Linn Run State Park

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Linn Run State Park is a 612-acre park in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, near Rector. It lies in Cook and Ligonier Townships and borders Forbes State Forest. The Linn Run River forms in the park when Grove Run and Rock Run join, and Adams Falls is a waterfall you can see there. The park is just off Pennsylvania Route 381.

History tells how the area’s old-growth forest was clear-cut in the late 1800s and early 1900s by the Byers and Allen Lumber Company. Logs went to sawmills or were used to reinforce coal mine shafts, and hemlock bark was used by tanneries. Leftover treetops dried and could catch fire, and steam locomotives passing through often started massive wildfires. Pennsylvania bought the land in 1909, becoming the first major public purchase of denuded forest land in the Ohio River Basin. Forester John R. Williams reported that about 60% of the area had burned, destroying young growth and wildlife habitat. White-tailed deer were reintroduced to Pennsylvania in 1910. During the New Deal era, the Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration built much of the park. A CCC camp operated from 1933 to 1942, constructing ten rustic cabins, stone fireplaces, several buildings and bridges, and basic roads, water, and utilities.

Today Linn Run State Park is a thriving second-growth forest. All trails are open to hiking, but mountain biking and snowmobiling are not allowed on the hiking trails. About 400 acres are open to hunting, with squirrels, turkey, and white-tailed deer being the most common game; groundhogs are not hunted. Linn Run is a trout fishery with stocked trout and native brook trout.

The park is popular for picnics. Adams Falls Picnic Area has tables, a pavilion, a playground, and modern restrooms. Grove Run Picnic Area has tables and restrooms, but no pavilion.

The Linn Run State Park Family Cabin District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Ten cabins were built in 1933 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Nine are rustic and have no indoor plumbing; one is modern and has a kitchen and bathroom. Each rustic cabin includes furniture, wood-burning stoves, a refrigerator, an oven, a stove, and a microwave. All cabins have an outhouse and a water pump, with a modern bathhouse nearby.