Orchard Manor history

The main manor, a classic, brick Italianate, was built in 1850 by Job Paige and his family.

Odd Fellowship became the first national fraternity to include both men and women when it adopted the Rebekah Degree in 1851.

Wayside Inn, which had been located in the area between B-Wing and the driveway around the west side of Orchard Manor, began operation in 1901.

A new building was built in 1926, and has recently been sold to Allegheny College.

Dragon Peaks has been the home of the Tungay family for four generations, since its purchase by Ron and Gwen Tungay in 1955.

In the early 1960’s, as other nursing homes had been established throughout the State by Churches, Fraternal Organizations and by Counties, the decision was made to accommodate Paying Guests, thus allowing non-members to reside at Wayside Inn.

Their youngest son started a basic camping/caravanning site in the early 60’s, which he ran in the school holidays; and their oldest son convinced them to help him start a residential choir school on their land in 1967.

Russell obliged in 1968, after finishing his MBA in America.

For the next decade, Russell continued to pioneer and build the school into an internationally celebrated phenomenon, achieving world choir wins three times in the 1970’s.

Residents from Wayside Inn and the Rebekah Home in Pittsburgh moved into Orchard Manor in 1976.

Manor House was built in the early 1980’s as Ron and Gwen’s retirement home by their son Russell.

Russell passed away of cancer in 2007.