Bushy Run volunteer: 91 and still going strong in Penn Township

Nov. 27—Jean Loughry started volunteering at the Bushy Run Battlefield some 30 years ago because she was interested in helping out at the historic site and was able to do it.

At age 91, the Penn Township resident is still going strong as a volunteer at the Bushy Run Battlefield along Route 993.

"I've done the battlefield dinner for 15-plus years," said Loughry, referencing the meal served to those who portray British soldiers, Native Americans and colonists at the annual re-enactment of the August 1763 battle that occurred during Pontiac's War. "In a normal year, we serve 200 people."

Loughry has volunteered 77 hours this covid-impacted year, which included helping with the colonial tea party at the museum. She was among a group of more than 50 volunteers recognized recently by the nonprofit Bushy Run Battlefield Heritage Society, which operates the museum on the battlefield site and oversees it for the state's Historical and Museum Commission.

While state restrictions because of the pandemic did not permit the society to reopen the museum until late April, the volunteers still logged 4,704 hours of service helping at the museum and the battlefield site, said Bonnie Ramus, president of the heritage society.

"We have a core group who come every day," said Ramus, who has been volunteering there since about 2005.

"Without you, we couldn't do it," Ramus told her fellow volunteers.

While most of the volunteers will work three- to four-hour shifts at the front desk or as a tour guide, others dedicate themselves to other parts of the museum and battlefield, said Shawn MacIntyre, museum facilitator.

Among the projects performed by volunteers this year was the construction of 400 feet of a split-rail fence, known as a Virginia worm fence, which replaced a weather-worn one along Route 993.

"It was five years in the making," because of the challenges of getting state approval and convincing them for the need to replace the fence, even though it was not there in 1763, said Brian Harris of Harrison City. They were ready to move forward last year when the museum was shut down because of the pandemic, said Harris, who shepherded the project through state requirements to completion.

Harris, an engineer, designed the fence, and the Pennsylvania red oak was split into rails by Jack Mosholder of Somerset. His crew delivered fieldstone for the base and worked with volunteers to finish the job.

"This new fence is a wonderful visual example of what can be accomplished by a team of dedicated volunteers," Harris said.

They will be busy next year with the staging of the re-eneactment of the August 1763 battle that resulted in the lifting of the siege by Native Americans of Fort Pitt at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, Ramus said. It was canceled in 2020 and by the time the restrictions were lifted this year, it was too late to organize the event, MacIntyre has said.

Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252, jnapsha@triblive.com or via Twitter .