{"id":79143,"date":"2026-01-06T10:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T10:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/79143\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T10:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T10:41:08","slug":"rent-a-cabin-at-one-of-these-pa-state-parks-to-create-winter-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/79143\/","title":{"rendered":"Rent a cabin at one of these Pa. state parks to create winter memories"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winter is a good time to hole up indoors where its warm and cozy, but there\u2019s also big fun to be had outside, and Pennsylvania state parks are a good place to find it. <\/p>\n

Some of the best are the parks that feature CCC cabins, rustic log cabins that President Franklin Roosevelt\u2019s Civil Conservation Corps built back during the Great Depression. <\/p>\n

I have selected three state parks that have a vast array of remarkable structures that those young men have created and left behind: Promised Land State Park<\/a> in the eastern Poconos; Laurel Ridge<\/a> and Kooser<\/a> state parks in the southwest Laurel Highlands; and Parker Dam State Park<\/a> in the Northcentral Mountains. <\/p>\n

All have beautiful cabins that you can rent while you learn about the program at their CCC Museums. These parks also offer such winter activities as sledding, cross-country skiing, ice skating, snow-shoeing, and ice fishing. Free rentals of equipment are also available. <\/p>\n

While visiting Parker Dam State Park, we stayed at the unique CCC Tyler Cabin, which sleeps twelve. Octagonal in shape and constructed of American chestnut logs, it served as the CCC classroom (aka Camp Shawnee) and then the camp officer\u2019s quarters while the camp was active. It survived an F4 tornado because the corners in the building (eight in all) made the cabin very sturdy.<\/p>\n

There are 16 other, smaller cabins built by the CCC that are available for rent today and every single one was planned and built differently. They are constructed of stone and log, using locally quarried sandstone for their foundations. Cabins are heated with a wall-mounted gas heater, and with supplemental wood-burning fireplace inserts.<\/p>\n

We hiked around the lake on the boardwalk and over to an informative display in the forest about the logging industry. A slide display shows how this five-mile long chute brought cut trees down the mountain and into the splash dam as they waited to be moved out.<\/p>\n

Parker Dam State Park offers a memorable winter experience for visitors with seven miles of groomed cross-country ski trails. They clear the snow off the lake and create a full-size ice skating rink and flood it with a fire hose when the surface gets too rough. On February weekends, the Friends of Parker Dam offer free skiing lessons, skate rentals, warming bonfires and hot chocolate. <\/p>\n

\"KooserSnow blankets Kooser State Park in the winter.DCNR<\/p>\n

After exploring the CCC buildings at Laurel Ridge State Park, we headed to its neighboring sister, Kooser State Park, five miles away, for the night. Nine rustic cabins (sleeping between 4-8) were built by the CCC, which the park makes available for rent year-round. <\/p>\n

The cabins have beds with mattresses, a fridge, microwave, stove, and a sink with hot water. A restroom and modern shower facilities are located down the path from the cabin. You need to bring all your own cooking and sleeping supplies\u2014 since the cabins are remote, there are no stores are nearby for resupplying. Firewood and ice are available from the Friends of Laurel Hill. The thermostat is set at 60 degrees so the auxiliary wood burning stove is essential if it is cold. Firewood can be purchased at the park headquarters. <\/p>\n

Besides the nine cabins, the CCC boys built a wooden and earthen dam that created a 4-acre lake, a road around the lake, a beach and bathhouse, trails, picnic shelters, pavilions, tree nursery, and an arboretum. The park\u2019s high elevation and heavy snowfall creates some of the finest Nordic skiing in the state, making the park a wonderful destination even in the winter when many other park facilities are closed down. The staff sets track on 1.5 miles of ski trails. <\/p>\n

We inquired at the park office which trails the CCC built so we could experience these and headed for the Tree Army Trail, which meanders along Kooser Run. We then took a beautiful walk around the lake, through the hemlocks. Along the way, we examined the large stone pavilion with its massive upright posts and thought of the work that went into creating these places for us to enjoy so many years later.<\/p>\n

The name \u201cPromised Land\u201d was actually meant as a joke from the Shaker Community, who at one time owned much of the land around what is now the state park. They originally intended to farm it until they realized how rocky it was, but as visitors today, all we see is beauty. The nearly 3,000-acre park also has running through it the northwestern line of the Walking Purchase \u2014 land stolen from the Delaware back in 1737.<\/p>\n

All the cabins we stayed in at all three state parks were comfortable, cozy and warm. We enjoyed being off the grid, recreating in the brisk winter weather during the day and playing cards in the evening, just enjoying one another\u2019s company- exactly what was intended when the CCC boys built these cabins ninety years ago. How did they know we would need to escape our hectic modern lives even more as time passed?<\/p>\n

Other parks known for winter programs and potential gear loans:<\/p>\n

Hills Creek State Park<\/a>: skis, snowshoes, skatesJacobsburg Environmental Education Center<\/a>: Manages a \u201cSnow Shoe Learner Program\u201d for visitors to borrow snowshoes and explore trails.Raymond B. Winter State Park<\/a>: snowshoeing and skiingNescopeck State Park<\/a>: Offers winter activities, so check their winter page for potential equipment loan information.<\/p>\n

To find free rentals, search for \u201csnowshoe loaner\u201d or \u201ctackle loaner\u201d (for fishing) on the PA Parks and Forests Foundation <\/a>site or DCNR\u2019s park pages.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Winter is a good time to hole up indoors where its warm and cozy, but there\u2019s also big…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[40300,28,30,29,9653],"class_list":["post-79143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-kooser-run","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}