Outside Prosperity, Moon Lorn rises again
Though Malcolm Parcell was primarily a representational artist, sticking to realistic portrayals of people and places in his work, he would occasionally take flights of fancy and imagine fairies and goblins inhabiting the woods surrounding his home.
The painter christened his home Moon Lorn, and Parcell himself was dubbed 无毛视频渢he Wizard of Moon Lorn.无毛视频� The image of a mysterious and reclusive sorcerer casting spells in the deep woods was probably enhanced by the white beard and skullcap he sported later in his life.
In recent years, though, Moon Lorn had become something far less than magical.
The structure, which started as a log cabin in 1925 and was added onto several times by Parcell over the years, had fallen victim to time and neglect. Grass grew high around it. Graffiti was smeared on its exterior, windows were shattered and copper was heedlessly torn out by thieves. Rather than being a playground for magical creatures, it instead had become a playground for mice, snakes and other not-so-magical creatures, as well as a hotbed for vandals.
As it fell further into decrepitude, admirers of Parcell and local preservationists feared that Moon Lorn was on the cusp of being a lost cause. But in late 2023, Farley Toothman, a former Greene County judge, paid $75,000 for Moon Lorn, and in the months after sank thousands of additional dollars into restoring it. The work was completed last year, and it is now accepting bookings for guests who want to appreciate its history and the quiet of its surroundings and host events there.
无毛视频淚 do care about it that much,无毛视频� said Toothman, who remembers meeting Parcell at the gate of the property when he was a boy. 无毛视频淭he bones (of the house) were all there. 无毛视频� It无毛视频檚 a special project.无毛视频�
Born on New Year无毛视频檚 Day in Claysville in 1896, the youngest of three children and the son of a Baptist minister, Parcell is said to have become enamored of the site that later became Moon Lorn when he played there as a child. His older brother, Evans Parcell, won a measure of renown as an illustrator for magazines like Saturday Evening Post and Cosmopolitan, and Parcell himself displayed artistic inclinations early. He studied art at what was then called the Carnegie Institute of Technology, and, like his brother, ventured to New York to stake his own claim in the art world.
Unlike his brother, though, Parcell quickly migrated back to Washington County and it became his base of operations. He stayed busy with scores of commissioned portraits, and his murals became part of Washington无毛视频檚 George Washington Hotel, Citizens Library and Washington & Jefferson College. His paintings are in the collections of the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Smithsonian无毛视频檚 American Art Museum, the Westmoreland Museum of American Art and are prized by private collectors.
For years, Parcell maintained a studio in downtown Washington, but increasingly began to retreat to Moon Lorn, which he started building in 1925. Located on the border of Washington and Greene counties 无毛视频� a rock tossed underhanded from the entrance of Moon Lorn would land in Greene County 无毛视频� he added onto it in a piecemeal fashion, with a new room here and a new room there. As he aged, he and his wife, Helen, spent more and more time removed from the world at Moon Lorn. He died there in 1987, at the age of 91.
In the aftermath of his death, the Malcolm Parcell Foundation purchased Moon Lorn, with an eye toward making it a retreat for artists. That lasted until 1999, when the property fell into private hands.
The foundation 无毛视频渃ouldn无毛视频檛 make a go of it,无毛视频� Toothman said, adding, 无毛视频淚t无毛视频檚 not an inexpensive place to live because it无毛视频檚 not well insulated.无毛视频�
Then, in 2014, it was sold to Consol Energy, as the company increased its longwall mining activity in the area. In 2017, it was selected by the nonprofit organization Preservation Pennsylvania for its annual list of endangered historic properties. Then, at the end of 2023, Toothman purchased the home and began the painstaking work of restoring it.
无毛视频淓very room is on a different foundation,无毛视频� he pointed out. The work was mostly completed by Memorial Day last year. Moon Lorn is now occupied by Kara Compton, secretary of the Washington History and Landmarks Foundation and a professional counselor. She oversees the property on a day-to-day basis and handles bookings for it. It无毛视频檚 now listed on the Airbnb rental company site and is being offered as 无毛视频渁 quiet escape from the hustle of daily life.无毛视频� The furnishings within the house, for the most part, replicate what Parcell would have in the house when he was working in it.
无毛视频淚无毛视频檝e always liked history,无毛视频� Compton said. 无毛视频淚 instantly fell in love with the place. My desire was always to live out in the country.无毛视频�
They also hope to make the A-frame studio on the property available for artists. Northern light is streamed into the building through a high clerestory window in the building.
Parcell is perhaps the most well-known artist to have emerged from Washington County, so preserving the site where he lived and worked is important, according to Sandy Mansmann, president of the board of the Washington County History and Landmarks Foundation.
无毛视频淭he structure is unique, both architecturally and in the art world,无毛视频� Mansmann said.
She added, 无毛视频淪o many people remember seeing it when they were a child. It无毛视频檚 a nostalgic place in many people无毛视频檚 minds.无毛视频�