THE CALEDONIA PHOTO PAGE

Caledonia State Park provides a variety of activities including hiking, picnicing, camping and swimming. You can also use it as a home base to visit other interesting spots including Pine Grove Furnace and King's Gap State Parks. You can also motel it in Gettysburg or Chambersburg. Visit the website. Bridge We are in the main area of the park which is on Rt. 30 at PA Rt. 233 about 14 miles West of Gettysburg. The park has a pool, picnic area, camping and plenty of nice hiking. It is a good camp spot for trips to Gettysburg. Chambersburg is just west and has plenty of food and antique shops to explore. Here's a Fall shot up stream. Thaddeus Stevens' Black Smith Shop The iron furnace is the theme of this park. Stevens was never a blacksmith, nor did he work. He was a lawyer and politician. He and J.D. Paxton financed the community. Stevens named it for his home county in Vermont. This structure sits right on the shoulder of Rt. 30. The iron furnace did the work. Raw materials went into the top and the iron was tapped from the bottom. Here is a drawing of the process. The water wheel on the right ran a bellows that forced air into the furnace to make it hotter. Check it out because we'll refer to it later. Falls Speaking of water wheels, it was sitting right here just 160 years ago. Now the little falls is just an attractive part of the scenery. The furnace is about a 100 feet to the right of this shot. The raceway carried water to the water wheel at the furnace. We are hiking the Thaddeus Stevens Historical Trail which goes away from the furnace. It moves backwards from the flow of water. There is a booklet available at the nearby park office that explains all the features along the trail. This pond held water to drive the water wheel. When released it flowed down the raceway to the furnace area. This is a great place in the Fall, but they limit the camping area to a small area with only about 50 sites. So plan ahead. Header dam channeled the water to the raceway from the Conococheague Creek. It also protected the furnace from flooding.

PENNSYLVANIA INDEX
HOME