Founded in 1881, Mountain Lake Park relied largely on walking because transportation was mainly by horse and buggy and possibly bicycles, so its developers promoted a network of boardwalks to improve travel through the Chautauqua-like community, especially when rain turned dirt streets to mud. Association minutes from 1884 called for boardwalks from the southwest corner of E and Spruce across the glades to the campground and from Cedar to H, down H Street to Mrs. Bullard's Hotel, crossing to Mr. Sharp's corner and along the front drive to intersect with the boardwalk leading from the depot. In February 1887, the Park superintendent was ordered to make a walk between the office and the Assembly Hall, ten feet wide, of two-inch plank or stone. It is unclear whether all of these sections were completed as described, but the first section, built before the 1884 minutes entry, ran from the residential area southeast, roughly parallel to what is now Rt. 135, to the B&O train station and the post office, then located along the railroad tracks just west of the station. A bowling alley and billiard parlor, now Town Hall, was built beside the west end of that section in 1906. Just east of where the Little Youghiogheny River passed under the boardwalk stood a gazebo-like shelter called Pilgrim's Rest, where travelers could sit, read their mail, and talk with other walkers. The 1887 addition connected to the original boardwalk, extended northwest past the Bashford Amphitheatre and Auditorium, and reached the Assembly Hall just off G Street. Association minutes later ordered repairs in 1889, but as Mountain Lake Park's heyday faded with the coming of the Great Depression, upkeep ended, most of the boards had rotted by the 1940s, and Pilgrim's Rest survived until about 1960.