Kings Gap Environmental Education and Training Center
Encyclopedia
Kings Gap Environmental Education and Training Center is a 1454 acres (588.4 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Cooke, Dickinson and Penn
Townships, Cumberland County
, Pennsylvania
in the United States. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania acquired the land in 1973, from the C. H. Masland and Son Carpet Company. Kings Gap State Park is 2.5 miles (4 km) from Pennsylvania Route 233
on South Mountain
.
, charcoal
was used to fire the furnaces of the iron
furnaces. The demand for charcoal was great. One iron furnace could consume one acre (0.4 ha) of forest in one day. Massive charcoal furnaces were built at Kings Gap to meet these needs. The charcoal was created by stacking timber around large hearths. The hearths were fired by a collier. The collier tended the hearths for 10 to 14 days until the charcoal was ready. This industry was the dominant industry at Kings Gap for nearly 150 years. The forests were allowed to regrow for about 25 years until they were ready to be harvested again. When coal was discovered the need for charcoal disappeared and the forests have regrown. Reminders of the charcoal industry are visible today at Kings Gap State Park. Large circular areas of mostly barren land are located at the sites of the former furnaces and pieces of charcoal can still be found in the woods of the park.
that was quarried
from the area. The house has 32 rooms and resembles an Italian villa with a flat roof and large windows. Cameron also built an ice house that was used to store vegetables, a stone walled vegetable garden, and a water tower that holds 10000 gallons (37,854.1 l) of water and is still being used today. The grounds of the mansion also included a carriage house, generator building and a brick caretaker
s house.
James Cameron died in 1949 and the property was sold to the C. H. Masland and Son Carpet Company. The company added carpet, wallpaper and new furnishings to the mansion and used it as a training center for employees and sales representatives. The bedrooms were used to showcase the latest options in Masland carpet. The Masland Company became involved in several land management projects. They planted 42 acres (17 ha) of pine trees at the base of the mountain and built the pond that is still being used today.
The Nature Conservancy and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania worked together to acquire the mansion and land from C. H. Masland and Son Carpet Company in 1973. The environmental education center was opened in 1977.
. They provide training for forest and park ranger
s employed by the state. The PDCNR also gives environmental education lessons to students and teachers from Pennsylvania at Kings Gap.
course at Kings Gap State Park. Hunting
is permitted on several hundred acres of Kings Gap State Park. Hunters are expected to follow the rules and regulations of the Pennsylvania Game Commission
. The common game species are gray squirrels
, turkey
, and white-tailed deer
.
s can be seen near the summit of the of mountain. Reptile
s including the box turtle
, five-lined skink, copperhead
snakes and timber rattlesnake
s. The plant life is diverse as well. Wild blueberry
, huckleberry
and mountain laurel
can be found in the woods with large stands of chestnut oak
, white pine
, larch
and Douglas fir. Vernal pool
s appear in the springtime. These pools provide habitats and breeding area for amphibians like Wood Frog
s, Spotted Salamander
s, and Spring Peeper
s.
Penn Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
Penn Township is a township in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,807 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 29.2 square miles , of which, 29.2 square miles of it is land and...
Townships, Cumberland County
Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
Cumberland County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and is one of three counties comprising the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population was 235,406.-History:...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
in the United States. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania acquired the land in 1973, from the C. H. Masland and Son Carpet Company. Kings Gap State Park is 2.5 miles (4 km) from Pennsylvania Route 233
Pennsylvania Route 233
Pennsylvania Route 233 is a north–south highway in south central Pennsylvania. It runs from the village of Mont Alto, just north of Waynesboro and the Maryland state line to Green Park...
on South Mountain
South Mountain (Maryland and Pennsylvania)
South Mountain is the northern extension of the Blue Ridge Mountain range in Maryland and Pennsylvania. From the Potomac River near Knoxville, Maryland in the south, to Dillsburg, Pennsylvania in the north, the long range separates the Hagerstown and Cumberland valleys from the Piedmont regions of...
.
Charcoal Furnaces
The early days of Kings Gap are tied to the charcoal industry. Before the discovery of coalCoal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
was used to fire the furnaces of the iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
furnaces. The demand for charcoal was great. One iron furnace could consume one acre (0.4 ha) of forest in one day. Massive charcoal furnaces were built at Kings Gap to meet these needs. The charcoal was created by stacking timber around large hearths. The hearths were fired by a collier. The collier tended the hearths for 10 to 14 days until the charcoal was ready. This industry was the dominant industry at Kings Gap for nearly 150 years. The forests were allowed to regrow for about 25 years until they were ready to be harvested again. When coal was discovered the need for charcoal disappeared and the forests have regrown. Reminders of the charcoal industry are visible today at Kings Gap State Park. Large circular areas of mostly barren land are located at the sites of the former furnaces and pieces of charcoal can still be found in the woods of the park.
Kings Gap Mansion
James McCormick Cameron, a Pennsylvania businessman built the mansion at Kings Gap in 1908 on 2700 acres (1,093 ha). He allowed the surrounding land to be reforested. The mansion is approximately 200 feet (61 m) long and is built from Antietam quartziteQuartzite
Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...
that was quarried
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
from the area. The house has 32 rooms and resembles an Italian villa with a flat roof and large windows. Cameron also built an ice house that was used to store vegetables, a stone walled vegetable garden, and a water tower that holds 10000 gallons (37,854.1 l) of water and is still being used today. The grounds of the mansion also included a carriage house, generator building and a brick caretaker
Property caretaker
A Property caretaker is a person, group or organization that cares for real estate for trade or financial compensation, and sometimes as a barter for rent-free living accommodations...
s house.
James Cameron died in 1949 and the property was sold to the C. H. Masland and Son Carpet Company. The company added carpet, wallpaper and new furnishings to the mansion and used it as a training center for employees and sales representatives. The bedrooms were used to showcase the latest options in Masland carpet. The Masland Company became involved in several land management projects. They planted 42 acres (17 ha) of pine trees at the base of the mountain and built the pond that is still being used today.
The Nature Conservancy and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania worked together to acquire the mansion and land from C. H. Masland and Son Carpet Company in 1973. The environmental education center was opened in 1977.
Environmental education
Kings Gap Environmental Education and Training Center is an education and training center for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural ResourcesPennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources , established on July 1, 1995, is the agency in the U.S. State of Pennsylvania responsible for maintaining and preserving the state's 117 state parks and 20 state forests; providing information on the state's natural resources; and...
. They provide training for forest and park ranger
Park ranger
A park ranger or forest ranger is a person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands – national, state, provincial, or local parks. Different countries use different names for the position. Ranger is the favored term in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Within the United...
s employed by the state. The PDCNR also gives environmental education lessons to students and teachers from Pennsylvania at Kings Gap.
Recreation
There is an orienteeringOrienteering
Orienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they...
course at Kings Gap State Park. Hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
is permitted on several hundred acres of Kings Gap State Park. Hunters are expected to follow the rules and regulations of the Pennsylvania Game Commission
Pennsylvania Game Commission
The Pennsylvania Game Commission is the state agency responsible for wildlife conservation and management in Pennsylvania in the United States...
. The common game species are gray squirrels
Eastern Gray Squirrel
The eastern gray squirrel is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus native to the eastern and midwestern United States, and to the southerly portions of the eastern provinces of Canada...
, turkey
Wild Turkey
The Wild Turkey is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which derives from the South Mexican subspecies of wild turkey .Adult wild turkeys have long reddish-yellow to grayish-green...
, and white-tailed deer
White-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
.
Nature
Kings Gap State Park has a wide variety of wild plants and animals. Turkey VultureTurkey Vulture
The Turkey Vulture is a bird found throughout most of the Americas. It is also known in some North American regions as the Turkey Buzzard , and in some areas of the Caribbean as the John Crow or Carrion Crow...
s can be seen near the summit of the of mountain. Reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s including the box turtle
Terrapene carolina carolina
The eastern box turtle is a subspecies within a group of hinge-shelled turtles, normally called box turtles. T. c. carolina is native to an eastern part of the United States....
, five-lined skink, copperhead
Agkistrodon contortrix
Agkistrodon contortrix is a species of venomous snake found in North America, a member of the Crotalinae subfamily. The more common name for the species is "copperhead". The behavior of Agkistrodon contortrix may lead to accidental encounters with humans...
snakes and timber rattlesnake
Crotalus horridus
Crotalus horridus, the timber rattlesnake, is a species of venomous pitviper found in the eastern United States. This is the only rattlesnake species in most of the populous northeastern United States. No subspecies are currently recognized....
s. The plant life is diverse as well. Wild blueberry
Blueberry
Blueberries are flowering plants of the genus Vaccinium with dark-blue berries and are perennial...
, huckleberry
Huckleberry
Huckleberry is a common name used in North America for several species of plants in two closely related genera in the family Ericaceae:* Vaccinium* GaylussaciaHuckleberry may also refer to:-Plants:...
and mountain laurel
Kalmia latifolia
Kalmia latifolia, commonly called Mountain-laurel or Spoonwood, is a species of flowering plant in the blueberry family, Ericaceae, that is native to the eastern United States. Its range stretches from southern Maine south to northern Florida, and west to Indiana and Louisiana. Mountain-laurel is...
can be found in the woods with large stands of chestnut oak
Chestnut oak
Quercus prinus , the chestnut oak, is a species of oak in the white oak group, Quercus sect. Quercus. It is native to the eastern United States, where it is one of the most important ridgetop trees from southern Maine southwest to central Mississippi, with an outlying northwestern population in...
, white pine
Eastern White Pine
Pinus strobus, commonly known as the eastern white pine, is a large pine native to eastern North America, occurring from Newfoundland west to Minnesota and southeastern Manitoba, and south along the Appalachian Mountains to the northern edge of Georgia.It is occasionally known as simply white pine,...
, larch
Tamarack Larch
Tamarack Larch, or Tamarack, or Hackmatack, or American Larch is a species of larch native to Canada, from eastern Yukon and Inuvik, Northwest Territories east to Newfoundland, and also south into the northeastern United States from Minnesota to Cranesville Swamp, West Virginia; there is also a...
and Douglas fir. Vernal pool
Vernal pool
Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are temporary pools of water. They are usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe development of natal amphibian and insect species...
s appear in the springtime. These pools provide habitats and breeding area for amphibians like Wood Frog
Wood Frog
The Wood Frog has a broad distribution over North America, extending from the southern Appalachians to the boreal forest with several notable disjunct populations including lowland eastern North Carolina...
s, Spotted Salamander
Spotted Salamander
The Spotted Salamander or Yellow-spotted Salamander is a mole salamander common in the eastern United States and Canada. The Spotted Salamander is the State amphibian of South Carolina. It has recently been found that its embryos have algae living inside them in a mutualistic...
s, and Spring Peeper
Spring Peeper
The Spring Peeper is a small chorus frog widespread throughout the eastern USA and Canada.-Subspecies:There are two subspecies of the Spring Peeper, the Northern and the Southern Spring Peeper . The Northern is similar to the Southern except for a strong dark marking on the Southern frog's belly...
s.
Nearby state parks
The following state parks are within 30 miles (48.3 km) of Kings Gap Environmental Education and Training Center:- Big Spring State ParkBig Spring State Park (Pennsylvania)Big Spring State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Toboyne Township, Perry County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is on Pennsylvania Route 274, southwest of New Germantown. Big Spring State Park is a hiking and picnic area...
(Perry CountyPerry County, PennsylvaniaAs of the census of 2000, there were 43,602 people, 16,695 households, and 12,320 families residing in the county. The population density was 79 people per square mile . There were 18,941 housing units at an average density of 34 per square mile...
) - Caledonia State ParkCaledonia State ParkCaledonia State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Greene Township, Franklin County and Franklin Township, Adams County in Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is named for an iron furnace, Caledonia Furnace, that was owned by Thaddeus Stevens beginning in 1837. Today the park is known...
(AdamsAdams County, PennsylvaniaAdams County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 101,407. It was created on January 22, 1800, from part of York County and named in honor of the second President of the United States, John Adams...
and FranklinFranklin County, PennsylvaniaAs of the census of 2000, there were 129,313 people, 50,633 households, and 36,405 families residing in the county. The population density was 168 people per square mile . There were 53,803 housing units at an average density of 70 per square mile...
counties) - Codorus State ParkCodorus State ParkCodorus State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Heidelberg, Manheim, Penn, and West Manheim Townships in southwestern York County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park was created around Lake Marburg, an artificial lake covering , and is named for Codorus Creek, which forms the lake...
(York CountyYork County, PennsylvaniaYork County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 434,972. It is in the Susquehanna Valley, a large fertile agricultural region in South Central Pennsylvania....
) - Colonel Denning State ParkColonel Denning State ParkColonel Denning State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Lower Mifflin Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is in the Doubling Gap of Blue Mountain on Pennsylvania Route 233 between Newville and Landisburg. Doubling Gap Lake is a man-made lake covering...
(Cumberland CountyCumberland County, PennsylvaniaCumberland County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and is one of three counties comprising the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population was 235,406.-History:...
) - Fowlers Hollow State ParkFowlers Hollow State ParkFowlers Hollow State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Toboyne Township, Perry County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is from Blain just off Pennsylvania Route 274...
(Perry County) - Gifford Pinchot State ParkGifford Pinchot State ParkGifford Pinchot State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Warrington Township, York County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park contains wooded hillsides, reverting farm fields, and Pinchot Lake. It is near York and Harrisburg in the south-central part of the state.The park is named...
(York County) - Little Buffalo State ParkLittle Buffalo State ParkLittle Buffalo State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on in Centre and Juniata Townships, Perry County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is a historical destination as well as a recreational destination. Visitors to the park can cross a covered bridge and observe a restored and...
(Perry County) - Mont Alto State ParkMont Alto State ParkMont Alto State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on in Quincy Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is on Pennsylvania Route 233 one mile from Mont Alto.-Mont Alto Iron Company:...
(Franklin County) - Pine Grove Furnace State ParkPine Grove Furnace State ParkPine Grove Furnace State Park is a protected Pennsylvania area that includes Laurel and Fuller lakes in Cooke Township. The park provides various outdoor recreation activities, has the remains of the Pine Grove Iron Works, and was the site of the 1830 Laurel Forge, 1880s Pine Grove Park, and an...
(Cumberland County)