Planning the Trip to the Mall (ATTN: cat123)

[Richard]

The path through the woods...

... visiting and stare out at those woods. I guess you could say that my innocense was taken along with many other people at that time. I had never really heard about children being taken that way and it was quite disturbing to me. ...

Source:
Sheila and Katherine Lyon-sisters missing since 1975 - Page 4 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

LINK:

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6560&page=4

The person who posted the above information in 2005 made only the one post to any websleuths forum. Here is a little more from that same post:

quote:
A year later (1976 or 77) a neighbor on the other side of us said that a man broke in her house and raped her. Not only that but for awhile there he kept coming back. I remember that summer listening for noises in the night and it seemed like every other night the police would arrive to search all the back yards for this culprit. He never was caught as far as I know.

When I became pregnant in 1977, we decided to move away. I did not feel comfortable there raising a child after all these things happened. It was a nice, quiet street - yet something seemed to always be going on. I don't know how it is now. I have not been back to see our old house in a long time. But I do still think of those little blonde headed girls and of the evil person who took them from their family. It effected me in how I raised my kids. I never allowed them to roam around the neighborhood where we lived. They did not understand why I was so over protective - but I didn't care. I just knew I had to be that way. No place is safe.

unquote

It would seem that Kensington was not the idylic place that some folks thought. And here is a report of a rape taking place only doors down the road from the Lyon house near the end of that path. I wonder if police were ever able to develope any persons of interest or suspects in that case - or if there were any other similar attacks known or reported to police.

 

[hollye]

I added the path that I believe the girls took through the woods that day. It is basically the same path being discussed above. I believe the white 2 story home that Mrs. Tolker lived in is the last home on McComas (directly north of the path on my map before it turns onto Drumm Avenue) with the garden being in the triangle made by McComas and Drumm Avenue to the west of the path on my map with the nursing home on the east of the path. From the front, the home appears to be 1 story, but the yard slopes down to what is now Drum Avenue and the home is actually a 2 story home.

https://www.google.com/maps/ms?msid...&ll=39.031511,-77.06082&spn=0.005501,0.012199

 

[lavfam]

I added the path that I believe the girls took through the woods that day. It is basically the same path being discussed above. I believe the white 2 story home that Mrs. Tolker lived in is the last home on McComas (directly north of the path on my map before it turns onto Drumm Avenue) with the garden being in the triangle made by McComas and Drumm Avenue to the west of the path on my map with the nursing home on the east of the path. From the front, the home appears to be 1 story, but the yard slopes down to what is now Drum Avenue and the home is actually a 2 story home.

https://www.google.com/maps/ms?msid...&ll=39.031511,-77.06082&spn=0.005501,0.012199

This would make sense except that according to public record the Tolker House was 3108 McComas Ave. Unless street addresses have been changed, the Tolker house was 5 houses over from the corner of McComas and Drumm. So...not the last house on McComas. Also, there have been other posters talking about the path clearing being directly across from where Hobson Street intersects.

 

[lavfam]

It would seem that Kensington was not the idylic place that some folks thought. And here is a report of a rape taking place only doors down the road from the Lyon house near the end of that path. I wonder if police were ever able to develope any persons of interest or suspects in that case - or if there were any other similar attacks known or reported to police.

Richard: Agreed. Not idyllic which is why my parents chose to move in 1972. Lots of drug culture stuff going on---teenagers high flying off roofs, thrown out of moving cars. There was a peeping tom on our street who my father tackled one night by jumping off the deck onto him. The police treated it nonchalantly at the time---along the lines of, "he's at it again, come on, let's get you home." I think a 50s mindset had not caught up with 70s post Vietnam realities. People still wanted it to be the place that you sent your kids out to play all day with no worries...but given incidents that were already occurring that was naïve.

 

[lavfam]

If you go to http://historicaerials.com and type in Drumm Ave, Kensington, MD, you can pull up a 1970 aerial of the area that is better resolution than the best (1972) one I could find from the government (the former is copyrighted so I can't/won't try to download it here). After repositioning the view and zooming in, you can see what I take to be the clearing pretty well. The east (right) side of the clearing lines up pretty well with the west edge of Hobson. The south end of the clearing isn't all that far from the place on Jennings where it would appear the path starts--about 400 feet from the center of the road there as the crow flies. The total trip through the woods would seem to be just about 100 yards if the path is straight. Looking at the 1964 aerial (maybe taken in winter before leaves came out?) one can see quite well a straight north-south "path" more-or-less as described in the Washington Star article Richard quoted. However, this runs about 50 feet east of the clearing. And there is in the '64 photo a little patch of woods right in the middle of this path, just 150 feet west of an isolated small building or shed (which if it were to now exist would be between two houses on the southeast side of the circle ending Drumm Ct), which in the 1957 aerial can be seen to be connected by path or road to the nursing home complex, and it looks like there may be a north-north-west detour path or some such around this patch of (evergreen?) woods, which puts you in the clearing. So it isn't clear looking at the photos whether they would have gone straight up a northward path through the patch of (evergreen?) woods or had to veer slightly to the north-north-west at a spot 150 feet west of the nursing home out building, heading to the clearing. But I don't guess many leaves were on the trees in late March. Using the comparison feature "slide" comparing 1970 with the higher resolution 2002 aerial is useful.

That out building I'm guessing was there in '75. I'm pretty sure one can see it in the March 1972 government photo I uploaded earlier as a little white squarish blip.

Do we assume the shed was checked out thoroughly----along with the rest of the nursing home and the nursing home staff? I guess the public will never have access to that kind of data.....

 

[LeslieD]

Richard: Agreed. Not idyllic which is why my parents chose to move in 1972. Lots of drug culture stuff going on---teenagers high flying off roofs, thrown out of moving cars. There was a peeping tom on our street who my father tackled one night by jumping off the deck onto him. The police treated it nonchalantly at the time---along the lines of, "he's at it again, come on, let's get you home." I think a 50s mindset had not caught up with 70s post Vietnam realities. People still wanted it to be the place that you sent your kids out to play all day with no worries...but given incidents that were already occurring that was naïve.

Agree also. Certainly not idyllic which is why we moved away in 1976. What I think back on is the fact that no adult ever talked to us about it: we went to school every day, and whispered among ourselves, and every day we just waited to see if she would come back to school. I am certain that I walked to Wheaton Plaza after this too, the thought being that it was the path that was dangerous...so clueless. And my kids think I was overprotective....

 

[LeslieD]

Richard: Agreed. Not idyllic which is why my parents chose to move in 1972. Lots of drug culture stuff going on---teenagers high flying off roofs, thrown out of moving cars. There was a peeping tom on our street who my father tackled one night by jumping off the deck onto him. The police treated it nonchalantly at the time---along the lines of, "he's at it again, come on, let's get you home." I think a 50s mindset had not caught up with 70s post Vietnam realities. People still wanted it to be the place that you sent your kids out to play all day with no worries...but given incidents that were already occurring that was naïve.

Agree also that it was not idyllic. We moved away in 1976 because it was rough. I think back on how no adults talked to us at school, we just whispered and waited every day to see if Sheila would come back. I also know that I walked to Wheaton Plaza again after that, the thinking being that it was the path that was dangerous....so clueless and uninformed. And my kids think I was overprotective...

 

[hollye]

This would make sense except that according to public record the Tolker House was 3108 McComas Ave. Unless street addresses have been changed, the Tolker house was 5 houses over from the corner of McComas and Drumm. So...not the last house on McComas. Also, there have been other posters talking about the path clearing being directly across from where Hobson Street intersects.

Thanks! After getting on a different computer, I was able to see what you were referring to and have adjusted my map accordingly.

 

[cgoodwin22]

I added the path that I believe the girls took through the woods that day. It is basically the same path being discussed above. I believe the white 2 story home that Mrs. Tolker lived in is the last home on McComas (directly north of the path on my map before it turns onto Drumm Avenue) with the garden being in the triangle made by McComas and Drumm Avenue to the west of the path on my map with the nursing home on the east of the path. From the front, the home appears to be 1 story, but the yard slopes down to what is now Drum Avenue and the home is actually a 2 story home.

https://www.google.com/maps/ms?msid...&ll=39.031511,-77.06082&spn=0.005501,0.012199

Thanks for putting this together holle...before i saw your post i was trying to piece together on google maps the path the girls took to Wheaton Plaza. This helps!

I'm so fixated on this case. I was only going on 5 when this happened. I was living in Marlow Heights right behind Iverson Mall and vaguely remember my parents talking about it when it happened. The 'tape recorder man' is always what stuck with me throughout the years.

 

[cgoodwin22]

I would love to see the pictures that Cat123 has of the sisters. She mentioned she had some group photos. I wonder if Cat123 still checks the site?

 

[Richard]

Do we assume the shed was checked out thoroughly----along with the rest of the nursing home and the nursing home staff? I guess the public will never have access to that kind of data.....

I don't think that we can assume much regarding any specific area being searched.

The news papers mentioned that in the days following the girls' disappearance, hundreds of volunteers searched the wooded area. After a week of all these searchers looking around, a man with two specially trained search dogs was called in. But exactly what was searched and when is not known. What is known, is that nothing solid was ever turned up during all that searching.

At one point, a newspaper reporter was going door to door with, or behind the police. I recently read the reporter's account of how that search was conducted. Basically police knocked on the door. Asked the person who answered who they were and if they had seen the girls or anything possibly related to their disappearance. The police left a flyer with the person, and asked them to contact the phone number on it if they thought of anything. Then they moved on to the next house.

If I can find that story again, I will quote that particular part of it and post it here.

Only the Montgomery County Police would know what records of that door to door search exist and how thorough they might be.

Regarding the Nursing Home - Police Divers did search the pond there and found only an old bicycle wheel according to a news reporter. I would think that they must have asked the Nursing Home owner or grounds keeper for permission to do that. Otherwise, they would have needed a warrent.

 

[Richard]

Okay, I think I figured this out a bit better. According to public records, Mrs. Tolker's house was 3108 McComas Avenue. So I was way off in my thinking. That address is a good bit down McComas in the direction to the left of Drumm if you are heading to the plaza. That section of Drumm must not have been paved then? The "clearing" must have been to the right of Mrs. Tolker's yard, then they would have headed to the right onto McComas and then a left onto Drumm

Now I am realizing the "clearing" is right across from Hobson Street. Which is where Lloyd Lee Welch was arrested for burglary two years later. Do we consider this coincidence? (Sorry if I am reinventing the wheel here and this is old news....) .

I just looked at one of my older maps. It is a AAA Street Map of Montgomery County, the 1976-77 edition.

I think that what you state as the location of the Tolker house is accurate, and that it indeed may have been a few addresses/lots north of the intersection of Drumm and McComas. But that is not where the "clearing" mentioned in the news article would have been.

The map indicates that Drumm Ave. made an intersection with McComas Ave., but that Drumm did not go anywhere as a road after crossing McComas. That is, the map shows an ingress - like a driveway ingress which has curbing, but no road going on from it. There is a blank area between the intersection and the resumption of Drumm Ave. a few hundred yards to the west.

Today, Drumm actually goes for a bit longer in that direction from McComas BUT it dead-ends and you still have to walk for a short distance before getting on a drivable part of Drumm again.

I believe that the "clearing" was an area just West of where Drumm Crosses McComas today.

Mrs. Tolker's house on McComas would have faced east to McComas and her backyard would have extended to the west, parallel to what is now the newer portion of Drumm Ave. Looking to the south from her backyard garden, she could have seen the clearing, the pond beyond it, and the Nursing Home further beyond.

I think that the reporter was probably looking for anyone to interview who might have seen the girls that day and chose Mrs. Tolker because of the view she would have had of the clearing and the path the girls took. Note how it is stated that Mrs. Tolker was NOT working in her garden that day because of an appointment. This was probably a direct answer to a question posed by the reporter.

Hobson Street is very close to the intersection of Drumm and McComas. In 1975 it connected McComas to University Blvd. with no other roads connecting or crossing it. (Today Decatur connects it to Drumm (between McComas and Devin) - but NOT in 1975.

Hobson Street could be a connection in this mystery. If this POI Welch had some connection with it in 1975 it would mean that he had a connection with the neighborhood in an area very close to where the girls walked.

But simply as a road, Hobson Street might have been used by an abductor as an ingress and/or egress from that critical junction of McComas and Drumm.

I call it a critical junction for reasons stated before:

- It was the point where vehicle traffic could no longer follow the girls.
- It was quite isolated compared with the rest of the route between that intersection and the Mall.
- There are two or three eyewitnesses who place the girls at Drumm and Devin enroute home (only a few minutes from that intersection).
- A great deal of attention was paid to the Nursing Home Pond adjacent to it to the South.
- A great deal of attention and searching was made of the Wooded Area which begins near it.
- The reporter's interest in and reference to Mrs. Tolker and her garden view of the clearing also indicates an insight and recognized importance of that area.

As I have suggested before, the intersection of Drumm and McComas would have been a natural choke point for an abductor with a vehicle, because he could park fairly unobserved and pick up a child before he or she entered the pathway. That assumes that he had knowledge of the path shortcut. But even if he didn't know the area, it had an isolated look and could be a place to catch any child walking down Drumm - no matter what the route would be to his/her home from there.

Hobson St. would have made a good road to use in an intercept if leaving the Mall after seeing the girls cross the parking lot onto Faulkner (as opposed to following behind them on Drumm). A quick left turn on University and another left on Hobson would have gotten a driver to the Drumm/McComas intersection in about a minute.

Hobson Street would have provided an abductor with the fastest and most direct route to University Blvd and other main roads to both the east and west. A fast exit would be necessary whether or not an abduction was successful.

 

[lavfam]

Richard:

Thanks again for another insightful response to my questions. The location of the clearing is still a little confusing to me because of the four other houses on McComas that would have been "in the way". Mrs. Tolker's house would not have been the closest to the clearing exit----the house on the corner of McComas and Drumm would have been. (All of those houses appear to have been constructed by 1975.) Also, one of the posts/articles mentioned that the clearing opening was right across from Hobson Street----maybe this was an exaggeration? And it was closer to the intersection of Drumm and McComas?

From your post, it sounds---at this point---that you are more drawn to the idea of a car being involved with the escape route possibly being Hobson? I still have the strong suspect that the woods, the nursing home and/or the basements of the houses hold the answer. Especially---as you pointed out---the investigations were probably limited in the house to house searches without warrants. Would they have been allowed to go down into the nursing home basement(s) even? I'm guessing not. It's the not knowing enough of the police investigations that is the problem here.....

 

[Gruffin]

Re-looking at the aerial photos, maybe it is correct what I think Richard is suggesting about the clearing being near the nursing home just west of where Drumm meets McComas. There is a larger, more distinct clearing there than the clearing south of the Tolker house (3108 McComas). The Tolker house is some distance from the clearing near the nursing home, but in the 1970 map there is a back access entrance path or small road that runs from the nursing home to the stub of Drumm Ave about where Drumm Ct nowadays intersects with Drumm Ave. Perhaps Mrs. Tolker if looking southeast could sight along this access path or road to get a good view of the clearing near the nursing home, perhaps a better view than would be afforded to houses on McComas nearer to the clearing near the nursing home. What really makes me think Richard might be right about the clearing is that I now notice in the 1970 map that there is something of a path right in the middle of this clearing crossing the back access path at right angles. It's not there in the 1964 map. It could be a dirt area worn into grass by frequent pedestrian traffic. And of course it would make sense that someone heading to the mall would want to take the direct route going north-east. Such a path would be very near the nursing home pond. Would it be on nursing home property? I think someone said earlier the caretaker wasn't kindly to trespassers, so maybe this direct path would have been unacceptable. And actually, Tolker's house is one house west of the intersection of Hobson and McComas. The houses are very close together there, but still it is pretty far from the Drumm/McComas intersection; and one house to the east probably would have a better view looking into the nursing home area along the back access path or road. But there's no guarantee that the reporter ended up talking to the resident who would have been completely most able to see the path. I would say it is not at all clear the direction the northern part of the path starting at Jennings went--northeast, northnorthwest, or straight north all seem to be possibilities.

 

[lavfam]

Gruffin: I'm totally with your line of thinking on this but I go back to the article written by Mary Ann Kuhn:

"The wooded path brought them out to a clearing behind the white two-story house of Mrs. Mary Tolker, mother of four, and a former principal of Potomac Elementary School. But Mrs. Tolker wasn't out gardening in her backyard the day the Lyon girls walked to the plaza. She had a dentist appointment at 11 a.m.

The clearing near Mrs. Tolker's garden opens onto McComas Avenue where the Kensington Gardens Nursing Home sits on the right. The route to Wheaton Plaza continues across McComas, up Drumm Avenue to Faulkner and on top of that street looms Montgomery Ward's and Wheaton Plaza Shopping Center."

This description of where the clearing was does not really jive with the map information. Except that they maybe as you say they could not cut through nursing home property due to a grumpy caretaker and thus ended up between Mrs. Tolker's house and her next door neighbor which would equal the clearing?

Also, I really don't see (based on the maps available) that Mrs. Tolker would have that great of a view of the pond and open area (clearing) next to the pond, do you? The other house backyards would be in the way for one. Also, it's a fair distance for much of a sight view.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I wonder how well they investigated the grumpy caretaker?

 

[Richard]

Gruffin quote: ... Tolker's house is one house west of the intersection of Hobson and McComas. The houses are very close together there, but still it is pretty far from the Drumm/McComas intersection; and one house to the east probably would have a better view looking into the nursing home area along the back access path or road. But there's no guarantee that the reporter ended up talking to the resident who would have been completely most able to see the path. ... unquote

lavfam Quote: Also, I really don't see (based on the maps available) that Mrs. Tolker would have that great of a view of the pond and open area (clearing) next to the pond, do you? The other house backyards would be in the way for one. Also, it's a fair distance for much of a sight view. unquote.

I do not know if the map showing the path is completely correct, but it is probably pretty close. The best description that we have of the path comes from Washington Star reporter Mary Ann Kuhn in her article published 6 April 1975 only 12 days after the girls went missing. I link that article below.

It is very evident in the article that Ms. Kuhn actually walked the entire route and was inside at least two houses for interviews. It is not certain if she was inside the Tolker House or any others on McComas Ave, but she does NOT say anything about the view of the clearing or path from those houses - only that the Tolker garden provided a view and that it was adjacent to the clearing which she mentions and likely walked through.

Ms. Kuhn might have seen Mrs. Tolker working in her garden and approached her there, or she might have walked up to her house for an interview. One way or another, she definitely would have seen first hand how close the garden was to the clearing and considered it a possible clue or lead which she followed up on.

Note that the article states that Mrs. Tolker had an 11AM appointment and therefor was not in her garden on that fateful Tuesday Morning. It is not known if she was home by 2:30 - 3:30 PM when the girls might have been walking home.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Tolker died in 2002 and could not answer that question today.

Below is a link to the Washington Star Article 6 April 1975 by Mary Ann Kuhn

News Reports, Articles, and Links on the Lyon Sisters Case Page 2, Post number 36

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45866&page=2


From the Social Security Death Index:

Name: Mary A. Tolker
State of Issue: Maryland
Date of Birth: Tuesday June 29, 1915
Date of Death: Sunday August 25, 2002
Est. Age at Death: 87 years, 1 months, 27 days
Confirmation: Verified

Last known residence:
City: Mount Airy
County: Frederick
State: Maryland

 

[Gruffin]

I've been searching land records, and have decided that the clearing near the nursing home actually was part of the nursing home. This clearing, on which some of the houses around Drumm Ct were built, was part of the nursing home, as evinced by plat 19344, which in 1993 divided up the land, and which was signed by the president of Kensington Nursing center. The western boundary of the nursing home originally went approximately north-north-west from a point about 60 feet west of the middle of the right of way for Jennings Place until it intersected Drumm. Jennings Place is apparently the road that was never built, but which a gap was left for along Jennings, and which presumably (from Mary Ann Kuhn article) is where the path from Jennings started. When the nursing home was sold in 1967, it would appear (if I am deciphering the deed of trust correctly) that the sellers reserved the right to buy back with interest the clearing area (that part of the nursing home in tracts 4 and 5 as per book B plat 41, from 1892), I guess to build houses on, which houses were eventually built, apparently. Interestingly, the deed of trust from 1967 mentions what I think is the outbuilding I mentioned earlier:

The parties of the first part hereby reserve the privilege to raze or remove the one story block and frame shed located near the southwest corner of Lot 6, "Kensington Heights" [as per the plat from 1892].

I'm guessing the shed was rather dilapidated or in a good way to be thus soon, and the new owners wanted to be able to get rid of it if they decided its dilapidation outweighed its usefulness.

West of the nursing home is hard to pin down, but I believe it was 10715 Drumm, which may well have never been built, i.e., a vacant lot awaiting future homes. It became part of the Starner Court development (plat 18261).

Anyway, leaving home, the Lyon sisters may have gone north-east or due north on the northern part of the path from Jennings to Drumm, but if they did, I believe they would have been on the nursing home property. Otherwise, it would appear they would have had to go north-north west through the likely vacant lot, the smaller clearing near Mrs. Tolker which indeed she could have seen much better than the one nearer the nursing home. (But Kuhn's article is confusing in that I don't think they would have gone all the way to McComas, but merely to the stub of Drumm--which may have been a path rather than a road, I'm not sure). If they took the northeast route, that would be at the middle of the (far) clearing about 350 feet from the Tolker house.

 

[lavfam]

Gruffin:

Good work with the land deeds! Which takes us right back to the clearing maybe not being where Mary Ann Kuhn specified. Even if she had, as Richard noted, walked the route herself, her article is confusing on this point. Makes the most sense that the clearing would be at the "stub" of Drumm---and I guess the caretaker was okay with it if it was on nursing home property.

Also, very interesting that Jennings Place was supposed to be built----you can see on the maps how this would make sense. Sad to think that the Lyon sisters' fates might have been different had those plans for Jennings Place gone through......

 

[Gruffin]

My guess is probably Mrs. Tolker meant the clearing due south of her house, which probably consisted of a clear space near where Drumm now is (paved) and a low region south of Drumm where the sewage easement is and (today) a forest conservation easement. The western boundary of the region is about where the western property line of the Nursing home was (pointing about 21 degrees W of N). Today the same property line separates houses built on Drumm Ct. from houses built on Starner Ct. So technically, even the clearing far from the nursing home was (south of Drumm) on nursing home property, except maybe the western edge, but judging from the article, maybe the nursing home didn't mind people so much people encroaching there, in the sewage easement area, etc., or maybe the walk was on the western edge of the clearing. If they walked right outside the property edge, they would have ended up on Drumm near the storm drain quite apparent on street view mapping programs, which is just 8 yards or so from the property line (on the nursing home/Drumm Ct. side).

I do not know if the map showing the path is completely correct, but it is probably pretty close.

I think the map showing the path is very close also. From today's researching I've concluded that where the map shows the path turning to the north-north west (at the northern boundary of the lots bordering Jennings), the path in order to stay off Nursing Home property might have had to go 10-15 yards or so to the west before heading north-north-west. But I have a feeling that corner was cut somehow, since it would be 10-15 yards of a very contrary direction to the desired direction of travel, and would have had to be in some non vacant lot anyway. I suppose eventually dwindling returns makes seeking extra precision not practicable.

I'm just assuming that at some time in the past they considered the possibility of extending Jennings Pl, since it doesn't go anywhere to serve any purpose, but is shown on the plats. Other trivia is that in 1892, Drumm Ave was called Warner Ave, Plyers Mill Rd was called Maynard Ave, and University Blvd was called Jefferson St.

 

[Richard]

Here, again, is what Ms. Kuhn states about the path and clearing:

quote: ... and through a wooded area the size of two city blocks.

The wooded path brought them out to a clearing behind the white two-story house of Mrs. Mary Tolker,...

... The clearing near Mrs. Tolker's garden opens onto McComas Avenue where the Kensington Gardens Nursing Home sits on the right. The route to Wheaton Plaza continues across McComas, up Drumm Avenue to Faulkner and on top of that street looms Montgomery Ward's and Wheaton Plaza Shopping Center.... unquote

So I think that the present Drumm Ave goes right through the clearing and probably over at least part of the path. My feeling that there was a path which extended the entire length of the drivable part of Drumm today, right up to where it now dead-ends and the present walking path begins.

Perhaps back in 1975, it was a continuous path up to McComas. But obviously, another path - the one the girls took - ran through the woods from Jennings and perhaps intersected the path which is now the part of Drumm just west of the intersection. Could the service road mentioned be another part of the path through the woods?

The police took special interest in the Nursing Home Pond (divers searched it), so it is likely that the path they took was close to it. Today it is still there, but a fence keeps passers by away from it. It is very close to the intersection of Drumm and McComas.

It sounds from your extensive research into the land deeds that perhaps the Nursing Home owned a good portion of the woods through which the path passed.

I just checked a 1981 map of Montgomery County and it shows a "Jennings Place" roadway ingressing toward (present day) Drumm Ave. - starting in the area of the open lot on Jennings where it is believed that the path began. This road was never built, but it does aim right at the area where the break in Drumm exists today.

This map, oddly shows Drumm Ave running all the way from Plyers Mill to McComas WITHOUT the known break. So obviously this map included some future plans. But perhaps they were based on existing pathways?