Sampling the Spirits of Sandyvale
By Dave Hurst
© 2013 Hurst Media Works
Lovers of wine events should have the Sandyvale Memorial Gardens Wine Festival
marked on their calendars for Saturday, October 5. Its setting is a beautiful little 11-acre
park in Johnstown’s Hornerstown neighborhood.
Located next to the Stonycreek River, Sandyvale Memorial Gardens and Conservancy is
almost perfectly level and features raised flower beds, monuments, sculptures, a
greenhouse, a dog park and a one-mile walking/bicycling trail embracing it all.
Within this picturesque park, the festival will offer the fruit of 10 wineries, pottery and
jewelry artisans, flower vendors, caterers, carriage and hot-air balloon rides, live music
on two stages, strolling entertainers, chances on gift baskets and door prizes. People will
wander from area to area, sampling wines, participating in the activities, or just spreading
a blanket on the lawn and enjoying the scene.
Even in a community where significant cultural events are becoming increasingly
commonplace, this new event is noteworthy. First, because the Sandyvale Memorial
Gardens Wine Festival is an ambitious attempt to become another of Johnstown’s
signature annual events and, second, because of its setting.
Johnstown residents of 125 years ago – or even 25 years ago – would be absolutely
amazed.
Originally, Sandy Vale was not a place where life was celebrated but where the dead
were honored. The ground was purchased in 1840 by Jacob Horner (who also established
the community that became Hornerstown) and served as a cemetery for more than 130
years.
During that period there may have been as many as 6,000 interments there. It is believed
that veterans of every American conflict from the Revolutionary War through World War
II rest there, including about 400 Civil War casualties.
Through most of those decades, Sandy Vale was an active place where residents visited
their departed loved ones and Memorial Day observances were held. What became
known as Sandyvale Cemetery was a treasured community landmark.
But the floods of 1889, 1936 and 1977 ravaged the cemetery, washed away gravestones
and destroyed the cemetery’s records. Meanwhile, other cemeteries were established
upon higher ground.
By the 1970s Sandyvale had become all-but forgotten and neglected. For the next 20
years, it was little more than a large vacant lot in a rundown neighborhood; a place where
neighborhood boys would gather for a game of football and local residents would walk
their dogs – when the overgrowth permitted.
Occasionally, local residents would cut the grass or rearrange the scattered headstones.
Repeated efforts to restore the cemetery failed. Most folks just shook their heads and
sadly wondered what could be done with a shabby old city cemetery with unmarked
graves.
Then in the early 1990s, a group named the Sandyvale Cemetery Association obtained a
court-appointment as the property’s guardian. Ever since, the group slowly but steadily
has been restoring the site’s park appearance and developing appropriate new roles:
memorial gardens that pay homage to those still buried there, coupled with a natural and
cultural conservancy that celebrates life.
Now the Sandyvale Memorial Gardens and Conservancy attracts daily users and
increasingly is becoming a venue for community celebrations. Memorial Day once again
is being observed here, and last summer, during a Juneteenth Celebration (marking the
emancipation of slaves during the Civil War), Sandyvale was designated an Underground
Railroad Network to Freedom site by the National Park Service because the bodies of
five Johnstown-area abolitionists are buried there.
This upcoming wine festival on October 5 is the most-ambitious event planned there yet,
and the event-proceeds will go toward future projects and care for the park. Your
participation will contribute meaningfully to Sandyvale’s continued development.
But don’t be surprised if this wine-festival experience proves as meaningful for you.
Sitting on the lawn, sipping the wine, you’ll certainly feel the spirit of the occasion.
Perhaps you will also sense the spirit of Sandyvale.