Thanks to an agreement with Murrysville officials, residents will have a chance to tour local history dating back before the nation's founding.
The Murrysville Historical Preservation Society officially took over as stewards of the Hoy/Staymates cabin off of Round Top Road. Sunday marks the first in a regular series of monthly tour days when the cabin and grounds will be open to the public.
"We'll have someone here serving as a docent," said society President Carl Patty of Murrysville. "In fact, we'll probably have two or three, since the barn on the property will be open as well."
Tours will take place on the third Sunday of the month from 1 to 4 p.m. Visitors can see recent renovations and additions to the cabin, including a late-1800s-era pump organ that was recently installed.
"The cabin itself is a work in progress," Patty said. "And there are several historical activities that took place here."
The land where the log cabin is located was purchased by the Hoy family at a sheriff's sale, and later was sold to William and Susannah Staymates in 1851.
The cabin was home to Bessie Staymates from 1887 to 1974. She became the breadwinner for her family in her late teens, when she was already teaching at the Dible School, three miles south of Murrysville. She had 14 students and received a $35 monthly salary.
In 1908, when a school was built on the Clark Farm, a mile west of Export along the Northern Turnpike, she went there to teach. Staymates also taught at Newlonsburg, Murrysville, Hills, Lauffer, White Valley (as principal) and as principal at Sardis, where she concluded her career in 1955.
During her 50 years of teaching, Bessie Staymates held three positions outside what was then Franklin Township. In 1915, she taught at Denmark Manor; she was assistant supervisor at Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Pittsburgh; and she taught at the Fort Pitt School in Jeannette. She was a well-known and respected teacher and principal throughout the region.
The area at one time was home to military encampments headed by Col. George Washington, Gen. John Forbes, Col. Henry Boquet and Col. John Armstrong.
Murrysville officials helped purchase the property — Staymates left it to the Girl Scouts organization — in 1977.
"Being that Forbes Road runs past here, that George Washington was encamped here at one time, this cabin was put here and it's still here," said society member Bob Learzaf of Pittsburgh. "There's just so much (history) out there. If we don't pay attention to it, it's going to go away."
Replacing the roof of the nearby barn is also part of preserving that history.
"The roof we put on it in 1999 was not the roof we paid for," Patty said. "An Amish crew from Smicksburg is coming down to put on a standing-seam metal roof with a minimum 45-year life."
Once that is complete, Learzaf said the society would like to use the barn as a forum for historical programs and presentations.
"We just have to get the bats out first," he said with a laugh. "There's a lot of them in there."
The Hoy/Staymates cabin is on Staymates Court.
Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-850-2862, pvarine@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MurrysvilleStar.
