Penn-Roosevelt State Park
Penn-Roosevelt State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in [Harris Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania|Centre County, Pennsylvania|Harris Township], Centre County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is surrounded by Rothrock State Forest. Penn-Roosevelt State Park is from U.S. Route 322 on either Crowfield Road or Stone Creek Road.
History
Early settlement
The southern portions of Centre County were once inhabited by the Ona Jutta Hage or Juniata tribe. Their name meant "The People of the Standing Stone", for an obelisk that once stood in their village near present-day Huntingdon. The Juniata had moved away by the time that Pennsylvania was colonized by William Penn. Penn bought the land from the Iroquois and the Tuscarora and Shawnee that had resettled throughout central Pennsylvania were soon forced to move on once again. Many different groups of European settlers migrated to the area by the late 18th century. They were mostly farmers of Scots-Irish descent with large numbers of Amish and Mennonite Germans who had fled religious persecution in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.The lumber era
By the mid-19th century the demand for lumber reached southern Centre County, where white pine and hemlock covered the surrounding mountainsides. The Reichley Brothers were the major lumbering concern in the area. In addition to harvesting timber from the hillsides and valleys, they operated an excursion train in the summer months. The train would leave Milroy and climb into the mountains to Poe Mills, Thickhead Mountain, through Stone Creek Kettle, and back to Milroy along the banks of Laurel Creek.This lumber era was not to last, and soon all the trees were gone. Once the trees disappeared, the people were soon to follow. The lumbermen left behind a barren landscape that was devastated by erosion and wildfires. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania bought the thousands of acres of deforested and burned land. The state began the massive project of reforesting the land.