Almost 20 Boy Scouts, parents and volunteers gathered at Historic Hanna’s Town on Saturday morning, scrambling to beat the rain as they kick started an Eagle Scout project for soon-to-be Greensburg Salem senior Adam Nichols.

The project, headed by the 17-year-old, is aimed at restoring the site to what it would have looked like in 1769 when it was settled. Nichols plans to achieve the look by planting native species and highlighting a spring house used by settlers as a source of water while traveling along the Forbes Trail.

“The settlers of Hanna’s Town originally came here for the natural water abundance, the springs that were here. The (Westmoreland Historical Society) never had a way to actually present it,” Nichols said.

The spring house will be highlighted by a trail, which leads from the history education center, past Miers Spring and to the log buildings. A curve in the path features an area volunteers worked to fill in with dirt. They will plant native trees, shrubs, grasses and herbaceous plants there.

“We’re going to put in a bunch of native plants to help make the area look as it was back then and it will help the ecosystem thrive here,” Nichols said. “We’re also putting in bird boxes for the eastern bluebird because they’re also good for insect control and they’re nice to look at and they’re being endangered right now.”

Nichols, who has taken many trips to visit Historic Hanna’s Town, said he learned of the Westmoreland Historical Society’s desire to do the project through family connections.

Joanna Moyar, coordinator of collections and interpretation with the society, said the project is “part of a longstanding goal we have to talk about land use and habitat.”

A second half of the project is scheduled to begin next month by Nichols’ cousin, Jimmy Dzurica, 17, of Hempfield, who is also working toward becoming an Eagle Scout. That phase will consist of rehabilitating a nature trail by removing invasive species and planting native plants.

“This area used to be a farm, a lot of invasive plants moved in and now that we’re trying to restore it to a historic village the invasive plants don’t fit very well with the natives,” he said.

Nichols and Dzurica received $6,000 total for their projects after applying for grants through the Laurel Highlands Conservation Landscape, which is part of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Funding allowed for the purchase of plants from Friendship Farms in Mt. Pleasant Township, Country Farms in Hempfield, Tree Pittsburgh in Lawrenceville and Shadowwood Gardens in Unity.

The grants will be matched through private donations from individuals and the Gibson-Kirr Charitable Trust, as well as in-kind donations of time and equipment.

The start of the two-phased project also marks the end of National Pollinator Week, a week of recognizing the declining pollinator populations. The U.S. Senate designated the week 13 years ago and it has grown into a celebration of ecosystem services provided by birds, bees, butterflies, bats and beetles, according to Pollinator Partnership.

“It feels good that it’s underway,” Nichols said. “We have the trail in, we have the plants here and it’s nice to see that stuff is underway because it was a little stressful in the last few weeks. … Now that it’s here it’s nice to lead people, maybe help out a little bit. Show them how to do things.”

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