Centre County 12
12 places to explore in Centre County, Pennsylvania — part of the The Alleghenies region.
Public Gardens 1
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The Arboretum at Penn State
The university's public garden, with the formal H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens, a children's garden and pollinator plantings, and the Palmer Museum of Art next door.
Museums 2
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Palmer Museum of Art
Penn State's art museum, which moved in 2024 into a striking new building in the arboretum, with galleries spanning American, European, Asian and contemporary art.
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Pennsylvania Military Museum
Exhibits on the state's soldiers from colonial times onward center on the 28th Infantry Division Shrine, with a walk-through World War I trench scene.
Small Towns 1
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Bellefonte
A Victorian county seat of ironmasters' mansions and governors' homes, built around the Big Spring and Talleyrand Park, with trout fishing on Spring Creek.
Public Parks 6
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Black Moshannon State Park
A tea-colored lake fringed by bogs, where a boardwalk leads among carnivorous sundews and pitcher plants, with CCC-built cabins, a beach and miles of forest trails all around.
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Bald Eagle State Park
The Nature Inn, a green-built lodge, looks out over a long reservoir beneath Bald Eagle Mountain, where boaters, anglers and birders spread out across the water and wetlands.
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Poe Valley State Park
Off the beaten path in the Seven Mountains, a little swimming lake with a beach and campground, and nothing but forest on the slopes around it.
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Penn Roosevelt State Park
Remote and rustic, this tiny park sits in a mountain bowl of the Seven Mountains, with a small pond, the remains of a Depression-era CCC camp and backcountry trails heading into Rothrock State Forest.
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Poe Paddy State Park
Where Big Poe Creek meets Penns Creek, a famed trout stream with a June green drake hatch, the Mid State Trail crosses an old rail bridge and plunges into a railroad tunnel through the mountain.
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McCalls Dam State Park
Along a gravel road deep in the forest, a handful of picnic tables sit beside White Deer Creek, good for a quiet lunch and some trout fishing in a remote valley.
Show Caves 2
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Penn's Cave
Flat-bottomed boats glide through this flooded limestone cavern, with the whole tour taken by water, and a separate tour explores a wildlife park on the farmland above.
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Woodward Cave
Guided tours lead through a series of big chambers to the Tower of Babel, a massive stalagmite, and a campground on the grounds invites a longer stay.
