Jennings Environmental Education Center administrators said there are already people offering to help out with the Old Stone House, which officially became the state park’s responsibility on Sept. 3.

That shows the transfer of the structure from Slippery Rock University to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources was a good move.

It’s not like the house didn’t have utility for the past six years; it’s just that the university has a different level of potential usage for it compared than the DCNR and Jennings.

The Old Stone House is less than a mile from the entrance to the environmental education center, while it is more than five miles from Slippery Rock’s campus. The Jennings staff could hit the house with a rock, especially if they were on the trail that ventures through the woods behind it.

Plus, there are volunteer groups — such as the Moraine, McConnells Mill, Jennings Commission, or 3MJC for short — which are built around supporting Butler County’s state parks. It’s a perfect match: the commission and the Old Stone House. That includes the “Spring House,” a building near the stone house that is part of the land acquired by Jennings.

It’s understandable why it took years for ownership of Old Stone House to be transferred between two state agencies, but it’s clear the years of work that went into that shift are already generating potential.

With Jennings staff hopeful to invite the public to Old Stone House by the end of this year, it’s clear the people behind the transfer of ownership decision made a good choice.

— ET