House Afloat on Pennsylvania’s Raystown Lake

Situated south of Huntingdon off of Route 26 and appearing like a splotch of blue cradled by the dark green hills which surround it, Raystown Lake is both Pennsylvania’s largest man-produced water body and the only 1 wherever houseboats can be rented.

Produced between 1968 and 1978 by the US Army Corps of Engineers to provide flood handle for the Susquehanna Valley, hydroelectricity, and recreation, the narrow, zigzag-shaped, 28-mile-extended lake, emulating the Raystown branch of the Juniata River which feeds it, covers eight,300 acres and delivers 118 miles of woodland shores.

Occupying land initial found by Native Americans, it sports a important, once-exposed archaeological website designated Sheep Rock Shelter, a sizable, overhanging ledge near the present-day Susquehannock Campground initially utilised for tribe and animal protection.

Excavating the website prior to the reservoir was expanded for the duration of the 1960s, researchers from Juniata School and Pennsylvania State University unearthed a 6,000-year-old skull and bones from a Native American lady, along with knives, pottery, and spearheads.

The rolled earth-and-rock dam which produced the lake, with a 1,550-foot base width, a 24-foot top rated width, a 1,700-foot length, and a 225-foot height, produced what could be considered Pennsylvania’s “crown jewel,” enabling Allegheny Electric Cooperative’s powerhouse to give hydroelectricity to 8,500 properties and Huntingdon County to set up tourism as its second-greatest market following agriculture with a lot more than two million annual guests.

Although it has considerably evolved considering that its inauspicious beginnings as a collection of cottages for boaters, the area’s shores and hills, because of US Army Corps of Engineers regulations restricting development, nevertheless sport their organic guise, wearing coats of thick trees and retaining the indigenous wildlife which depends upon them.

A Mecca for nature-lovers and sports enthusiasts today, it offers an array of leisure activities for the two day and extended-keep visits, prerequisite to whose understanding and enjoyment is a search within the Visitor Center perched on a ridge and affording pristine views of the azure lake it represents.

Dispensing details, directions, and brochures, it provides a glimpse of situations six,000 many years ago by way of its interactive, paleontology exhibits, as effectively as interpretation by way of displays entitled “Creating and Operating a Dam,” “Raystown Bygone Days,” and “Producing Electricity.”

Huntingdon County Guests Bureau and US Army Corps of Engineers Ranger and Reserve Staff offices are located on its lower degree.  Audiovisual presentations are offered in its multi-function space and a gift store sells drinks, snacks, books, and souvenirs just beyond the entrance.

Lake- and surrounding wilderness-related actions are several.

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Swimming, for illustration, can be enjoyed at 1 of two Corps-managed beaches located within the Seven Points Recreation Place.  The very first, the appropriately named Seven Points Beach near lake mile marker 9 on its west side, is subdivided into a 200-by-600 foot buoyed region with a concrete bottom and a 100-by-150 foot one particular with a sand base mostly utilized by kids.  Its facilities incorporate a shower and altering residence, picnic tables, playground gear, and the Lighthouse meals concession.  The Oak Picnic Shelter is located on a peninsula across from the beach.

The second swimming facility, Tatman Run Beach, is positioned on the lake’s southern end and capabilities a 200-by-700 foot buoyed region, along with a change house, a playground, picnic tables, grills, and a boat launch.

Boating itself can be accomplished at any of seven Corps-managed launches—Snyder’s Run, Aitch, James Creek, Tatman Run, Shy Beaver, Weaver Falls, and Seven Points—the latter of which, bordered by the Tuscey Mountain ridges and located off of Bay Drive, delivers a paved, three-lane, 40-foot-wide boat launch with capability for 119 trailered automobiles and a modular courtesy floating dock.  There is neither a limitation on boat size nor horsepower on the lake, but there are no-wake zones to preclude disturbances of wildlife viewing and fishing.

Fishing itself can be achieved at a range of regions, like from rocky points, shallow bays, coves, and correct in the middle of the lake from a boat, and might yield smallmouth, largemouth, or striped bass, muskie, walleye, crappie, stripers, perch, carp, brown trout, lake trout, or Atlantic salmon.

Far more than 700 campsites, ranging from primitive-tent to complete-facility hookup sorts, blanket the region.  Six Army Corps facilities incorporate Seven Points, Nancy’s Camp, Susquehannock, Group Camp, Lake Raystown Resort, and Branch Camp.

Hiking can be pursued on 4 established trails: the Hillside Native and Old Logger’s trails, each at Seven Points the Riverside Nature Trail below the dam for wildlife viewing and the 30-mile-extended Terrace Mountain Trail.

Aside from recreation and waterfowl areas, Raystown Lake provides unrestricted hunting for rabbit, squirrel, grouse, beaver, pheasant, raccoon, turkey, and whitetail deer.

Many nests supply bald eagle viewing possibilities.

Most of Raystown Lake’s facilities are concentrated in two areas.

The initial of these, Seven Points Marina, is positioned at its northern finish.  At first offering only a handful of boat rentals, it created into Pennsylvania’s biggest facility, with a shop, restaurant, a 35-sturdy rental fleet, and 946 slips.

Its Memories at the Lake restaurant offers the two indoor and outdoor dining, although its Oar Residence store sells clothes, supplies, souvenirs, ice, bait, and tackle.

Its rental fleet contains seven 16-foot, ten-hp, four-individual aluminum skiffs for sightseeing and fishing nine 90-hp, eight-person pontoon boats and 19 houseboats.  The latter, rentable during either Monday-to-Friday or Friday-to-Monday intervals, vary in size and accommodation, including these which sleep four, six, eight, or ten with cabin-design bunk beds, complete bedrooms, sliding boards, and hot tubs.

Public excursions are offered on the marina’s own “Princess” houseboat.  Accommodating 125 on each lower-enclosed and upper-open decks configured with tables and a buffet, the aluminum-hulled, 75-foot-prolonged vessel, propelled by 440 horsepower, will take sightseers on 90-mnute trips with proper commentary, tracing the lake’s red cedar tree-lined shore, exploring its islands and coves, and examining the Sheep Rock archeological site with its red shale, diagonal-patterned face.  Though it is mainly submerged, its upper portion, depicting its newest layers, is nonetheless visible.

Other cruises include the two-hour a single to the dam, fall foliage trips, vacation and seasonal excursions with fireworks, and these with theme buffets, such as seafood, Italian, and surf-and-turf.

The second key concentration of facilities is the Lake Raystown Resort, Lodge, and Conference Center.

Positioned on 400 acres of waterfront home, the family-owned resort, obtaining evolved from a tiny Army Corps campground, opened in 1984, and today offers a broad variety of accommodations, restaurants, boat rentals, and associated activities.

Of the former, its lodge delivers 50 rooms and two suites.  Its rustic, 1-area, original Army Corps cabins, constructed of native hemlock logs, sleep six and are the closest to the lake, while newer ones feature pine and maple wood.  The Oak Park cottages accommodate up to seven, or 1 more than the beachfront bungalows, whilst an equal number can reside in the two-bedroom villas nestled in the woods on their very own peninsula.  The resort’s 221 campsites, providing water, electric, and cable hookups, accept tents, pop-ups, travel trailers, fifth wheels, and motor properties.

Dining venues incorporate the Marina Café, Bistro Express, and 3 comfort merchants: the Trading Post, the Marina Store, and the Standard Shop.

The complete-service, 650-slip seasonal marina presents canoes, Jon fishing boats, pontoon boats, and houseboats for rent, the latter of which, measuring 60-by-16 feet, sleep up to ten, and sport swim and upper sun decks, waterslides, barbecue grills, four bedrooms, two complete baths, a galley/kitchen, a dining area, a living space, and air conditioning.

The Lake Raystown Resort delivers its very own, 90-minute public sightseeing cruise on the “Proud Mary Showboat,” along with other dinner, full-bar, and sunset excursions.