Ah, yes. I remember it like it was yesterday. My first trip to Laquin.
In two weeks, the Bradford County Historical Society will present the program, "Laquin: Behind the Photos" at the Rialto Theatre in Canton, Pa. In preparation for that event I will answer some frequently asked questions pertaining to my interest in Laquin. Now on with the story.
It was either in October or November. I was 10 years old. An overnight trip was planned for our youth group at a cabin located in the valley of Laquin.
The trip began in LeRoy by loading into a utility van. I don't recall that there were any seats. It was in the evening and so the drive up the mountain and into Laquin was made in the dark. All I can remember is looking out through the front windshield and seeing the headlights hitting the trees and the dirt road. Several times we came to what appeared to be a "fork" in the road.
After a half hour drive, we arrived in Laquin. Since we arrived in the dark, I didn't know that we were in a valley or what was in the darkness beyond the light of the cabin. The cabin is essentially one room with a loft on the second floor which was accessed by a ladder. There was a bedroom, bathroom and enclosed porch, but you had to go outside and back in another door to access that part of the building. The suggestion by the adults that a previous owner of the cabin had moved to Towanda, shot a man, and had been placed in prison where he later died was enough to scare us; especially when we later heard tapping on the windows in the night (that turned out to be those same adults).
That was my first introduction to Laquin.
When we awoke the next morning, the adults were making breakfast. The boys were in the loft. One of us looked out the loft window and noticed something behind the cabin. A huge stone tower-like structure only 50 feet or so from the cabin. Also what appeared to be foundations and large blocks of concrete. It was then that I forgot what happened the night before and the exploration instinct of a boy kicked in. After breakfast, I would discover for the first time, the ruins of a town called Laquin.
To read more, check out the blog later this week...
