Camping in Pennsylvania - State Park Cabins

Pennsylvania's State Park cabins were built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, from stone and chestnut trees killed by the blight that once ravaged Pennsylvania forests. While visiting my cousin in St. Mary's over last year's vacation, I asked why her branch of the family was upstate, while the rest of us were city-dwellers. I was surprised and proud to learn that her father, my great-uncle Robert Perryman, had been a "CCC man" who married a girl from Ridgeway, the next town over, and never left.

The State Parks rent Rustic or Modern cabins for almost half the price of privately or commercially owned sites. The Rustics we rent are medium sized one-room affairs, with a refrigerator, stove, bench table, fireplace, gas heater and double and/or bunk beds. My bruised shins are testament to the fact that the heavy wooden kitchen tables and benches will be the only things besides the proverbial cockroaches to survive a nuclear attack. There is no indoor plumbing in the Rustics, but last year at Parker Dam and the year before at World's End, we had a private shower and modern bathroom right next to the cabin. At the parks where you must use communal showers and bathrooms, I have found them to be meticulously kept, although a rather large cricket did join me once. Finally, outside, there are fire rings, grills and picnic tables.

This slideshow chronicles our two-week trip to North Central Pennsylvania, beginning with our stay at Cook's Forest, on to our trip to visit our grandchildren in Erie and our day at Presque Isle, ending with our week at Parker Dam State Park.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/slideshow/5499/vacation_september_2007.html?cat=16