List of Pennsylvania state parks

Map of State Parks of Pennsylvania (Each dot is linked to the corresponding park article)

This List of Pennsylvania state parks contains the 120 state parks in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, as of 2007.^[1] The Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks, a division of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), is the governing body for all these parks, and directly operates 111 of them. The remaining nine are operated in cooperation with other public and private organizations.^[a]

Included are three other lists: other names of nine Pennsylvania state parks; eighteen former state parks; and other names of two former state parks. Five former parks have been transferred to the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission, four to the National Park Service, two to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, one to both the Corps and the Pennsylvania Game Commission, five to the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry, and one has ceased to exist.

The list gives an overview of Pennsylvania state parks and a brief history of their development since the first park opened in 1893. State parks range in size from 3 acres (0.01 km²) to 21,122 acres (85.48 km²), with nearly one percent (0.96%) of Pennsylvania's land as state park land. According to Dan Cupper, "Pennsylvania is the thirty third largest state, but only Alaska and California have more park land".^[2][3]

Overview

There are state parks in 61 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties,^[b] which nearly reaches Pennsylvania's goal of having a state park within 25 miles (40 km) of every resident in the Commonwealth.^[4][c] Nine of the 120 parks do not have State Park in their name. Three are Conservation Areas: Boyd Big Tree Preserve, Joseph E. Ibberson, and Varden; four are Environmental Education Centers: Jacobsburg, Jennings, Kings Gap (also a Training Center) and Nolde Forest; White Clay Creek is a Preserve; and Norristown is a Farm Park.^[1]

Seven parks are undeveloped with no facilities: Allegheny Islands, Benjamin Rush, Bucktail, Erie Bluffs, Prompton, Swatara, and Varden; the last four of these are in the process of being developed. Five state parks are small picnic areas: Laurel Summit, Patterson, Prouty Place, Sand Bridge, and Upper Pine Bottom. Five state parks have major U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dams and/or lakes: Bald Eagle, Beltzville, Elk, Kettle Creek, and Sinnemahoning. Three former parks now belong, at least partly, to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Seven parks preserve the industrial past: Canoe Creek is the site of a former lime kiln, and Caledonia, French Creek, Greenwood Furnace, Kings Gap, Mont Alto, and Pine Grove Furnace (plus one former park) are all former iron furnace sites.^[1][3]

According to the DCNR, the 120 state parks in Pennsylvania are on more than 283,000 acres (1145.3 km²) with some 606 full-time and more than 1,600 part-time employees serving approximately 36 million visitors each year. Admission to all Pennsylvania state parks is free, although there are fees charged for use of cabins, marinas, etc. Pennsylvania's 120 state parks offer "over 7,000 family campsites, 286 cabins, nearly 30,000 picnic tables, 56 major recreational lakes, 10 marinas, 61 beaches for swimming, 17 swimming pools" and over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of trails.^[5]

Presque Isle State Park, on Lake Erie	Worlds End State Park, Loyalsock Creek canyon	Point State Park, in downtown Pittsburgh	Ohiopyle State Park, Jonathan Run Falls

History

Pennsylvania's first state park was Valley Forge State Park, purchased by the Commonwealth on May 30, 1893 to preserve Valley Forge. It was transferred to the National Park Service on the Bicentennial of the United States, July 4, 1976.^[1] Many state parks still preserve history: as of 2007, forty two Pennsylvania state park sites are on the National Register of Historic Places, including two National Historic Landmarks (Delaware Canal and Point), twenty eight Civilian Conservation Corps sites in nineteen parks, and twelve other parks' historic sites and districts.^[2] Eight of the former state parks were also chiefly historic.

In addition to preserving historic sites, Pennsylvania also sought to preserve natural beauty and offer opportunities for recreation in its state parks. In 1902 Mont Alto State Forest Park was the second park established, a year after the state "Bureau of Forestry" was set up to purchase, preserve, and restore Pennsylvania's forests, which had been ravaged by lumbering, charcoal production, and wild fires. Parks were added sporadically to the 1930s, some mere camping and picnic areas in state forests, while others preserved unique sites.^[3] The 1930s saw a great expansion of parks and their facilities under the Civilian Conservation Corps, with 113 CCC camps in Pennsylvania (second only to California). Using CCC and WPA labor, the National Park Service built five Recreation Demonstration Areas, which became Pennsylvania state parks in 1945 and 1946: (Blue Knob, French Creek, Hickory Run, Laurel Hill, and Raccoon Creek). The CCC also "fought forest fires, planted trees, built roads, buildings, picnic areas, swimming areas, campgrounds and created many state parks".^[d][4]

In 1955, there were forty four state parks in Pennsylvania, mostly in rural areas. Forty five parks had been added by 1979, mostly near urban areas, and the system had increased by 130,000 acres (526.0 km²). This was thanks largely to the efforts of Maurice K. Goddard, who served as director of the precursors to the DCNR for twenty four years under six administrations. The number of visitors to parks more than tripled in this time and two voter approved bond issues (Projects 70 and 500) raised millions of dollars for park expansions and improvements.^[5] All this expansion was not without costs and by 1988 there was an estimated $90 million in deferred maintenance. In 1993, as the park system celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary, new tax and bond revenues were earmarked for the parks.^[6] Since 2000, parks are being improved through the state's Growing Greener and Growing Greener II and bond programs.^[7]

Tyler State Park, Schofield Ford bridge	Codorus State Park, man-made Lake Marburg	Ravensburg State Park, CCC picnic shelter	Hills Creek State Park, typical entrance sign

Current parks