Leisure Lore: Mountain Day History
(Posted September 23, 2016)
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Against all odds, some of the most welcome noises that a Juniata College student can hear is the din of air horns, the clanging of pots and pans and banging on doors -- at 5 a.m.. These sounds mark the beginning of Mountain Day, Juniata’s oldest tradition.
Mountain Day was established in 1896, making it the college’s longest-standing annual tradition. The highly anticipated holiday has dark origins: the day is actually in commemoration of the exile to the mountains of students that had been afflicted by the smallpox epidemic of 1878.
One hundred years ago, students would be transported by horse-and-carriage to a day of picking nuts, relaxing by the water, and picnicking.
The Mountain Day that we know today is very different from that which the first participants experienced. Now typically in September, the date of Mountain Day has a history of being moved throughout the academic calendar.
It used to take place at Trough Creek Forge instead of the well-known Raystown Lake and it was moved to several different state parts for a period of years. The students of the small, religious school that Juniata once was didn’t participate in most of the student body’s favorite Mountain Day activities now on the holiday’s schedule.
Such activities now include a tug-of-war, Slip ‘n Slide, kayaking, canoeing, inflatable games and incessant guessing as to the date, which remains a secret until students are awoken by the early-morning ruckus.
Perhaps the best part of Mountain Day, though, is the cancellation of all classes. “Oh, sleeping in,” says Logan Day, a sophomore. “That’s the best thing about Mountain Day.”
Seth Nichols ’19, Juniata Online Journalist
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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.