HISTORY
From Overgrown Lot to Living Legacy
In 2006, four neighbors stood at the edge of a three-acre tangle of weeds and invasive species next to Osborne Elementary School. Where others saw neglect, they saw possibility – a chance to reclaim land once owned by Mary Roberts Rinehart, the trailblazing author and journalist who made this valley her home.
The Quaker Valley School District agreed to lease the forgotten parcel, and by early 2007, the Osborne Trail and Park Association was born. What happened next was extraordinary: a community rallied around a shared vision of restoration and discovery.
Volunteers cleared invasive trees. A road contractor donated his expertise to carve a stone path through the woods. A neighbor spent months moving rock by hand, building an amphitheater and benches that seem to grow organically from the hillside. Local artists and landscapers shaped every corner – designing native gardens, crafting custom fencing, creating interpretive signs that invite curiosity.
Grants from regional conservation groups and private donors helped plant over 100 native trees and shrubs and 1,000 wildflowers. By 2008, the park had a name, an identity, and a purpose: to honor Rinehart’s legacy while creating a space where nature and community could flourish together.
The entrance sign – designed with woodland fairies in mind, inspired by two young girls who delighted in stories of woodland fairies – hints at the magic within. Today, the park protects a rare floodplain and ravine ecosystem, provides habitat for pollinators and wildlife, and serves as an outdoor classroom where biodiversity, storytelling, and stewardship come alive.
It’s a place that echoes Rinehart herself: pioneering, creative, and deeply rooted in the belief that nature and culture belong together.
Mementos of Mary Roberts Rinehart
Mrs. Letha Craig worked at the Mary Roberts Rinehart residence in Sewickley during the years 1914-1915. Mrs. Craig was a companion and aide to Mrs. Rinehart’s elderly mother. Below is personal correspondence between Mrs. Craig and Mrs. Rinehart. We thank Dorothy Horst for sharing her mother’s mementos with us.
