Environmental education center · Dickinson Township, Cumberland County
Kings Gap Environmental Education Center
A stone mansion from the early 1900s crowns South Mountain and looks out across the Cumberland Valley, while miles of year-round trails wind down through the oak forest around it.
What you will find
- Hiking trails
- Picnic areas
- Wildlife and bird watching
- Scenic views
- Historic features
- Accessible trails
Hunting is permitted here in season. Check the state hunting calendar and wear blaze orange in fall and winter.
Make a day of it
Nearby
-
Pine Grove Furnace State Park
Near the Appalachian Trail's halfway point, with an old iron furnace, the Appalachian Trail Museum, swimming in Fuller Lake, a flooded ore pit, and a second, larger lake with a beach and boating.
-
Appalachian Trail
The Maine-to-Georgia footpath crosses about 230 rocky miles of Pennsylvania; at Pine Grove Furnace, near its halfway point, an old gristmill houses the Appalachian Trail Museum.
-
Appalachian Trail Museum
Set in an old stone mill at Pine Grove Furnace, close to the trail's halfway point, this small museum honors hikers such as Earl Shaffer, who made the first recorded thru-hike in 1948.
-
Carlisle
A handsome Cumberland Valley county seat of limestone and brick, home to Dickinson College, the Army War College and its Army Heritage museum, and big classic-car shows at the fairgrounds.
-
Michaux State Forest
South Mountain's big working forest, where Pennsylvania's first forestry school took root, crossed by the Appalachian Trail and dotted with rocky overlooks and charcoal hearths from the old iron-furnace days.
-
U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center
Army history from the Revolution to today, told in a Soldier Experience Gallery and along an outdoor trail lined with re-created trenches, barracks and fortifications.
