Orson is a village in Preston Township, Pennsylvania, United States, situated in the Lake Region of the Poconos. It was once an important depot of the Scranton Division of the New York, Ontario & Western (O&W) Railway, but today is best known for being the site of the intersection of two state roads, Belmont Turnpike (partially concurrent with Pennsylvania Route 670, or PA-670) and Crosstown Highway (entirely concurrent with PA-370), or as the location of Independent Lake Camp (ILC).

Municipal status and boundaries

Two Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) signs on Crosstown Highway identify the community as the "Village of Orson." In Pennsylvania, a village is an unincorporated community within a township, but PennDOT identifies most villages with roadside signs, a fact that might reasonably lead those unfamiliar with this practice to believe that these communities are incorporated municipalities administered separately from the townships in which they are located. Since Pennsylvania's villages, including Orson, are, in fact, not municipalities in their own right, they do not have official boundaries, and the United States Census Bureau does not collect statistics for them (unless, unlike Orson, they are census-designated places). In spite of this, because of strong local consensus, as well as the fact that many features are named for the villages they are associated with, it is almost always possible to consistently determine whether a particular feature is in one village or another.

Natural features

Notable natural features located in Orson include Mount Ararat (partially in Belmont Corners, Pennsylvania, and sometimes called Ararat Mountain, Ararat Peak, Ararat Summit, or simply "Ararat"), Independent Lake (partially in Poyntelle, Pennsylvania, and formerly known as Independence Pond or Independent Pond, and sometimes known today as Lake Independence or Lake Independent), Mud Pond (partially in East Ararat, Pennsylvania), Orson Pond, and Sugarloaf Mountain (formerly called Sugar Loaf Peak or Sugar-loaf Mountain). In addition, some of the small, unnamed streams that are the source of the West Branch of the Lackawaxen River begin in the southern part of the village (the rest are in Poyntelle).

Independent Lake is one of the four sources of the East Branch of the Lackawanna River (the other three being Bone Pond, or Summit Lake,Water Supply Commission of Pennsylvania. p. 29. and Lake Lorain, or Five Mile Pond,Water Supply Commission of Pennsylvania. p. 65. in Poyntelle; and Dunn Pond, or Dunns Lake,Water Supply Commission of Pennsylvania. p. 57. in East Ararat). It is fed by natural springs on the lake bottom. Orson Pond, a reservoir once used for ice harvesting and other economic activities,Water Supply Commission of Pennsylvania. p. 136. was originally a much smaller body of water, but was expanded significantly when the Orson Pond Dam, or Orson Dam, (which is of the rock-fill variety) was built. The pond drains into the Lackawanna.

Roads and intersections

As has been noted above, Orson is centered around the intersection of Belmont Turnpike and Crosstown Highway. This intersection is the northern terminus of both Belmont and PA-670 (which are concurrent there), and the paved road that runs north from the junction is called Oxbow Road (at least one source says "Orson" Road). Oxbow is designated PA-4035, and is part of neither PA-670 nor Belmont.

Township roads in Orson include Blewett Road (Township Road 678, or T678), which connects to Crosstown; Clark Road (T579), which connects to Crosstown and Oxbow; Doyle Road (T686), which connects to Crosstown and Clark; Hines Road (T692), which connects to just Clark; Mud Pond Road (T565), which connects to just Crosstown; and Paluch Road (T567), which connects to Belmont. In Pennsylvania, township roads are numbered by county (i.e., a single number may be assigned to multiple roads as long as each road is in a different county), but are maintained by township (i.e., the township is entirely responsible for their upkeep). Like many township roads in the state, Blewett, Clark, Doyle, Hines, Mud Pond, and Paluch are all unpaved. There is also one officially named (i.e., its name may be used in addresses) private road in the village, Black Bear Lane, which connects to Crosstown and is also unpaved.

History The community known today as Orson was founded by Merritt Hine (at least one source says "Merrill" HineGoodrich. p. 244.) of Woodbridge, Connecticut, in 1840 (one source says he was from Massachusetts and that he founded the village in 1831). He was the son of David Hine, who relocated to Pennsylvania sometime after his son was established there. Like many of the early settlers of Wayne County, the elder Hine was a veteran of the Revolutionary War, having served in the Continental Army. In its early days, the settlement was known as Hine's Corners, and was situated around what is now the intersection of Clark and Oxbow Roads. "Hines Corners" (note that the apostrophe is dropped) is still the accepted name for the intersection of Clark and Oxbow, and it is labeled as such on the United States Geological Survey (USGS) topographic quadrangle map which includes Orson (the quadrangle also being called "Orson").

Hine's Corners quickly grew to a reasonable size and appears in F. W. Beers' 1872 Atlas of Wayne County. The population subsisted in large part on agriculture, dairying, and ice harvesting, the last of which was facilitated by the large number of lakes in the area. The Hine's Corners United Methodist Congregation was formed in 1849 after the conversion of Catharine Hine (née Belcher), wife of Merritt Hine, and the Hine's Corners Methodist Episcopal (ME) Church (later the Orson ME Church) was completed in July 1876. Hine's Corners Post Office opened on September 8, 1873.

On December 25, 1878, Orson C. Chamberlain, a great-grandchild of Catharine and Merritt Hine, died of diphtheria in an epidemic that affected many people in the area. The community came to be known as Orson Corners (virtually always shortened to Orson) in his honor, and the post office was accordingly renamed "Orson Post Office" on September 19, 1896.

When the O&W Railway expanded its service to Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1890, it created several depots in rural Wayne County, one of which was located in Orson. The station was listed on maps and timetables as both "Orson" and as "Belmont," the latter being a variant name for Belmont Corners. The Orson/Belmont depot, which had the call letters "BM," was located a few yards south of what is now the intersection of Belmont Turnpike and Crosstown Highway, and its construction caused the community to move slightly southwards in order to take advantage of the economic opportunities brought by the new railroad. The rail traffic brought great prosperity to Orson, and at the height of the railroad's popularity, the village boasted two creameries, two ice houses, a grain mill, a sawmill, and several hotels and stores, created in large part to serve the influx of people brought to and through Orson by the O&W.

Summer camp industry

The depot building burned down on March 24, 1933. The O&W did not rebuild it (although it continued to use the stop for freight operations) and got permission on June 5, 1939, from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to convert it to an unstaffed station. It was finally abandoned in 1957 after the O&W went bankrupt, and this event largely marked the end of Orson's notability outside of its contiguity. Many of the village's business establishments closed soon after the railroad did, with the notable exception of the summer camps that would gradually come to replace the railroad as Orson's main source of supra-regional prominence. The first of these was Camp Nehantic, a Jewish girls’ camp that was founded in 1919 by Harry Davidson and his wife, and that had originally been located on Crescent Beach in Niantic, Connecticut. Between 1925 and 1926, Nehantic moved to the western bank of Independent Lake, in Orson, and soon became an important part of the community's economy. In 1931, the camp was bought by J.A. Wells, and then, between 1936 and 1937, it closed and was replaced in 1937 by Camps Carmelia and Keeyumah, twin Jewish camps for girls and boys, respectively. These two had both opened around 1928 on the banks of Lake Champlain in Milton, Vermont (at least one source says they were located in Oneonta, New York, and refers to the boys' camp as "Keeyuma"). The two camps shared facilities and operated in concert with each other until 1949, when they were consolidated into one coeducational, Jewish camp that seems to have been administratively distinct from them, but was nevertheless also called Camp Keeyumah. This Keeyumah was open until 1974.

Meanwhile, the eastern bank of the lake, in Poyntelle, had long been occupied by Camp Echo Lark. Echo Lark had been founded in 1923 in Hyde Park, New York, and had moved to Poyntelle in 1927.Sargent (1935). p. 436. Originally a Jewish girl's camp under the direction of Augusta Nomburg, Echo Lark went coed when it was taken over by Ace Weinstein in either 1938 or 1940 (two additional sources say 1932 and 1935, respectively, but they cannot be independently verified). Echo Lark was subsequently owned by Ben Applebaum from 1968Campecholark (25 August 2010). 0:17. (or 1969Campecholark (2011). 3:15.) until 1974, when he sold itCampecholark (2011). 6:25. to Robert and Zelda Gould. Echo Lark survived until 1991, when a camp called New England Experience supplanted it. New England Experience had relocated from Avon, Connecticut, where it had been founded in 1983. It had originally been associated with French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts, a still-operating performing arts-oriented camp in Hancock, New York.

In 1981, after the western bank had been vacant for seven years, a new camp, called Camp Westmont, took over the property.American Camping Association (1991). 162. This situation continued until 1992, when Westmont and New England Experience switched places, with Westmont moving to the lake's eastern bank in Poyntelle, where it remains today, and New England Experience relocating to the western bank in Orson. In addition, New England Experience changed its name to NE2 at Independent Lake, and became alternatively known as "Independent Lake Camp." By 1995, the latter moniker had fully replaced the former, a phenomenon which had the effect of obscuring the link between ILC and the original Connecticut camp for those who began attending or working there after the name change.

On September 13, 2001, the owners of ILC, Dan and Anne Gould, purchased land on a nameless hill to the south of the lakefront. This new area was dubbed "Elkview," after Elk Hill (often called Elk MountainWhite & Dolph. 137.) in Tirzah, Pennsylvania, which is visible from the top of the nameless hill, while the original land that had been part of the previous camps became known as "Lakeside," after Independent Lake.

Places of interest

Orson Cemetery, which was originally called Hine's Corners Cemetery, is a small family cemetery which is no longer an active burial site. It contains the graves of Catharine, David, and Merritt Hine, Orson C. Chamberlain, and other early Hine's Corners/Orson residents, and is on Clark Road across from Independent Lake. Orson Field Airport, a privately owned and operated airstrip, connects to Hines Road in northern Orson. The building that once housed the aforementioned Orson ME Church, which was officially abandoned on July 1, 2013, is located on Oxbow Road between Clark and Crosstown Highway.