In 1789 Squire Samuel Lord, already an early pioneer to the northwestern Pennsylvania wilderness, received 403 acres of land in what was then part of Allegheny-County as payment for his services in the Continental army. Lord built a rough-hewn log cabin on the southwest comer of his new acreage: this cabin stood on a ridge of land overlooking the main branch of French Creek, which at the time flowed just below the terrace bluff. It also faced the Venango Indian trail, the same one which a young George Washington had followed on his way to Fort LeBouef in 1753. Lord's original acreage, which he tilled Mount Hope, ran from French Creek eastward to the original boundary of Greendale Cemetery.
