Melodie Anderson-Smith
Vice President, BRS Library Board of Directors

This story begins in 1922, when a public lending library was established by Miss Mary Norwood on the first floor of the Parish House of the Episcopal Church of Transfiguration in the south-central Pennsylvania village of Blue Ridge Summit.

The community center and library established in the Parish House were run for the benefit of the community and were not an extension of the Episcopal Church. As such, the facility was free to all members of local communities, regardless of race or creed. In addition, the tiny library served the "summer people" who flocked to the mountain by train from cities to the east, escaping the coal smoke and oppressive heat of urban life in summer.

The library enriched the life of this mountaintop community, and also welcomed residents and visitors from the Pennsylvania and Maryland communities of Monterey, Fountaindale, Friends Creek, Sabillasville, Pennersville, Highfield, Buena Vista, Rouzerville, Hooverville, and Cascade. As the library grew, the collection was moved to the second floor of the Parish House, where continued growth of the collection required structural enhancements to the facility in 1937. One hundred years later, albeit in a different location, the library continues to thrive.

Today a first-time visitor to Blue Ridge Summit might sense the atmosphere of a "mountain getaway." Though still an attractive tourist village, its vibrant year-round community includes many families descended from those who played important roles in its history. These families, as well as newer residents, enjoy a mountaintop life that nurtures neighborhood friendliness, community pride and "mountain hardiness."

In the 1890s, Blue Ridge Summit experienced an era of growth as a summertime resort. Crowds of visitors from Baltimore and Washington arrived and departed by train. More than 16 foreign embassies operated from rented vacation homes in the area during this period! Wallis Simpson, later the Duchess of Windsor, was born in 1896 in one of the holiday "cottages" in Blue Ridge Summit.

The Western Maryland Railroad provided passenger service from Hagerstown to Blue Ridge Summit starting in 1872, and in 1891 a new train station was built on Summit Plaza. It was the center of the business district and a community hub during the season when excursion trains rolled into the village.

By the 1930s, however, the age of the automobile was underway—the resort community declined and the demand for rail service was diminished. In 1957, the railroad discontinued passenger service to the village.

An important page in the history of the Blue Ridge Summit Free Library came the following year. In 1958, the little library was invited to move into the vacant train station. In a quiet ceremony on the front steps of the station, Western Maryland Railroad officials conveyed the deed to the station and 1.5 acres of land to Mrs. Robert Hearne, president of the library’s board of directors, with the following statement:

"In the tradition of the good neighbor, the Western Maryland family deeds to all the families of Blue Ridge Summit this familiar community meeting place to be used as a free public library, thus continuing in a cultural sense, the close relationship between the railroad and the people."

The Blue Ridge Summit station was one of several stations servicing resort communities in the vicinity of Pen Mar Park, a large recreational area built by the Western Maryland Railroad close to the Pennsylvania-Maryland line.

The original station building, with its Queen Anne style architecture, was likely designed by the railroad company. It had 12-foot-wide porches on all four sides. In 1975, the building’s rear porches were enclosed to provide restrooms and additional space for the library. A handicap access ramp was added to the west porch. The front porch and facade have remained largely intact, with the exception of the relocation of two ticket windows from the rear of the building, where the tracks were located. A round 40-foot turret extending skyward from the roof gives the building its distinctive architectural identity.

In 1992, a single-story addition, 23 by 27 feet, was added to the eastern elevation. The addition features one-over-one windows on the northern exposure with cladding that replicates the station’s original wood siding. A doorway from this addition opens to a small garden area where a log house was relocated on October 10, 1991. The log house is believed to have been used as an early library at one of the guest houses in Blue Ridge Summit, and is currently used for library storage.

Throughout the years, the library has served its patrons as both an independent library and as an affiliate branch of other library systems. In 1945, the Blue Ridge Summit Library board formalized a relationship with the Washington County Library of Hagerstown, Md., and entered into a 5-year affiliation contract. While this formal arrangement later expired, Washington County continues to support the use of the library by its residents through an annual contribution. Following the agreement with Washington County, the Blue Ridge Summit Free Library operated as an unaffiliated library until the year 2000, when, due to changes in Pennsylvania state law regarding library funding, the library became a branch of the Alexander Hamilton Memorial Free Library in nearby Waynesboro. That agreement ended in 2007, and in 2013, the library board elected to become a branch of the Franklin County Library System.

As a branch of the Franklin County Library System, the library continues its tradition as a gathering place for residents and visitors, where local gossip, news of the day and weather prognostications are exchanged. The library is not a particularly quiet place—it is alive with activity! School children peck away on computer keyboards, parents and librarians consult about the project at hand, locals flip through newspapers, and committees and groups meet in the community room—always over cups of coffee. Every few hours the train passes by, causing conversations and board meetings to pause until the whistle fades.

The library also hosts regular programs, including a weekly teen and tween night, a monthly gathering of quilters, and a monthly scherenschnitte class, where new and experienced individuals may learn and practice the art of German paper cutting. Children’s story hours and periodic movie nights fill the remaining regular program schedule, while special programs and events are interspersed throughout the annual calendar.

Financial and material support from the community has been and continues to be integral to the success of the library. Each July, the board of directors welcomes patrons and visitors to the annual Ice Cream Social and Book Sale, which will be celebrating its 36th anniversary on July 16, 2022. It is a "local color" indoor and outdoor event that features live music, more than 1,500 books for sale, children’s entertainment, food and bake sales, local authors, community organizations, plants and flowers—and, of course, ice cream. While this is the single largest annual fundraising event for the library, the community has hosted numerous creative fundraisers to support the operations and growth of the library.

Throughout its history, many events held to benefit the library would be considered unique by today’s standards. In 1933, in an effort to enhance the library’s collection, a Library Tea was held with the "price" of admission being the donation of one or more books. Card parties, hosted in both the home of Mary Norwood and at the Monterey Country Club, raised funds for the acquisition of titles for the library. From 1936 through at least 1939, Miss Evelyn Woods of Baltimore presented marionette performances. Library records indicate that her performances were nationally known, and that the library was very fortunate to have her come to Blue Ridge Summit.

Concerts featuring pianists, violinists, and vocalists from Baltimore’s Peabody Conservatory of Music, the National Symphony Orchestra, and other esteemed music organizations were held throughout the years, in both the private home of Miss Norwood, and at the Parish House. Dramatic productions performed by local theater groups were held for the benefit of the library.

Since the inception of the library, an annual appeal has been conducted to raise funds to support its operations. Donations of funds and materials have come from residents of the community, and from places far beyond the local community. In 1937, a book drive was held, where books to be donated to the library could be dropped off at central locations in Baltimore, Chevy Chase, Md., Norfolk, Va., and in Blue Ridge Summit—a broad geographic footprint of support that continues today.

In 2021 the inaugural Plant Sale on the Plaza was held on Mother’s Day weekend, and the second annual plant sale is set for May 7.

The library is open five days a week; it is closed on Friday and Sunday. For more information, visit their website at www.fclspa.org/locations/blue-ridge-summit-library.

Perhaps these library patrons best express the importance of this small, but very special, library:

"… I’ve been coming here since I was a kid and it still remains one of my favorite places. I have always been an avid reader and coming here gets me excited about the next adventure—in a book. Many resources and an asset to the community." –Elizabeth Farmer

"The BRS Library is [the] only library that knows their patrons’ library numbers without asking for a card. Thanks for the personal attention." –Sharon Garcia