The JournalPennsylvania's fourth state park is also one of its quietest — two glacial lakes and roughly 50 miles of trail inside a 12,000-acre forest buffer, a short drive from our Lake Wallenpaupack residences.
Promised Land became Pennsylvania's fourth state park in 1905, on land the Commonwealth purchased between 1902 and 1904 — much of it former Lenape hunting ground — for as little as eighteen cents an acre. Early state-led reforestation planted more than 370,000 trees across the property, and from 1933 to 1941 a Civilian Conservation Corps camp, Camp S-139, continued that conservation work, shaping much of the infrastructure still in use today.
The park's two lakes and roughly 50 miles of trail sit inside a much larger buffer: more than 12,000 additional acres of Delaware State Forest surround the park's boundaries, which is a large part of why it feels so undeveloped even in peak season. Beech, oak, maple, and hemlock forest covers the terrain, with several small streams feeding the lakes alongside the woods' resident deer and waterfowl. Camping, fishing, boating, and swimming are all established here, with the lake shallow and calm enough for families.
For our guests, Promised Land pairs naturally with a stay near Lake Wallenpaupack or Promised Land Lake itself — it's the same state park our Promised Land Lake destination sits inside. Grey Towers, the Columns Museum, and the Pocono Indian Museum are all a short drive further along Route 209, making it easy to build a full day around the park's forest and a couple of hours of regional history on the way back to the residence.