Friends of Salt Springs State Park

Welcome

Salt Springs State Park

Salt Springs State Park is a recreational, educational, and historical center in Susquehanna County and Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is the only one of Pennsylvania's state parks not managed by the Bureau of State Parks. It is managed by the Friends of Salt Springs Park, Inc., a nonprofit organization. Salt Springs is open to the public year-round, without charge, from sunrise to sunset.

The park offers a gorge with three magnificent waterfalls surrounded by a virgin hemlock forest and trails winding through 842 acres. At the base of the gorge is a bubbling salt spring, traces of an 1850s woolen mill, and mid-19th century farmhouses and barns. The Friends sponsor special events and recreational and educational programs all year based on the park’s rich natural and human history.

The Wheaton House and its restroom facilities are handicap accessible. The picnic and lawn facilities are also generally accessible. However, most of the trails into the woodlands and to the waterfalls and gorge are relatively steep and would be impassible to persons in wheelchairs and to the elderly. We are working to change this. A new parking lot is located on the north side of Buckley Road from which a new trail, Overlook Trail, leads to a view of Fall Brook Gorge, with its virgin hemlock grove, the top waterfall, and the boardwalk. The final section of the trail, a boardwalk from the woods' edge connecting to the existing boardwalk, is scheduled for completion by summer 2008.

With one exception, all of the park is open to hunting and fishing in season. The picnic area and the land surrounding the hemlock grove, waterfalls, and farmhouses, about 30 acres, have been designated a Natural Area, which is off limits to hunting. In winter, portions of the park are ideal for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Camping and picnicking are other popular activities at Salt Springs.

Salt Springs State Park is located in Franklin Forks, 1 mile west of the intersection of Silver Creek Road and Route 29 in Franklin Township. It is 6 miles north of Montrose, the county seat of Susquehanna County, and is within easy driving distance of Scranton, PA, and Binghamton, NY.

For directions and map, click here.

Friends of Salt Springs Park

Salt Springs State Park is managed by the Friends of Salt Springs Park, Inc., a nonprofit organization formed in 1994 for this purpose. Since 1994, by legal contract, the Friends have designed and paid for most of the renovations and improvements to park facilities and have designed and implemented 100% of the park’s programs and events. Salt Springs is the only Pennsylvania state park under the direct management of a private, nonprofit organization.

The Friends stepped in because the state could not afford to maintain or improve the park. Although located in a rural area, the park is a popular destination for people from miles around. When the historic structures became slated for destruction, local citizens mobilized. They were soon joined by others locally and around the country who have ties here or who support historical and environmental preservation, or both. By purchase of adjoining lands, the Friends have more than doubled the area open to the public for hiking, camping, hunting, recreation, and education.

Although the Friends’ vision for Salt Springs is complementary to that of the Bureau of State Parks, it is different, and this is reflected in how the Friends manage the park. Visitors use words like "pristine," "unspoiled," "sanctuary," and "hidden beauty" when describing what they like about Salt Springs. The Friends are firmly dedicated to protecting these qualities.

Support for the Friends’ work comes from memberships, public and private agency grants, business donations, in-kind donations of materials and services, special events, and program fees for educational services.

For more information on becoming a member of the Friends, click here.

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