Drake Well Museum & Oil Creek State Park - Pennsylvania

 With age, comes wisdom. With travel, comes understanding.

– Sandra Lake

During the summer of 2025, we spent 16 days camping and exploring some state parks in western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. On July 22, 2025, we spent the day exploring the Drake Well Museum grounds and neighboring Oil Creek State Park north of Pittsburgh. 

Drake Well Museum

The Drake Well Museum tells the story of the birth and development of the oil industry in Pennsylvania and how it grew into a global enterprise. Unfortunately, the Museum building was closed during our visit, so we weren’t able to see the displays inside of it, view the orientation film, or visit the gift shop. However, the grounds and several historic buildings were open, so we were able to explore them.

One of the features of the 240-acre site is a full-scale replica of the original engine house and derrick. The structure encloses the famous well where Edwin L. Drake struck oil in 1859. It's a National Historic Landmark. The replica also features working reproductions of the wood-fired boiler and steam engine that was used to pump oil from the well.

Drake Wellhouse Replica

Reproduction of 1850 equipment

The outdoor exhibits tell the story of the area's oil producing history through period photographs, machinery, historic buildings and vintage vehicles.

Oil Transportation Building	Oil Drilling Rigs & Central Power Building
Grant Well Office

The grounds also include a large collection of historic drilling rigs.

Spring Pole Drilling Rig

Oil Drilling Rig Standard Steel Drilling Rig

Across the street from the park entrance is a station for the Oil Creek & Titusville Railroad, which takes passengers on a 3-hour ride from Titusville to Rynd Farm Station at the southernmost point in Oil Creek State Park. The journey gives riders the opportunity to learn the history of the area while enjoying the scenery along the way.

Drake Well Train Station

The park also has 2 satellite locations at the Historic Pithole City and McClintock Well #1. But we had other things on our itinerary that day and didn’t have time to visit them. But that just gave us a reason to return to the area another time.

Oil Creek State Park

Located just south of Titusville, Pennsylvania, the 9,000-acre Oil Creek State Park is famous for being the location for the first commercial oil well in the world. Displays and structures in the park tell the story of the oil wells and towns that developed in the Oil Creek valley. Thousands of people moved to the area and boomtowns and derricks quickly replaced the valley’s forest. By 1871, oil production dwindled and the people moved on. However, a few wells are still active in the park.

Amazingly, the valley recovered and looks almost as it did before the boom. Today, ruins of the oil industry can still be found scattered among the valley’s deep hollows and steep hillsides.

Although the Oil Creek Valley played an important role in the development of the world’s oil industry, the park is mostly used as a place for outdoor recreation. The park doesn’t have camping other than for backpackers and organized groups. However its remote and scenic location is a great place for those wishing to picnic, hunt, fish, kayak or canoe, and hike on the park’s more than 52 miles of trails. 

Also in the park is the Oil Creek Bike Trail, a 10-mile paved rail-trail running along Oil Creek from the Drake Well Museum just outside of the park’s northern end to the Park Office at Petroleum Center. The trail passes through several historic sites and is near some of the park’s waterfalls.

Another interesting area in the park is the Blood Farm Day Use Area, where a half-mile-long trail takes you past old buildings and pieces of equipment once used to produce oil. The trail is mostly level and easy to follow. Blood Farm produced more oil than all the other farms in the region in 1861 and 1862. Interpretive signs along the loop trail tell stories about frantic drilling, gushing oil and devastating fires. Along the way we passed by oil industry related artifacts that were left behind.

For more information about things to see and do in the park, click here.

Oil Creek State Park Trail

The paved 9.7-mile Oil Creek State Park Trail and the 1.5-mile Queen City Trail which connects it to the town of Titusville are popular among cyclists, hikers and fishermen. The trail runs on the bed of the former Oil Creek Rail Road, which later merged into the Oil Creek and Allegheny River Railway, and later still became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The trail is part of the planned 270-mile Pittsburgh-to-Erie Trail, which will connect to the Great Allegheny Passage, a trail we hope to conquer in the not-so-distant future! The trail is also part of the Industrial Heartland Trails Coalition’s planned 1,500-mile network of trails through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and New York. We had heard a lot of good things about the Oil Creek State Park Trail, and we were happy to check it off our bucket list.

There is a lot of history surrounding this trail. Remnants of the boomtowns that resulted from the world’s first oil well and the railroad that once traversed it can be found along its length.

We started our ride on the trail across the creek from the Drake Well Museum at the main trailhead in the Jersey Bridge Parking Area in the state park. The trailhead is also the southern endpoint for the Queen City Trail.

We headed south along the west shore of Oil Creek on the path. The trail twists and turns along the creek through mostly forest, providing plenty of shade. There were a lot of signs along the trail marking historical sites and some still-working oil and gas wells. We passed by the locations of some former boomtowns including Millers Farm and Shaffer Farm that were mostly overtaken by the forest with little to explore, so we kept riding. 

Just a little less than 2 miles before the trail’s end we crossed over to the east side of the creek on a bridge, and passed the rails of the Oil Creek & Titusville Railroad. From there we followed a park road for a half mile until we arrived at Petroleum Centre, which was once the site of one of the area’s most notorious boomtowns. Today the area has shelters, restrooms, a boat launch and a ranger station where you can rent bicycles. A depot for the Oil Creek & Titusville Railroad is also located there.

We enjoyed our ride on the Oil Creek State Park Trail. We didn't take a lot of photos on our bike ride, but we do have a short video of some highlights you can view by clicking here.

We also have a longer video with highlights from the entire day on our YouTube channel. You can view that by clicking here.

* All photos and videos are the property of the blog owners unless otherwise noted. *

McConnells Mill State Park - Pennsylvania

There’s music in water. Brooks babbling, fountains splashing. Weirs, waterfalls, tumbling, gushing.”

― Julie Andrews, actress and singer

July 21 & 24, 2025

Located in Lawrence County just outside of New Castle, Pennsylvania, the 2,546-acre McConnells Mill State Park surrounds the Slippery Rock Creek Gorge, a National Natural Landmark. The gorge was created by the draining of glacial lakes thousands of years ago and has steep sides with huge boulders. 

Visitors can tour a historic gristmill and covered bridge that both date to the 1800s and get a close-up view of the powerful stream that continues to carve the valley. Popular activities are fishing, hiking on 9 miles of trails, whitewater boating, rock climbing, picnicking, and exploring the scenic overlooks, forests and waterfalls. The park is open from sunrise to sunset, year round.

We visited the Mill area and some waterfalls in the park on July 21, 2025 with our daughter and her family. Parking for the mill, covered bridge, and Kildoo Trail is recommended at the Kildoo Picnic Area and then using the stone stairs down to the mill. However, when we visited the stairs were closed for repair. Although we were able to park at the mill site, parking there is extremely limited and usually only available for handicapped parking. Visitors who couldn’t find parking had to walk the steep and narrow one-way road down from the Kildoo Picnic area to access the mill and covered bridge.

McConnells Mill & Covered Bridge

Our first stop was to see McConnell’s Mill, which sits between the park’s covered bridge and a dam. Unfortunately, the historic and picturesque gristmill wasn’t open on that day.  However, it is open Memorial Day through late September on Wednesdays through Sundays from 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM. Interpretive tours of the mill are available at 1:00 and 2:00 PM. We planned to stop back on a day when it would be open.

McConnells Mill and Dam

Garden at McConnells Mill

The McConnell’s Mill covered bridge, which spans Slippery Rock Creek, is one of two remaining covered bridges in Lawrence County. It was built in 1874 and is a National Historic Landmark.

McConnells Mill Covered Bridge
McConnells Mill Covered Bridge

Kildoo Falls

Kildoo Falls is located under Kildoo Bridge near the historic mill and covered bridge. To see it, we had to hike a short distance on the Kildoo Trail. The trail is mostly easy to hike, but has some rocky areas leading to the falls. The falls generally have a thin stream or two of water flowing off a cliff with a small area behind the falls. These falls are best viewed after a heavy rain, but we did see some water trickling down the rocks.

Two millstones along the creek Kildoo Falls

Millstone Along Kildoo Trail

Alpha Falls

After returning to our truck, we drove to the trailhead for Alpha Falls. Alpha Falls is the tallest waterfall in McConnells Mill State Park, but it flows only seasonally and it’s best seen after a recent rain. Fortunately for us, the falls were running during our visit.

View along the trail to Alpha Falls

Alpha Falls

To get to the falls from the parking area, we took the Alpha Pass Trail along a set of switchbacks and steps to the bottom of a rock wall. After a short distance, the trail opens at the bottom of a cliff. From there we followed the trail to the right along the cliff where there was an obvious but unmarked trail. Less than 100 yards later we arrived at the base of falls.

After viewing the falls we returned to our truck for the next site on our list.

Hells Hollow Falls

Hells Hollow Falls is located on the western edge of McConnell's Mill State Park, and is the most popular waterfall in the park. At only 15-feet-tall, it isn’t the tallest waterfall in the area, but it’s quite scenic and easy to reach from the parking area. The half-mile trail to the falls is relatively flat, taking you along a stream that has carved a small gorge into the ground. The trail leads to a staircase taking you down to the base of the falls. Visitors should be careful on the stones at the base of the falls because they get quite wet and slippery. If the falls are flowing well, it could be hard to get a good view of the falls. We had to get our feet a little wet to get that front view of the falls from the bottom, but a nice side view can also be had from the stairs. There were a lot of people at these falls and we had to wait our turn to take our photos before heading back on the trail to our truck.

View along the trail to Hells Hollow Falls	Hells Hollow Falls
Hells Hollow Falls

And where did the name "Hells Hollow" come from? Legend has it that the valley got its name from a military officer who got lost in the valley at night. Upon seeing the distantly glowing fires from limekilns that dotted the valley at that time, he thought he had wandered as far as the gates of hell!

Breakneck Falls

Our last stop of the day was to see Breakneck Falls. The falls are located south of the McConnells Mill Covered Bridge. Although you can hike to the falls by taking either the Kildoo or Slippery Rock Gorge trails, we drove to a parking area on a dirt road above the falls, then walked down the road to Eckert Bridge. There’s also limited parking at the bridge, but we didn’t want to chance that it would be full.

Breakneck Trail begins on the left as you come down the hill to the bridge crossing Slippery Rock Creek. We walked out on the bridge first to get some views of the creek before starting our hike to the falls.

View of Slippery Rock Creek
from Eckert Bridge

The hike to the falls is only about a quarter of a mile downstream. The trail is relatively level, although there were some large rocks and boulders that we had to make our way over and around. When the trail reached Cheeseman Run, we could hear the falls as we hiked up about 100 feet through massive boulders until we reached the falls.

Breakneck Falls

Breakneck Falls is a 25-foot multi-tiered waterfall below a bridge and has towering rock walls surrounding it. The falls got its name from the steep, slippery rocks it flows over as it makes its way to the Slippery Rock Creek below. As with some of the other falls in the park, they are best seen after a hard rain. However, they were running fairly well during our visit. 

That brought to an end our day in the park, but not an end to visiting the park. On July 24 we returned to the mill because it was open. We spent some time exploring it and looking at the things on display. We also asked one of the park rangers about the mill stones we had seen when we hiked part of the Kildoo Trail earlier in the week to see the waterfall. They told us the millstones were NOT from McConnells Mill, as we initially assumed, but from another mill that was once located in the area where we saw the stones. The millstones are the only remnants from that mill that we saw.

Kildoo & Slippery Rock Gorge Trails

After finishing our tour of the mill, we returned to the Kildoo Trail so we could hike the entire trail. In addition to revisiting Kildoo Falls, we saw quite a few other small waterfalls as we made our way along to the trail’s end. After crossing over the bridge near Breakneck Falls, we followed the Slippery Rock Gorge Trail back to the covered bridge and McConnells Mill. The Slippery Rock Gorge became a National Natural Landmark in 1974 and a State Park Natural area in 1998. The gorge has steep sides, a lot of rocky outcrops, and some seasonal waterfalls.

We had a wonderful time visiting McConnells Mill State Park and hope to return one day so we can explore more of the park's features. If you'd like to view a video showing highlights of our visit to the park, click here.

* All photos and videos are the property of the blog owners unless otherwise noted. *

Jennings Environmental Center, Moraine State Park, & Cascade Park - Pennsylvania

 To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles.

- Marie Davis

July 20, 2025

During a 16-day camping trip in July 2025 with our daughter and her family, we spent a week in northwestern Pennsylvania so we could explore some state parks in the area. This blog entry features three parks we visited on one day during our stay in the area.

Jennings Environmental Center

The Jennings Environmental Education Center, located in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, is one of several state parks dedicated to providing environmental education and recreational programs to the public. The park has over 5 miles of hiking trails. It has areas for picnicking and wildlife watching and has many events and workshops open to the public throughout the year.

Jennings has a unique combination of prairie and forest environments. Most of the park is covered by forest that includes streams and wetlands. One of the park’s main features is the 20-acre prairie ecosystem, a home to prairie plants. It features the beautiful blazing star prairie flower. We were happy to see that they were in full bloom during our visit. There were also signs letting us know that the endangered massasauga rattlesnake could be found there. Thankfully, we didn’t see any snakes while we were there!

We wandered along the Prairie Loop Trail, stopping to take photos of the many wildflowers that were in bloom. We saw quite a few we hadn't seen before and one we couldn't identify. It was a really nice park to explore. It would be nice to come back again in spring to see what's blooming then.

  

Moraine State Park

Moraine State Park is located near Portersville in western Pennsylvania, about an hour north of Pittsburgh. It’s a huge park, covering 16,725 acres and featuring the 3,225-acre Lake Arthur. It’s a very popular park. Each year over a million people visit it for fishing, boating, wildlife watching, picnicking, disc golfing, hiking, biking, horseback riding and swimming. Although camping in the park is limited to organized groups, there are 11 modern cabins available for rent to visitors year round.

Moraine State Park gets its name from the hilly deposits of gravel, sand and clay that were deposited there about 12,500 years ago. Today, in addition to the man-made Lake Arthur, the gently rolling hills and lush forests leave visitors with plenty of room to explore.

Lake Arthur features 42 miles of shoreline and nine public boat launches for boats with up to 20 horsepower motors. In addition, there’s a privately owned/operated boat rental facility on the south shore with everything from kayaks to motorized pontoon boats. The lake was used to portray New York’s Hudson River in the movie “The Pale Blue Eye”, starring Christian Bale.

Lake Arthur

Lake Arthur

In addition to the numerous boat launches and fishing jetties, the lake has two “swim at your own risk” beaches; one on the north shore and one on the south shore. The lake is stocked with muskellunge, walleye, channel catfish, bass, northern pike, bluegills and crappies, making it a popular spot for fishermen.

Lake Arthur

State Park Marina

Our main reason for visiting the park was so that we could ride our bicycles on a paved, 7.1-mile long multi-use trail. The trail winds along the north shore of Lake Arthur between the Bike Rental Building in the northwest corner of the park and the Davis Hollow Marina, where it dead ends. The trail was mostly shaded with a few small hills here and there, making for a very pleasant ride. After returning to our start we enjoyed our lunch at a shaded picnic table before heading to our last stop of the day.

Cascade Park

Although it's not a state park, Cascade Park, located near downtown New Castle, Pennsylvania, was next on our list. It's a former amusement park that operated from 1897 until the early 1980s. The park was home to roller coasters, many amusement rides, and what at one time was the largest dance hall in Pennsylvania.

Big Run Falls is a 20 to 25-foot-tall waterfall located in the center of the park along the edge of a very large hollow. This circular area makes it hard to get close to the falls, but it also offers a great overlook from which to view it. The viewing area is located next to the roadway through Cascade Park and close to a parking area, making it a very easy waterfall to visit.

Big Run Falls

Just downstream from the waterfall, we could see some of the rails that used to be part of the Comet, a roller coaster that was built in 1955 and used to dive into the valley near the waterfall. We also saw the remains of a swimming pool and several buildings that used to house amusement park rides and concession stands. The 1898 dance pavilion still stands near the entrance to the park.

Cascade Park was a nice way to end our day. Seeing the old buildings brought back happy memories of amusement parks we had visited in our youth.

If you'd like to see the 9-minute YouTube video of our day visiting these parks, click here.

* All photos and videos are the property of the blog owners unless otherwise noted. *