What’s blooming in your garden? Monkshood, dahlias, witch hazel, bearded iris and asters
President Nancy thanked Mary Ann for arranging last month’s dahlia tour at the home of Amy Krut in West View. Thanks also to Bill and Dianne for taking the beautiful photos.
Vice President, Marlow talked about the plans he is working on for this year’s holiday lunch and tour. The idea is to tour Old Economy Village in Ambridge and eat at a restaurant in the area. PLEASE NOTE – THE DATE HAS BEEN CHANGED TO Saturday, December 2nd. Please watch your e-mail for details.
The 2024 LAGC Board will consist of the same board members as this year.
Evan Fingal decided not to be the Community Service Coordinator in 2024. Lynn Betz and Mary Jo have volunteered to be co-chairs. Claudia Hickley volunteered to assume the role of Online Communicator in place of Lynn. Thank you to everyone for your years of service and to those stepping up to assume the vacant positions!
Treasurer Denny, spoke about the donations we give to the 4 organizations that are listed in the handbook. Members voted and approved to give $250 to each of those organizations. This was already in the 2023 budget. If you have a suggestion for another worthy cause that you think we should support then, please bring your suggestion to the January 2024 meeting so that we can plan for it in the 2024 budget. One suggestion is to donate to the Latodomi Nature Center.
Program Coordinator, Mary Ann reviewed the schedule she has planned for next year. Here is a list of what we can look forward to:
January --- The North Park Rangers will talk about Winter Birds
May --- Tour of North Park Wetlands
June 4th --- Annual Picnic at Bill Goff’s house to see his peonies in bloom
June 25th --- Tour of a local garden
Please mark your calendars with the date of the 2024 LAGC plant sale: May 18th
Members were reminded to make notes now about what plants can be divided in the spring to pot up and bring to the plant sale.
The hostess sign up list was circulated by Jane. Thank you to those who signed up to bring dessert or an arrangement to our meetings.
We had a variety of delicious autumn goodies from Mary Ann Kurtz: pumpkin bars, popcorn and cookies. Linda Brown’s beautiful end of the season arrangement of flowers and grasses complemented the table. Thank you for sharing!
Mary Ann 
Linda B's Halloween arrangement 
Mary Ann's desserts 
Final touches, Jane, Claudia, Mary Ann
This evening’s program was very popular. We had 12 guests! Allegheny County Park Ranger Deaglan McManus and 2 fellow rangers came well-prepared to talk about the historical structures in North Park that we drive past and may not pay attention to. They setup a display table with old photographs of the parks and handouts of information about programs in the Allegheny County park system and were on hand to answer questions.
Ranger Deaglan talked about many of the wood and stone structures in North Park. Some are still in use but, have a different purpose today. Here are some of the facts that I found especially interesting.
· **North Park is the first Allegheny County park; it was started 4 hours earlier than South Park
· ** Police headquarters: the policemen for North Park lived in houses specifically built for them in the park
· **The Eisenbach barn from 1927 is still standing today; it’s used for electrical equipment
· **In 1927 the bison and 50 deer were brought to the park from a farm in Allentown, PA. As the animals were being transported to North Park, they paraded them thru downtown Pittsburgh for the citizens to see
· **South Park still keeps 9 to 11 bison today and there are usually a few babies born in the spring; visitors to the park can participate in public feedings at the game preserve; look for details about dates and times on the Allegheny County Parks website
· **An American Indian from Montana, Chief Big Beaver, and his family were brought to North Park to take care of the bison; they were given a house and a salary; the children went to Ingomar Elementary School
**The Grotto along Kummer Road known as the Fountain of Youth was built in 1938
**The boathouse was built before the man-made lake was created; a garage was constructed at one end of the boathouse for the police boats
**The gatehouse is one of the most photographed structures but, it was never constructed to be strong enough to be walked on by visitors
**The swimming pool was once thought to be the largest public pool ever built and holds 2 ½ million gallons of water
There are many more structures in North Park which have been there since the early years of the park such as the firehouse, observation tower, log cabin, schoolhouse shelter among others. Ranger Deaglan and his colleagues continue to discover and unearth old structures throughout North Park by studying old photos and maintaining the vegetation in the park. Please visit the following website for more information History of North Park | Allegheny County Parks.
