This 1910 vintage postcard shows a couple boating across a lake by moonlight. The lake is Panther Hollow Lake in Schenley Park which borders Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens of Pittsburgh.
A very romantic setting for the couple in the postcard with moonlight streaming across the lake. It’s a great view of an early 1900s setting in Pittsburgh that you may be unaware of.
At the turn of the 20th century, people went to Panther Hollow Lake and Boathouse in Schenley Park to enjoy fishing and boating, wintertime ice skating, and lunchtime picnics. Today, the boathouse is gone, it was demolished in 1979. Access is difficult on downhill trails and the old steps are unstable. What was once a lovely lake and picnic grounds is fairly unknown to many Pittsburgh residents.
This vintage postcard is a view of what the lake once was and what boating at night would have been like. It’s a shame the experience does not exist today. But the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, the City of Pittsburgh, and other project partners are working to restore sections of Schenley Park near Panther Hollow Lake. They are looking for volunteers, so if you are in the neighborhood and bored, here is a great chance to get out, meet some people, and help restore this lake to what it once was so you too can row someone out on the lake by moonlight.