young singers, Ponselle spent forty-four years nurturing aspiring opera singers from her beloved home, Villa Pace, in
Maryland
. Rosa Ponselle died in 1981. To my knowledge, she never actually visited The
Crestmont
Inn, although she sang concerts in cities and small towns all over the
United States
during this time period.

*Fitzgerald, F. Scott.
The Great Gatsby.
New York
: Scribner, 1925.

*“I’ll Build a Stairway to
Paradise
,” George Gershwin/B.G.
DeSylva
and Arthur Francis, (pseudonym for the young Ira Gershwin) composed in 1922.

*Tennis tournaments actually began at the
Crestmont
in 1907.

The
Crestmont
Inn

Summer 1926

II

*
Il
Trovatore
, opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi, 1857.

Eagles Mere,
Pennsylvania

1926

*Two original tennis courts were built by the
Crestmont
Inn. Five lower courts were added in 1926. The August tournaments coincided with those in Forest Hills, located in
Queens
,
New York
City, which ultimately moved to Flushing Meadows to become the U.S. Open. The Eagles Mere Tennis Tournaments, designed to attract the better players in the country who did not qualify for
Forest Hills
, ran for 63 years, from 1907 to 1970. Deer charging up and down the courts provided further challenges for maintenance.

*The Holy Bible. Deuteronomy 30:19.

Eagles Mere,
Pennsylvania

1927

*Tobogganing has been the main winter sport in Eagles Mere for over one hundred years. The toboggan run is said to be the fastest in the nation, complete with warm up shack and refreshment stand. In 1904, Captain E.S. Chase, working with other residents, fit large ice blocks together to create a solid ice slide down steep
Lake Street
. He built a wooden toboggan with metals runners. The Eagles Mere Ice Toboggan Slide is an attraction for winter sports enthusiasts to this day.
Mosbrook
, p. 123-128.

The
Crestmont
Inn

Summer 1927

I

*A salad bowl, thirty inches in diameter, hewn from one solid hemlock tree, belonged to the
Crestmont
in its early days. It is now on display at The Eagles Mere Museum, Eagles Mere, PA.

*A revised version of “Blind Man Working” from
Mere Tales
by Barbara and Bush James,
Paulhamus
Litho, 2005. Used by permission.

II

*The
Operadio
was a brand of radio invented in 1925. Public broadcasting had begun in 1921
.

*“How Can I Keep from Singing?” Words and music by Robert Lowry 1826-1899.

1.
  
My life flows on in endless song,

     
above earth’s lamentation.

     
I hear the clear, though
faroff
hymn

     
that hails a new creation.

     
Refrain:

     
No storm can shake my inmost calm

     
while to that Rock I’m clinging.

     
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth,

     
how can I keep from singing?

2.
  
Through all the tumult and the strife,

     
I hear that music ringing.

     
It finds an echo in my soul.

     
How can I keep from singing?

     
Refrain

3.
  
What though my joys and comforts die?

     
I know my Savior
liveth
.

     
What though the darkness gather round?

     
Songs in the night he
giveth
.

     
Refrain

4.
  
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,

     
a fountain ever springing!

     
All things are mine since I am his!

     
How can I keep from singing?

     
Refrain

III

*Now known as the US Open in Flushing Meadows.

*
Courier Post Newspaper
,
Camden
,
New Jersey
, April 9, 1941.

Epilogue

Crestmont
Hill

1977

*Peg Woods Dickerson and her husband, Tingle, administered The
Crestmont
Inn from 1947 (with William Woods as chairman and Tingle Dickerson as president) until it closed in 1970. Peg was an avid golfer and frequently competed as a finalist in the July Women’s Singles’ Tennis Tournaments. The hotel contents were auctioned off over a four-day period in 1977, with Peg in attendance. Her husband, Tingle Dickerson, passed away in 1980 after a long illness. Peg Woods Dickerson died in 1983.

Sources

Books

Cather, Willa.
A Lost Lady
.
New York
: Alfred A.
Knoff
, 1923.

Cather, Willa.
Song of the Lark
. 1915.
New York
: Houghton Mifflin Company, forwarded copyright, 1988.

Dreiser, Theodore.
Sister Carrie.
New York
: Barnes and Noble Classics, 1900.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott.
The Great Gatsby.
New York
: Scribner, 1925.

Gruelle
, Johnny.
Raggedy Ann Stories
.
New York
: The
Bobbs
-Merrill Co. Inc., 1918.

James, Bush and Barbara.
Mere Reflections: A Unique Journey Through Historic Eagles Mere.
Montoursville
,
PA
:
Paulhamus
Litho, Inc.,1988. Third Printing.

James, Bush and Barbara.
Mere Tales: A Collection of Entertaining Stories About Eagles Mere.
Montoursville
,
PA
:
Paulhamus
Litho, Inc., 2005.

James, Bush and Barbara.
The
Crestmont
Inn, A History.
(Out of print)

Kyvig
, David E.
Daily Life in the United States 1920-1940 (How Americans Lived Through the “Roaring Twenties” and the Great Depression).
Chicago
,
IL
: Ivan R. Dee, 2004.

McFarland, L.H.D. and Robert B. McFarland.
Eagles Mere and the
Sullivan
Highlands
.
Harrisburg
,
PA
: J. Horace McFarland Company, 1944.

Meade,
Marion
.
Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties.
New York
: Doubleday & Co., 2004.