Hearts Content Recreation Area

Hearts Content Recreation Area. A Tiny Piece of the Past. , A tiny piece of the past , When the first European settlers came to this area of Pennsylvania, they encountered dense stands of huge timber. They cleared areas in these forests for their farms and used trees for building their homes. During the 1800's, these large trees provided other products people needed. Hemlock was logged to provide bark for tanneries and wood for construction, while hardwoods provided cabinet wood for furniture. Vast stands of white pine, with some trees over 150 feet in height, were cut and floated on giant rafts down large rivers to be made into masts for Clipper ships. , By the 1830’s, Warren County had become a great lumber center, with over 100 sawmills. One firm which logged in this region, the Wheeler and Dusenbury Lumber Company, owned a parcel of land with a stand of huge timber. Here they built a logging camp and called it Hearts Content after a nearby homestead of the same name. A small remnant of that forest was never logged and was passed on within the family to be appreciated by future generations. , In 1922, the descendants of William F. Wheeler and Henry Dusenbury donated the original 20-acre stand of old growth timber to the U.S. Forest Service in memory of the original logging families. Later, additional land was acquired, making up the 120-acre Hearts Content Scenic Area. This area was dedicated as a National Natural Landmark in 1977. , Come to the old growth forest , Although forests have covered this area for thousands of years, most have changed during the last two centuries. In most eastern forests the huge old trees are missing, having been cut down to provide building materials for an expanding nation. Now there are just a few old growth forests, sometimes called virgin forests, where timber has never been cut. , Here in the Hearts Content Scenic Area you can follow a path into an old growth forest of towering hemlock and white pine. Look for gnarly, old beech snags amidst a carpet of ferns. Feel the cool dark forest. It is a rare place and a reminder of how many forests used to look. As you hike this easy trail, read the interpretive signs to learn how the forest is changing, due to a unique relationship between people, deer and the old trees. You may check out an audio tape about the forest from the Hearts Content Campground host, or at any Allegheny National Forest office. , This is your forest and the trees in it are special. You can help care for them by not damaging the bark, which protects the living portion of the tree just beneath it.