Laurel Summit State Park

About Laurel Summit State Park

This scenic picnic area is operated by the State Park Service and the 6-hectare site features picnic tables, gazebos and water toilets. The area is several degrees cooler than the surrounding city and is located at an altitude of 2739 feet above sea level.

Laurel Summit is a carry-in / carry area, and parking spaces can be hiked from the parking lot to the picnic area of Laurel Summit State Park. In this area there are also bee picnic tables, gazebos and water toilets, as well as a picnic table and a water fountain.

The Linner Laufwald forest is located in the heart of the Laubeerberge, and the mountainous land extends from 1300 to 2800 feet above sea level. There are also dumpsters and a waste collection area on the park grounds.

Most of the land was purchased by the Byers Allen Lumber Company for $42,662 and the entire area was cleared for the purchase of the Linner Run. When the Commonwealth acquired the land in 1909, it was to acquire depopulated woodlands that had been acquired in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, it is hard to imagine what the country looked like in 1908 or 1909, and that people question the wisdom of buying so much fallow land.

The jungle was turned into an area of forest and wildlife, saw blades sold for wood, small logs used as props in nearby coal mines, and small animals such as squirrels and birds hunted.
Hemlock bark, a source of tannins, was bundled and shipped to tanneries, and many serious fires were caused by railways bringing wood and other products to the market.

In the first report of September 1909, forester John R. Williams wrote: "It must be said that three to five fifths of the reserve has been burned since the beginning of deforestation. The fires have caused great damage to young plants, but not as much as in previous years, Williams' report said.

The place is covered only by ferns and blackberry bushes, and the grasses and shrubs are only a few hundred meters high, without vegetation.

The scars of an earlier fire are still visible after years of forest renaturation. In 1910, the newly formed Pennsylvania Game Commission cooperated with the then Department of Forestry to replenish the deer population. White-truant deer were imported from New York and Michigan to be released in Pennsylvania. The current herd of deer is from a herd that was released in Laurel Mountain State Park in the late 1930s and early 1940s under the state's Wildlife Rearing Program.

The original Pittsburgh, Westmoreland and Somerset Railroad tracks that served the area have survived to this day. The main route was from Rector to Somerset with a stop at Laurel Mountain State Park on the west side of Somerset Road.

After a short distance along the fisherman's path you will find traces of the old railway bed. The tracks have changed over the years with the construction of a new road and the installation of new paths and bridges.

It was formerly owned and operated by General Richard K. Mellon and became known as the "Ski Capital of Pennsylvania" after it opened in 1939 as a private Rolling Rock resort founded by his son-in-law. Thousands of Pittsburgh area skiers are out and about every day to ski, snowshoe hike and other activities at the resort.

General Mellon leased a piece of land and its improvements to the Commonwealth in September 1963, and the land was handed over to them in the summer of 1964.

Linn Run State Park offers cabins, picnics, hiking, fishing and hunting, as well as a variety of outdoor activities such as hiking and fishing. Laurel Mountain State Park covers 493 acres in Westmoreland County and covers a total of 1.5 million square feet of open space.

To reach the park, take US Route 30, turn left onto Laurel Mountain Road, then drive two miles and turn right onto the road and continue for one mile to the parking lot. It offers cabins, picnics, hiking, fishing and hunting as well as a variety of outdoor activities such as hiking and fishing, camping and organized group camps. Environmental education programs are also offered by Westmoreland County's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection (DNR).

The Highlands lead from Ohiopyle, PA to the Conemaugh River in Johnstown and the Forbes State Forest, which covers over 50,000 acres and includes a variety of hiking, camping, fishing, hunting and fishing trails. Kooser State Park is one of the largest state parks in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, covering a total of 2,500 acres.