Parks & Recreation information is provided in the following
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Parks & Recreation
Bushkill Township Park
The Bushkill
Township Park began with the purchase of 29.2 acres in October of 1984. From
this original tract, 12 acres have been developed into nine ball fields, a youth
playground area, a parking lot, and a pavilion donated by the
Lions Club available to the residents of the Township for picnics and outings. Thanks to Eagle Scout projects, we have approximately 2,000 feet of nature trails
in our woods for the public enjoyment.
In March of 1999, another 15.2
acres was added to the park. This land is in the development stage, and
includes the addition of another 33.2 acres for possible soccer fields, tennis
courts, additional nature trails and picnic areas, and a recreation building.
The Bushkill Township Park is located at 1114 Bushkill Center Road, directly
across the road from the Township Building and Police Headquarters. The
park is available for township residents at no fee on a first come, first served
basis. All organized athletics other recreational
activities and anyone interested in renting the Pavilion must contact the
Township Office at 610-759-1250 to schedule events and obtain necessary permits.
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Trail (AT) is more than 2,175-mile long
footpath stretching through 14 eastern states from Maine to Georgia. Conceived
in 1921 and first completed in 1937, it traverses the wild, scenic, wooded,
pastoral, and culturally significant lands of the Appalachian Mountains.
For more information, click
here.
The Appalachian Trail runs along the
northernmost border of Bushkill Township, along the top of the Blue Mountain
Ridge. Local parking areas and trail heads may be found at the Wind Gap
and Smiths Gap road crossings of Blue Mountain.
State Gamelands
Bushkill Township includes approximately 1.8 square miles of State Game
Land No. 168A located along the slopes of the Blue Mountain Ridge along the
northern border of the Township. State
Game Lands are open to the public for hunting, hiking, flora/fauna observation,
and other forms of passive recreation. For more information about State
Game Lands, including hunting licenses, please visit the Pennsylvania Game
Commission website at
http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/pgc/9106.
Jacobsburg
Environmental Education Center
The 1,168-acre Jacobsburg
Environmental Education Center offers programs for pre-schoolers through college
students. Center staff also provide community programs on many subjects like
natural and cultural history and outdoor recreation. The 1,168-acre Jacobsburg
Environmental Education Center offers programs for pre-schoolers through college
students. Center staff also provide community programs on many subjects like
natural and cultural history and outdoor recreation.
The famous Henry
Rifle was once made here. The Jacobsburg National Historic District lies almost
entirely within the center property and gives visitors insight into a colonial
gun manufactory.
Visitors also enjoy Henrys Woods, an old growth forest
surrounding Bushkill Creek and laced with hiking trails.
Jacobsburg is a
partner in the Lehigh Valley Greenway, which seeks to engage state and local
governments and non-profit conservation groups to promote land conservation and
education.
Jacobsburg National Historic District & Boulton Historic Site
The
Jacobsburg National Historic District encompasses the eastern side of the center
lands and lies almost entirely within the boundaries of Jacobsburg Environmental
Education Center. The district is on the National Register of Historic Places
and its story is intertwined throughout the early development and growth of our
nation. The history of Jacobsburg focuses on the Henry Family and their small
arms industry, which played a key role in the American Industrial Revolution.
The first of the Henry gunmakers, William Henry I, opened his gun factory in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1750. He became Armorer for the Braddock Campaign of
1755 and for the Forbes Expedition of 1758.
William Henry II established
a small gunmaking shop in Christian Springs near Nazareth in 1778. In 1792,
Henry II purchased land at Jacobsburg and built a gun manufactory. Henry II
acquired the land from the heirs of Jacob Hubler, who in 1740 founded the
community from which Jacobsburg draws its name.
Only foundations remain
at the colonial village of Jacobsburg and at the Henry’s Forge historic site.
Henry II erected a forge (bloomery) to supply the gun factory with iron to
manufacture guns. In 1812, a larger manufactory was built in nearby Boulton in
order to accommodate large government firearms contracts. Three succeeding
generations of Henrys produced small arms at Boulton until the late 1800s.
Competition from arms companies using mass production techniques made the
Henry’s handcraft technology obsolete.
The Henrys not only produced
firearms for all of our nation’s major conflicts from the Revolutionary War
through the Civil War, but they also were the primary suppliers of rifles for
the largest American business enterprise of the early 19th century, John Jacob
Astor’s American Fur Company.
The Henry firearm became the most prominent
weapon of the western frontier due to its durability, accuracy and relatively
low cost.
The Boulton Historic Site, which is administered by the
Jacobsburg Historical Society, is located in the southern portion of the
Jacobsburg Historic District.
Visitors can explore historic buildings and
take a selfguiding trail that interprets the life of the Henry Family and the
Boulton Gun Works. The Henry Homestead, which was built in 1812, houses the
Pennsylvania Longrifle Museum.
The nearby John Joseph Henry House was
built in 1832. Contact the center office for a schedule of historical programs
or for information on the historic district.
