Mont Alto State Park, a twenty-four-acre park near Mont Alto on Pennsylvania Route 233, is Pennsylvania’s oldest state park. Its origins lie in the region’s iron industry, centered on the Mont Alto Iron Furnace, built in 1807, and the Mont Alto Railroad, which connected local furnaces to the Cumberland Valley Railroad and also carried visitors to Mont Alto Park. On May 1, 1902, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania acquired the park, making it the state’s first state forest park. The site also housed South Mountain Camp Sanitorium, founded by Dr. Joseph Rothrock, linking Mont Alto’s history to recreation, forestry, conservation, and treatment of respiratory illness.