Black Moshannon State Park is a 3,480-acre Pennsylvania state park in Rush Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania. It surrounds Black Mosh Shannon Lake, formed by a dam on BlackMoshannon Creek, which has given its name to the lake and park. A bog in the park provides a habitat for diverse wildlife not common in other areas of the state, such as carnivorous plants, orchids, and species normally found farther north. The park is in a Pennsylvania Important Bird Area, where bird watchers have recorded 175 species.
About Black Moshannon State Park in brief
Black Moshannon State Park is a 3,480-acre Pennsylvania state park in Rush Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. It surrounds Black Mosh Shannon Lake, formed by a dam on BlackMoshannon Creek, which has given its name to the lake and park. A bog in the park provides a habitat for diverse wildlife not common in other areas of the state, such as carnivorous plants, orchids, and species normally found farther north. The park is in a Pennsylvania Important Bird Area, where bird watchers have recorded 175 species. It is also home to many rare and unusual plants and animals due to its location atop the Allegheny Plateau; the lake is at an elevation of about 1,900 feet. In winter it is a popular destination for cross-country skiing, and was home to a small downhill skiing area from 1965 to 1982. The first settlers were Paleo-Indian nomadic hunters known from their stone tools. The earliest recorded Native American inhabitants were the Iroquoian-speaking Susquehannocks, who lived in large long houses in stockaded villages. By 1675 they had died out, moved away, or been assimilated into other tribes. After this, the lands of the West Branch SusqueHanna River valley were under the nominal control of the. Iroquois. The park’s 1-mile Indian Trail recalls such native paths as it runs through an open forest of oak and pine trees, with occasional clearings and a grove of hawthorns. The French and Indian War led to the migration of many Native Americans to the westward of the park to the Ohio River and the Great Shamokin Path, the major path connecting the east–west basins of the Susque hannocks and Allegheny River.
The state park is open year-round for recreation and has an extensive network of trails which allow hiking, biking, and viewing the bog habitat at the Black Mashannon State Natural Area. It was chosen by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for its \”25 Must-see Pennsylvania State Parks\” list. It rose from the ashes of a depleted forest which had been largely destroyed by wildfire in the years following the lumber era. The forests were rehabilitated by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression in the 1930s and are protected on the list of National Register of Historic Places in three historic districts. The lake and creek are open for fishing, boating, and swimming, and the park is also open for hunting and camping in the summer. The Seneca tribe used it as hunting and fishing grounds, but no trails of the indigenous peoples are recorded as having passed through the park itself. They and other tribes fished, fished and traded in the region, including the Lenape, which was a series of beaver ponds at the time. They and others fished in the area of Black Meshannon Lake, including other tribes, including Lenape.
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This page is based on the article Black Moshannon State Park published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 15, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
