Central Oak Heights is an association of cottage owners on 45 acres (0.22 km²) of wooded land in Kelly Township, Union County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It was founded in 1909 as a religious campground and retreat by the Bible Conference Society of Central Pennsylvania of the United Evangelical Church. Ownership of the land passed through several churches when in 1946, the Evangelical Church merged with the United Brethren in Christ at a meeting in Johnstown, PA to form the

Evangelical United Brethren Church The Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB) was a North American Protestant church from 1946 to 1968. It was formed by the merger of the Evangelical Church (formerly the Evangelical Association, founded by Jacob Albright) and the Church of t ...

. This body, in turn, united with the American Methodist Church in 1968 to form the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelic ...

. The Central Oak Heights Association, a non-profit corporation founded in 1987, took over ownership of the land in 1990. Although no longer affiliated in an official capacity with the United Methodist Church, a great majority of the cottage owners are members of United Methodist Church. The grounds of Central Oak Heights are traditionally open during the summer months only, beginning with

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

in late May and closing soon after Labor Day weekend in early September. But the official opening is April 15 and the grounds close for the winter on October 15. Most of the cottages are privately owned and occupied during the summer months by the owners. There are several cottages and dozens of rustic cabins that are available to rent. Also available to rent, is the Shaffer Building, a large dormitory style building, a

dining hall A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or schoo ...

, The Tabernacle an open air church with auditorium style seating and roff, Sylvan Chapel a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

in the woods near the cabins, a swimming pool and two picnic

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

History

The Bible Conference Society of Central Pennsylvania of the United Evangelical Church was founded in 1894 by a group of Evangelicals from Central Pennsylvania that were interested in holding

camp meeting The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in England and Scotland as an evangelical event in association with the communion season. It was held for worship, preaching and communion on the American frontier ...

s or

bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

conferences. They held their first summer meeting at Pine Grove near

Lock Haven Lock Haven is the county seat of Clinton County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Located near the confluence of the West Branch Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Creek, it is the principal city of the Lock Haven Micropolitan Statistical Area ...

in the summer of 1894. A location near West Milton known as Miller's Grove was thought by the members of the conference was thought to be the ideal location for their meetings, but it was not available to purchase until 1907. The Evangelicals of Central Pennsylvania continued to hold their meetings at various locations in the

Susquehanna Valley The Susquehanna Valley is a region of low-lying land that borders the Susquehanna River in the U.S. states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The valley consists of areas that lie along the main branch of the river, which flows from Up ...

including Sylvan Dell in Armstrong Township near South Williamsport and Grace Church in Lewistown.

Miller's Grove

Central Oak Heights is situated on a knoll overlooking the

West Branch Susquehanna River The West Branch Susquehanna River is one of the two principal branches, along with the North Branch, of the Susquehanna River in the Northeastern United States. The North Branch, which rises in upstate New York, is generally regarded as the exten ...

in Union County, Pennsylvania. It is across the river from Milton and just downstream from West Milton. This small hill was originally occupied by a small band of

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

who were governed by

Shikellamy Shikellamy (1680 - December 6, 1748), also spelled Shickellamy and also known as Swatana, was an Oneida chief and overseer for the Iroquois confederacy. In his position as chief and overseer, Shikellamy served as a supervisor for the Six Nations, ...

of the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

. Shikellamy's main village was just downstream at present day

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

at the confluence of the West and North Branches of the Susquehanna Rivers. This land was acquired from the Indians under the terms of the

Walking Purchase The Walking Purchase (or Walking Treaty) was a 1737 agreement between the Penn family, the original proprietors of the Province of Pennsylvania, later the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the Lenape native Indians (also known as the Delaware In ...

and the later

Treaty of Fort Stanwix The Treaty of Fort Stanwix was a treaty signed between representatives from the Iroquois and Great Britain (accompanied by negotiators from New Jersey, Virginia and Pennsylvania) in 1768 at Fort Stanwix. It was negotiated between Sir William J ...

. Josh Hoffman was the first white man to hold a deed to the land. He received his patent in 1770. The land was owned by George Miller at the time it was sold to the Bible Conference Society of Central Pennsylvania of the United Evangelical Church. Mr. Miller was very found of "Miller's Grove" and sought to protect the stand of virgin

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

that stood on his hill. One of the conditions of the purchase of the land was that the oaks be left standing. The Evangelicals paid $4,816.35 for the hilltop. They agreed to allow the oaks trees to continue to grow and most importantly they had a permanent home for their summertime meetings.

Buildings

The first camp meetings were held at Central Oak Heights in the summer of 1909. As many as 6,000 people came to the hilltop for these meetings. They arrived from the train stations in Milton and West Milton or if they lived close by they came on their horse-drawn wagons and carriages. Some campers stayed in tents and others set about the task of building the cottages that stand today at the Heights. The first structures that were built included the octagonal outdoor church known as the Tabernacle, a cottage and a dormitory. Over the years more and more cottages were built on the hilltop. The founders of Central Oak Heights also commissioned the building of a

summer camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...

on the southern slopes of the hill. This camp, closed in the 1980s, served as a summer camp for Evangelical and later United Methodist youth from throughout the United States. The cottagers and campers swam in the river at what was to become Milton State Park before a swimming pool was built. The pool was built due to safety concerns regarding crossing the train tracks and U.S. Route 15 to get to the riverside. This pool was open to the youth of the summer camp and to the families that owned the cottages. A large dining hall was built in the 1950s for the camp. This Dining Hall was actually moved several hundred feet to the northwest in the 1960s. The move saved it from being demolished, since the old location was over the present-day site of Route 15, which was being expanded at the time from two lanes to four. Also built during this time period was Sylvan Chapel. This chapel is set deep in the woods of the campground.

Today

The Central Oak Heights of today is much different that what it was like in the early days. Most of the cottage owners are retired. They gather there in the summers with their families and enjoy the cool temperatures provided by the abundant shade given by the trees. Revival meetings have long since been discontinued, although Sunday

worship service A church service (or a service of worship) is a formalized period of Christian communal worship, often held in a church building. It often but not exclusively occurs on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sa ...

s continue to be held in the original Tabernacle. The summer camp which ended in the 1980s is a part of history. The cabins still stand. Some have fallen into disuse and others are rented out to the occasional family or youth group. The swimming pool, dining hall, and pavilions are also rented to families and youth groups, and they receive regular use from the families of the cottage holders. In the Summer of 2009, the Heights celebrated its 100th Anniversary. Many events took place on the grounds, including guided tours, concerts, open houses, picnics, and even

Antique car An antique car is an automobile that is an antique. Narrower definitions vary based on how old a car must be to qualify. The Antique Automobile Club of America defines an antique car as over 25 years of age. However, the legal definitions for th ...

rides.

External links

Central Oak Heights mapOfficial website

References

* * * * *{{cite web , url = http://www.centraloakheights.org , title = Central Oak Heights , accessdate = 2007-03-22 , publisher = Friends of Central Oak Heights Buildings and structures in Union County, Pennsylvania United Methodist Church Evangelical United Brethren Church 1909 establishments in Pennsylvania Non-profit organizations based in Pennsylvania Methodism in Pennsylvania