Ghost Town: Beulah

The ghost town of Beulah can be found on the outskirts of Ebensburg. The tale of Beulah is a sad tale of the fall of the sister city of Ebensburg.

And so it began…

Early in 1796 the Cambria Company was formed with the Reverend Morgan John Rhees as its president. Rhees eventually convinced his fellow Welshman, Reverend Rees Lloyd, to gather a band of travelers together to head west.

Reverend Rhees purchased 17,000 acres under a mortgage from the famous Dr. Benjamin Rush. If you are trying to place the name, Rush was a Revolutionary War surgeon and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

In September of 1796, Lloyd and his group traveled out of Philadelphia all the way to Munster. At this point they left the road and head into the wilderness that would one day become Ebensburg. They arrived in November and began setting up their community.

The winter was a difficult and challenging one for the new settlement. Besides weather, the community struggled to keep up supplies. They had to travel 26 miles to Frankstown. Frankstown was the nearest grist mill. Lloyd began planning for the future of his community utilizing these difficulties to help craft a functioning town.

Spring 1797 saw the arrival of Rev. Rhees and his group. They traveled beyond the fledgling town by two to three miles and set up camp in a hollow upon the bank of the south branch of the Blacklick Creek.

• 

• 

Founding

Rev. Rhees had a grand vision for the town of Beulah, sometimes spelled Beula. When the group arrived, they felled the trees and began surveying. Surveying was important because Rhees’ vision included a layout styled after Philadelphia.

Beulah’s town plot started one mile square with its streets sized the same as Philadelphia. Lots were sold for $10 to $50, unless Rhees gave them away to his influential contacts back East.

Sixty to seventy log cabins were erected. Buildings for a school, seminary, public buildings, a newspaper, the first post office and polling place in the county, and a library with 600 volumes. While his city began to grow, Rhees traveled around Pennsylvania to bring attention to his fledgling community.

All the time Rhees traveled, Lloyd stayed in Ebensburg devising and instituting ways to sustain and grow his community. Both towns built grist mills. Grist mills would help ensure the community would survive. Grist mills grind grains into flour.

Beginning of the end

Beulah should have been a success. The soil was productive. There was plenty of iron ore, limestone, coal and potters clay. The forest contained plenty of timber, wild game and fresh water.

In the early 1800’s the formation of Cambria County had begun. The newly forming county would need a county seat. Ebensburg, Beulah and Munster all threw their hats into the ring.

Rev. Rhees traveled and contacted his wealthy and well-to-do friends. In the mean time his town lost its grist mill due to high waters and essential road work had not yet begun. Revl Lloyd had already decided to give 47 lots of Ebensburg to government/public use. Ebensburg also had a successful grist mill. Munster had the Galbraith Road, the major road way to the area.

The Ghost Town: Begins

Beulah and Munster lost the fight for county seat, Ebensburg came out victorious. With no grist mill and no real plan Beulah began its death throws. No new houses were built after 1804. The town’s surveyor, Thomas Watkins Jones died in 1808 at the age of 36. Many consider this the to be the final nail in the coffin of Beulah.

People moved west or into Ebensburg. The log cabins and buildings began to crumble. The earth began to take over. The cemetery lingered. It saw burials into the 1870’s. The rumors of a ghost began to stir around the 1840’s.

Griffith Lloyd acquired a large portion of what once was Beulah. During his time working the land he claimed to see the White Lady. It is also said that the White Lady afflicted his daughter.

The Ghost Town: Today

Today all that remains of the town is the cemetery. The Ebensburg and Blacklick Branch of the Pennsylvania Rail Road incorporated in 1893. This section runs through what was once Beulah. As one stands on the trestle bridge, they can look down the road and see the Blacklick Creek. This creek was the same that Rev. Rhees once looked upon. The town lies in the trees, along the creek. The property is posted, and by all reports there is nothing, not even a foundation that remains.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

To read more about another ghost town please see my previous post on Claghorn. To learn more about the Ghost Town Trail and its railroads, please visit Traillink. Much of my information came from Dave Huber’s Historic Ebensburg: The Pioneers 1796-1876. Other information came from James Swank’s Beulah: A Deserted Village from 1861.