When Jim Thorpe Came To Hughesville - Shady Nook Park

Located near the intersection of 220 and 405, today stands the Angus Inn. But once this was a public park, created by a farmer on his own land, with a pavilion, cabins, an electric piano and a playground.  The nearby dam was a popular place for swimming in the summer and ice skating in the winter, and the park was used for family reunions, picnics, and public dances until the death of it's owner, Henry Glidewell, in August of 1942.

In 1914, Henry Glidwell would drive to Williamsport where he sold meat from a wagon.  Later, he would expand to sell in Hughesville, selling bread and milk as well.  Before long, he added ice cream, soft drink, and candy.   "The wagon became too small for his business, so he constructed a small store with a porch on three sides and increased the variety of foods sold," added Charles Glidewell.

The Dam At Shady Brook, lost in the 1972 flood, made this a popular spot for fishing, swimming, and in the winter, ice skating.

"As popularity increased as a picnic ground for many occasions, a shelter was needed in case of stormy weather so in the spring of 1922, Henry erected a pavilion on the north side of his refreshment stand with a kitchen added to service the public. "This pavilion was 30x60 feet and was enclosed by doors which could be fastened to the rafters when it was open," declared Charles." 

There was also a store. It had a tea room with a kitchen and a few tables were set for serving ice cream and hot and cold sandwiches. Charles said his grandfather had a variety of candy and popsicles sold in the store.

1931

There are many newspaper articles through the 1930s and 40s, recounting family reunions held at Shady Nook.

"Henry also installed an electric piano which became very popular for dancing. The first public dance held inside the pavilion was on Thursday evening, June 1, 1922. "Those dances became very popular with both watchers and dancers. People would sit in their cars and watch the dancing and listen to music."

As the demand for the park increased, Henry decided to build two cabins for tourists. One was a double and built on the "old approach to the Lyons Bridge." The other cabin was a single located on the north side of the park. Neither of the cabins had running water, so guests had to use facilities that were a distance of at least 200 yards. However, in spite of the lack of these conveniences, the cabins were rented frequently during the summer months." 

Jim Thorpe, The Athlete

It's hard to summarize Jim Thorpe in a few lines, but for those of you who may not know about the man behind our local town (a town he never lived in), let me attempt to do so.

Thorpe began his athletic career in Carlisle in 1907.  He was walking past the high school track, and while in street clothes, made an impromptu 5'9" high jump that beat all the schools records. 

He quickly became a track star, and then moved to football where he excelled as well, taking his college team to championship in 1912.  He played against future president Dwight Eisenhower that year, who in 1961 said of Thorpe "Here and there, there are some people who are supremely endowed. My memory goes back to Jim Thorpe. He never practiced in his life, and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw."

In the spring of 1912 he returned to track and field, training for the Olympics.  In the 1912 Olympics in Sweden, he competed in the Decathalon, Pentathalon, Javelin, Long and High jump events.  He won 4 of the 5 events and places third in the javelin.  In the Decathalon he placed in the top four of all 10 events, and his Olympic Record of 8,413 points would stand for nearly two decades.  "Even more remarkably, because someone had stolen his shoes just before he was due to compete, he found a mismatched pair of replacements, including one from a rubbish bin, and won the gold medal wearing them.  Oh - and he also won a ballroom dancing championship in 1912.

In 1913 he played baseball for the New York Giants, and then traveled with the Giants and Chicago White Sox on their world tour, where Thorpe was the celebrity of the tour.

In 1915 he switched to Football, where he went on to  play 52 NFL games from 1920 to 1928.  He had been the APFA's first president.  (The AFPA became the NFL two years later)

And he played basketball too.  "Most of Thorpe's biographers had been unaware of his basketball career until a ticket that documented his time in professional basketball was discovered in an old book in 2005. By 1926, he was the main feature of the "World Famous Indians" of LaRue, a traveling basketball team. "Jim Thorpe's world famous Indians" barnstormed for at least two years (1927–28) in multiple states.[86] Although stories about Thorpe's team were published in some local newspapers at the time, his basketball career is not well-documented." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe

He was, indisputably, the best all around athlete of his time, and possibly of all time.  But after his sports career ended, he found it difficult to hold a job.   He worked as an extra in several movies, worked as a construction workers, a bouncer, a security guard, and a ditch digger.  He was briefly a merchant marine.

The Dam at Shady Nook

Thorpe Visits  Hughesville Pa

And at some time in the 1930's, he worked for the government in a job that brought him to Hughesville PA.

"Charles Glidewell, grandson of Henry, in an interview for the Muncy Luminary,  told of a time when the famous athlete Jim Thorpe came to stay in one of the cabins, on two different occasions during the late thirties. "His mission in this area was to look for a suitable site for a boys camp.", Charles said.   Thorpe was employed at the time by the federal government. While he was in the area, he became friends with Clayton Houseknecht and the two acquaintances would go coon hunting together. "Jim attempted to buy two pups from Clayton because they looked as if they would make good coon dogs, but Clayton refused to sell them as he wanted them himself," said Charles.  

Thorpe Buried In a Town He Never Visited

It's possible that Hughesville is the closest Thorpe ever came to the area where he is now buried.

Jim Thorpe died in 1953, and his funeral was held in his home state of Oklahoma.   His third wife brokered a deal with the small town of Mauch Chunk, who were seeking to attract businesses to their area.  The town, along with the town of East Mauch Chunk,  bought Thorpes remains, erected a monument to him, combined the two towns together and renamed the  area Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania, even though Thorpe had never once visited this area.  The monument site includes his tomb, two statues of him in athletic poses, and historical markers describing his life story.  There was an extended legal battle to return Thorpe's remains to Oklahoma, to be buried among his ancestors on Native American Land, but the case stalled in 2015, with Jim Thorpe's remains remaining in the town that adopted him..

The Angus Inn

As for Shady Brook Park, the park went up for auction after the death of Henry Glidewell in 1942.  Charles Yeagle purchased the property, and according to the Angus Inn Website, "The Angus Inn opened in the 1950's as a a location to serve the Black Angus beef raised on the family farm.    Although beef from the family farm is no longer directly served at the restaurant, we maintain the tradition of serving quality beef to customers and pride ourselves on our always fresh burgers in a variety of sizes and toppings." https://www.theangusinn.com/history

==============

Read More:

• http://www.muncyluminary.com/page/content.detail/id/549847/Man-reveals-fond-memories-of-Shady-Nook-Park.html?nav=5007
•   http://www.muncyluminary.com/page/content.detail/id/549896/Shady-Nook-Park-evolved-from-a-cow-pasture-and-bread-wagon.html?nav=5003