Standing tall: Carvings celebrate legacy of community dedication, involvement

When Peter Hewitt and Walter McAnney learned in the late 1990s that their Mount Gretna property had two trees that needed removal, they chose an alternative: Turn the trees into art.

They commissioned a chainsaw artist who created a 13-foot-tall “Archangel Gabriel” out of a locust and a 12-foot-tall “The King of Instruments” out of an oak.

For more than a decade, the carvings stood in the sight of the men’s cottage, but after their deaths in 2020 and 2021, they were put into storage.

This past spring, a multi-year effort to restore and relocate the carvings concluded with their installation into a permanent home near the Mount Gretna Visitor Information Center.

“The process of fundraising, restoring, engineering, installing and creating signage took almost five years and many hands,” said Susan Hostetter, member of the Pennsylvania Chautauqua board and chair of the Mount Gretna Area Historical Society. “The community has now honored the legacy of these two gentlemen who enriched the lives of so many.”

Hewitt and McAnney came to Mount Gretna in the 1990s, making it their full-time residence in 1996 when they bought the cottage known as “The Point” between Pinch Road and Princeton Avenue. At the time of the purchase, the cottage was condemned, so the pair had it renovated.

They also had a 4-manual, 83-stop Allen Renaissance R-400 Digital Organ installed and began a summer tradition of opening their cottage for organ recitals that featured both up-and-coming and accomplished organists from schools including Juilliard and the Curtis Institute.

Held today in the Mount Gretna United Methodist Church, those concerts still feature organ students as well as professional organists and are still played on the Allen organ.

“Peter and Walter loved Mount Gretna, each in their own way — Peter, the extrovert, and Walter, the introvert — but they always wanted to be able to give back to the community that cared so much for them,” said Ryan Brunkhurst, who was a frequent featured organist in the summer house concerts and went on to earn a master’s degree in organ performance. “I am so thankful that I was fortunate for them to become a part of my family and my musical life.”

Rhoda Long, Brunkhurt’s grandmother and a friend of the men, recalled how they nurtured and encouraged her grandson’s musical talents.

“They prepared him for competitions – and for life,” Long said. “He has said that there’s hardly a day that he doesn’t pass on to his students something that he learned from Peter and Walter.”

Besides the concerts, Hewitt and McAnney also hosted holiday parties, including a Christmas carol sing and tree lighting, and weekly coffees.

Michael Remel, former pastor of the Methodist Church, recalled how soon after his arrival in Mount Gretna, he was “summoned” to appear on their cottage porch for coffee. He went — and continued to go every Tuesday morning for the next 10 years.

“We talked about everything — there wasn’t a topic that was off limits,” Remel said. “Peter and Walter embodied the spirit of Mount Gretna as well as any two people ever have.”

George Kinney, who worked to safeguard the carvings when The Point went on the market and helped spearhead their restoration and relocation, had thought initially about moving them to his home.

But he wanted both Gretna and larger community to enjoy the carvings and learn about the men and their contributions. Their giving extended to organizations within Gretna including the Outdoor Art Show, Gretna Theatre, and the Cicada Festival.

“It was such a wonderful thing they did, opening up their house to the community the way they did,” he said.

Bringing the carvings back into view required the kind of community spirit that the men embodied. Residents and Gretna Spirit Firewood helped to fund the project; the Chautauqua Grounds and Tree Committee oversaw it; and the Mount Gretna Borough maintenance crew helped with installation.

Both carvings represent the men’s professional lives. Hewitt worked for a Philadelphia-based company that published Bibles before becoming a docent at the Washington, D.C., National Cathedral. McAnney was a well-known organist playing in many Philadelphia churches.