Swatara State Park occupies about 3,520 acres along Swatara Creek in eastern Pennsylvania and reflects a long history of travel, industry, and landscape change. Long before the park opened in 1987, the creek served the Susquehannock as a route through the mountains, and later European settlement, canal building, coal movement, and railroad traffic tied the valley to Pennsylvania’s industrial growth. Remains of that past, including canal locks, traces of a reservoir dam, a former railroad bed, and Bordner Cabin, survive within a landscape now returning to forest. Today the park emphasizes low-impact recreation, with trails, creek access, fishing, and the Appalachian Trail crossing its southern end.