Cowans Gap State Park

I left the Town House motel in Bedford, Penn’a, where my food stayed cool in the refrigerator - in spite of the fact that the fridge couldn’t be plugged in . . . the manager didn’t seem to think this was a problem.

I drove east and hadn’t gotten far before I saw a sign pointing me toward Cowan Gap State Park, north of the Lincoln Highway (U.S. Highway 30).

Marty’s mother’s maiden name was Cowan, and there are many related Cowans across the country that Marty has met, so I decided to go up and check it out.

Gray Catbird

Cowans Gap SP covers 1,085-acres in the Allens Valley of Fulton County.  There is a 42-acre reservoir, a fairly large campground, “rustic” CCC cabins, and several hiking trails, and the Buchanan State Forest surrounds the park, “providing additional options for recreation...”  There’s also quite a concession area, where I grabbed a quick lunch, and avoided the swimming beach.

Not that I'm interested in swimming here, thanks . . .

The park has a pretty nice little museum, giving some of the history and natural history of the park.

“Cowans Gap is named for John and Mary Cowan, who settled there just after the American Revolution.  The Cowans met in Boston in 1775.  John Samuel Cowan was from a Loyalist family and Mary Mueller was from a Patriot family.  Cowan reached the rank of Major in the British Army during the war, and returned to Boston at the conclusion of the war to ask for Mary's hand in marriage.  The Mueller family forbade the marriage and John and Mary eloped.  At first they settled in Chambersburg, where they lived for a few years before heading out for Kentucky.  Their wagon was disabled while crossing Conococheague Creek near Fort Loudoun, so John Cowan traded his horses and broken wagon to a Tuscarora chief for the land that is now known at Cowans Gap.  Cowan received a smoking pipe and tomahawk rights, which entailed marking a large chestnut tree on his property with three slashes, as a sign of peace with the Tuscarora.  John Cowan secured a deed for the land from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1785.  The Cowans built their home along Forbes Road near the present-day intersection of Aughwick Road and Stumpy Lane.”

I walked from the park’s parking lot, up the Three Mile trail, and looped back through the campground.  The trail is only a little more than a mile long; it’s called the “Three Mile”, because it is three miles down Aughwick Road from the parking lot.  The day was sunny with a light breeze, and got up to 81° F.  The forest here is “second-growth”, mostly from replanting done by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s after the old forest was clear-cut, more than once, to provide charcoal for the local iron furnaces.

As I walked the Ovenbird’s “teacher-teacher-teacher” call and the “drink-your-tea” call of the Eastern Towhee were constant, as well as the warbling song of the abundant Red-eyed Vireos.

Fledgling Ovenbird

The only Ruby-throated Hummingbirds I saw were at feeders in the campground.

I got back on the highway, continued to the east, and checked into the Quality Inn at Gettysburg, going to supper at the Garryowen Irish Pub, and having Shepard’s Pie, a pint to wash it down, and a wee dram of Tullamore Dew for dessert. Pretty good grub.  The pub is the meeting place of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, but I won’t hold that against them.  ;-{)

Cowans Gap State Park eBird Checklist is Here

Chipping Sparrow