Cherry Springs State Park
Cherry Springs State Park
Pennsylvania State Park
Natural Monument (IUCN III)
The sky at Cherry Springs State Park, the first
International Dark Sky Park in the eastern US, is
so dark that the Milky Way casts a shadow.
Named for: A large stand of cherry trees in the
park
Country
United States
State
Pennsylvania
County
Potter
Township
West Branch
Location
[1]
- coordinates 41°39′46″N 77°49′23″W /
41.66278°N 77.82306°W /
41.66278; -77.82306Coordinates:
41°39′46″N 77°49′23″W /
41.66278°N 77.82306°W /
41.66278; -77.82306
- elevation
2,300 ft (701 m) [1]
Area
106 acres (43 ha)
Founded
1922 [2]
Managed by Pennsylvania Department of
Conservation and Natural
Resources
Visitation
52,229 (in 2003) [3]
Nearest city Coudersport, Pennsylvania
Added to
NRHP:
May 11, 1987
NRHP
Reference
#:
87000052
Location of Cherry Springs State Park in
Pennsylvania
Website : Cherry Springs State Park
Cherry Springs State Park is a 106-acre
(43 ha)[a] Pennsylvania state park in Potter
County, Pennsylvania, in the United States.
The park was created from land within the
Susquehannock State Forest, and is on
Pennsylvania Route 44 in West Branch Town-
ship. Cherry Springs, named for a large stand
of Black Cherry trees in the park, is atop the
dissected Allegheny Plateau at an elevation
of 2,300 feet (701 m). It is popular with astro-
nomers and stargazers for having some of the
"darkest night skies on the east coast" of the
United States, and was chosen by the
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation
and Natural Resources (DCNR) and its Bur-
eau of Parks as one of "Twenty Must-See
Pennsylvania State Parks".[4]
The earliest recorded inhabitants of the
area were the Susquehannocks, followed by
the Seneca nation, who hunted there. The
first settlement within the park was a log tav-
ern built in 1818 along a trail; the trail be-
came a turnpike by 1834 and a hotel re-
placed the tavern in 1874, then burned in
1897. In the late 19th and early 20th centur-
ies the old-growth forests were clearcut; the
state forest was establis