Ryerson Station State Park in southwestern Pennsylvania occupies 1,164 acres near the West Virginia line along the North Fork of the Dunkard Fork of Wheeling Creek. Its name recalls Fort Ryerson, built by Virginia in 1792 during a time of contested control in this borderland and violent dispute over settlement in the upper Ohio Valley. The state acquired the land in 1958, completed Duke Lake in 1960, and opened the park in 1967. After decades as the park’s recreational center, the lake was drained in 2005 over dam damage linked to longwall mining, and rebuilding was abandoned in 2015. The park remains an important recreation area shaped by both its surviving facilities and the loss of the lake.