Scouts restore National Road markers
If things have been looking a little tidier along the National Road recently, you can thank a trio of Boy Scout brothers for their painstaking volunteer efforts. Back in July, Donna Holdorf, director of the National Road Heritage Corridor, phoned Sue Quinn of Uniontown to ask if she knew of a Boy Scout troop that would be willing to take on a service project to restore the historic road markers along the Fayette County portion of the National Road, Route 40.
“Donna knew that two of my sons were Scouts and that they had participated in the flag-raising ceremony at Gen. George Marshall Memorial Plaza (in Uniontown) as the culmination of All Veterans Week at the end of May,” said Quinn.
She discussed the matter with Tom Shrum, scoutmaster of St. John’s Troop 602 in Uniontown, who agreed to have his Scouts take on the assignment. However, he expressed some concerns about having the necessary manpower because of the troop’s involvement in various Eagle Scout projects.
The restoration mission proved slow getting started because, in July, the troop of 16 Scouts traveled to the Florida Keys for 10 days of scuba diving at the Scouts’ high adventure camp, Sea Base. Although the troop returned home on July 28, the marker project was put on hold until Aug. 10, when Quinn’s three sons, all members of the St. John’s troop, began restoring the first marker at Jockey Hollow near the Fayette-Somerset County line.
Because of the late start, most of the members of the troop were busy either practicing for the start of football season or rehearsing with their school’s marching band. Additionally, most of the Scouts also were involved in other Eagle Scout projects, so the brunt of the marker restoration work fell on Sean, Chris and Brandon Quinn.
Of the 33 markers that line the National Road in Fayette County from Jockey Hollow to the Monongahela River at Brownsville, 14 were badly in need of restoration. Of the remaining 19, two were missing and 17 were breakaway fiberglass replacements that had been installed in a previous marker project in the mid-1990s funded by grant money from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Recently, Fayette County Commissioner Joseph A. Hardy III and administrators at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa in Farmington encouraged Holdorf and the National Road Heritage Corridor to restore the markers. Once the service project team had been chosen, Hardy provided the paint and equipment needed to complete the work.
“We use a lot of salt on the area roads in the winter, which takes its toll on the original cast iron markers,” said Holdorf. “This time around, PPG gave us the exact salt-resistant paint formula we needed for the restoration project, which should help prevent them from rusting in the future.”
Each marker required four different steps and four separate trips to each site. The Quinns began by sanding off the old paint from the cast iron markers, repainting them with a base paint, following up with a top coat of white paint, then finishing each marker by painting the recessed letters in black with a small brush.
“The sanding part of the restoration was the most difficult part, partly because the batteries in the drill would finish only half a monument before they gave out,” said Sean, 17.
“After that, the painting part was rather easy.”
Sue Quinn drove her sons to the various markers at a time when gasoline prices were soaring, and the Scouts tried to work on the project at least three or four days a week. However, when school started this fall, their work time was cut in half.
“The travel time and gas expenses were my own donation to the project,” said Sue Quinn. “During the project, I did worry about the safety of my sons because the markers are about two feet off the road.”
As a precaution, the Scouts put orange safety cones and “work ahead” signs along the road, and all three boys wore orange vests supplied by Shrum.
“When the 18-wheelers drove by, they kicked up a lot of wind, and people passing by would honk their horns and wave,” said Sean.
Eleven-year-old Brandon, who just joined the troop this year, worked his way up on the project, starting off holding an orange safety flag, then taking on the sanding and painting chores.
“As an older Scout, I like to set the bar really high and make sure everything is properly done,” said Sean, who, along with his brother, Chris, have been Scouts since the first grade as Tiger Cubs.
“Dad suggested we join at an early age,” said Chris, 16. “We liked the Scouts so much we ended up staying.”
Even though the project involved the restoration of 14 cast iron markers, the Scouts also trimmed weeds around the remaining fiberglass markers, cut back brush, trees and other vegetation and picked up garbage around the sites. They also discovered that two of the markers were missing.
As a family, the Quinns are very active in the Scouts. Besides the three older boys, 6-year-old Patrick just joined the Tiger Cub Scouts at the beginning of October, and his 9-year-old sister, Samantha, is a member of the Girl Scouts, but considers herself a part of St. John’s troop because she attends all of its functions.
The troop meets every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at St. John’s Church in Uniontown and includes students from Uniontown, Geibel, Albert Gallatin and Laurel Highlands school districts.
“In the Scouts, we learn a lot about construction,” said Chris, who’s planning to build a maintenance shed at Children and Youth Services in Uniontown next spring as part of a Scout service project. “The entire troop will probably help out because we usually pitch in on one another’s projects. Even the Scout graduates come in if we need them.”
Sean, who will turn 18 on Oct. 21, can finish the school year with the Scouts, but will be unable to earn additional badges or advance in the ranks after his birthday. Currently, he’s working on a project to build a retaining wall at St. John’s Church to earn his Eagle Scout badge before the official cutoff date.
“I’m going to miss the Scouts a lot,” he said. “Mr. Shrum is one of the greatest guys I ever met and a great role model. In the future, I may even become a Scoutmaster when my own kids come of age.”
Both Sean and Chris agree that the outings and camping trips are their favorite Scout activities and that their younger brother, Brandon, has a lot to look forward to.
“Scouting helped me become a better person,” said Sean. “I learned to be there for my fellow Scouts and know they’ll be there for me as well when I need them.”
With the Fayette County portion of the marker project for the National Road complete, Holdorf plans to look for volunteers to start similar projects in Somerset and Washington counties.
“You can find the same road markers along the National Road in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia,” said Holdorf. “Ohio also has a few, but they have a different shape.”
With two missing markers in Fayette County alone, Holdorf would like to get back for the National Road any of the original markers that might now be in private hands. However, she’s very pleased with the partnership between the Hardy family, Nemacolin Woodlands and the St. John’s Boy Scout troop that forged the restoration project.
“The only way we’re going to hold on to our historic resources is to teach the up-and-coming generation the value of these important relics from the past,” she said.