Ralph Stover State Park
Encyclopedia
Ralph Stover State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on 45 acres (18.2 ha) in Plumstead and Tinicum Township
s, Bucks County
, Pennsylvania
in the United States. It is a very popular destination for whitewater kayaking
on Tohickon Creek
and rock climbing
on High Rocks (Triassic
sandstone
of the Newark Group
). Ralph Stover State Park is two miles (3.2 km) north of Point Pleasant
near Pennsylvania Route 32
.
some of the first inhabitants of the area. "To-Hick-Hanne" means "Deer-Bone-Creek". Ralph Stover State Park was the site of an 18th century gristmill
that was built on Tohickon Creek by the park's namesake, Ralph Stover
. Remnants of the mill and mill race
can still be seen near Tohickon Creek.
The Stover family gave their land to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1931. The recreational facilities were built during the Great Depression
by the Federal Works Progress Administration
created by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
to provide work for the unemployed. Author James A. Michener
donated the High Rocks area to the park in 1956. Although "High Rocks State Park" is listed in the United States Geological Survey
Geographic Names Information System
and the coordinates given in USGS GNIS are located here, it was never an official name according to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
or a separate park.
interspersed with friable Brunswick Formation shale
. Since slippery and crumbly rock makes climbing
somewhat difficult here, High Rocks is notable mostly to local climbers. Over sixty routes have been put up here over seventeen walls, with difficulties up to 5.12c/d and V7. Most are used for trad climbing and top roping
, with some bouldering
and sport routes present as well.
Tohickon Creek offers whitewater conditions for kayaking in the spring with the winter snow melt and several times a year when water is released from Lake Nockamixon
. The creek is also a warm water fishery with smallmouth bass
, sunfish
, carp
and catfish
. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
also stocks
the creek with trout
.
A hiking trail of 1 miles (1.6 km) passes the millrace. There is a shaded picnic area along Tohickon Creek and a scenic vista at the top of High Rocks.
Tinicum Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Tinicum Township is a township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,995 at the 2010 census.The Uhlerstown-Frenchtown Bridge, a free Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission bridge over the Delaware River, connects Uhlerstown to Frenchtown in Hunterdon County, New...
s, Bucks County
Bucks County, Pennsylvania
- Industry and commerce :The boroughs of Bristol and Morrisville were prominent industrial centers along the Northeast Corridor during World War II. Suburban development accelerated in Lower Bucks in the 1950s with the opening of Levittown, Pennsylvania, the second such "Levittown" designed by...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
in the United States. It is a very popular destination for whitewater kayaking
Whitewater kayaking
Whitewater kayaking is the sport of paddling a kayak on a moving body of water, typically a whitewater river. Whitewater kayaking can range from simple, carefree gently moving water, to demanding, dangerous whitewater. River rapids are graded like ski runs according to the difficulty, danger or...
on Tohickon Creek
Tohickon Creek
Tohickon Creek is a tributary of the Delaware River. Located entirely in Bucks County, in southeastern Pennsylvania, it rises in Springfield Township and has its confluence with the Delaware at Point Pleasant. It is dammed to form the popular Lake Nockamixon....
and rock climbing
Rock climbing
Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...
on High Rocks (Triassic
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
of the Newark Group
Newark Group
The Newark Group, also known as the Newark Supergroup, is an assemblage of Late Triassic and Early Jurassic sedimentary rocks which outcrop intermittently along the United States East Coast; the exposures extend from Massachusetts to North Carolina, with more still in Nova Scotia...
). Ralph Stover State Park is two miles (3.2 km) north of Point Pleasant
Point Pleasant, Pennsylvania
Point Pleasant is an unincorporated community in Tinicum and Plumstead Townships of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It lies on both sides of Tohickon Creek by the creek's confluence with the Delaware River; the creek is the dividing line between the townships...
near Pennsylvania Route 32
Pennsylvania Route 32
Pennsylvania Route 32 is a scenic two-lane highway that runs along the side of the Delaware River in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It begins at U.S. 1 in Falls Township and ends at Pennsylvania Route 611 near the village of Kintnersville...
.
History
Tohickon Creek was named by the LenapeLenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
some of the first inhabitants of the area. "To-Hick-Hanne" means "Deer-Bone-Creek". Ralph Stover State Park was the site of an 18th century gristmill
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
that was built on Tohickon Creek by the park's namesake, Ralph Stover
Ralph Stover
Ralph Stover was born on January 10, 1760 and died November 7, 1811 on a farm in Tohickon, Pennsylvania. His father, Henry Stauffer, immigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 9, 1749, and settled in Bedminster on , purchased of William Allen, June 12, 1762. The purchase of this land...
. Remnants of the mill and mill race
Mill race
A mill race, raceway or mill lade is the current or channel of a stream, especially one for conducting water to or from a water wheel or other device for utilizing its energy...
can still be seen near Tohickon Creek.
The Stover family gave their land to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1931. The recreational facilities were built during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
by the Federal Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
created by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
to provide work for the unemployed. Author James A. Michener
James A. Michener
James Albert Michener was an American author of more than 40 titles, the majority of which were sweeping sagas, covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating historical facts into the stories...
donated the High Rocks area to the park in 1956. Although "High Rocks State Park" is listed in the United States Geological Survey
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...
Geographic Names Information System
Geographic Names Information System
The Geographic Names Information System is a database that contains name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features located throughout the United States of America and its territories. It is a type of gazetteer...
and the coordinates given in USGS GNIS are located here, it was never an official name according to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources , established on July 1, 1995, is the agency in the U.S. State of Pennsylvania responsible for maintaining and preserving the state's 117 state parks and 20 state forests; providing information on the state's natural resources; and...
or a separate park.
Recreation
High Rocks is a 200 feet (61 m) sheer rock face, composed of smooth red Lockatong Formation argilliteArgillite
An argillite is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and oozes. They contain variable amounts of silt-sized particles. The argillites grade into shale when the fissile layering typical of shale is...
interspersed with friable Brunswick Formation shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
. Since slippery and crumbly rock makes climbing
Rock climbing
Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...
somewhat difficult here, High Rocks is notable mostly to local climbers. Over sixty routes have been put up here over seventeen walls, with difficulties up to 5.12c/d and V7. Most are used for trad climbing and top roping
Top roping
Top-rope climbing is a style in climbing in which a rope, used for the climber's safety, runs from a belayer at the foot of a route through one or more carabiners connected to an anchor system at the top of the route and back down to the climber, usually attaching to the climber by means of a...
, with some bouldering
Bouldering
Bouldering is a style of rock climbing undertaken without a rope and normally limited to very short climbs over a crash pad so that a fall will not result in serious injury. It is typically practiced on large natural boulders or artificial boulders in gyms and outdoor urban areas...
and sport routes present as well.
Tohickon Creek offers whitewater conditions for kayaking in the spring with the winter snow melt and several times a year when water is released from Lake Nockamixon
Lake Nockamixon
Nockamixon State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on in Bedminster and Haycock Townships in northern Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
. The creek is also a warm water fishery with smallmouth bass
Smallmouth bass
The smallmouth bass is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus...
, sunfish
Pumpkinseed
The pumpkinseed sunfish is a freshwater fish of the sunfish family of order Perciformes. It is also referred to as "pond perch", "common sunfish", "punkys", and "sunny".-Range and distribution:...
, carp
Carp
Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...
and catfish
Catfish
Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...
. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is the state agency responsible for the regulation of all fishing and boating in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania...
also stocks
Fish stocking
Fish stocking is the practice of raising fish in a hatchery and releasing them into a river, lake, or the ocean to supplement existing populations, or to create a population where none exists...
the creek with trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
.
A hiking trail of 1 miles (1.6 km) passes the millrace. There is a shaded picnic area along Tohickon Creek and a scenic vista at the top of High Rocks.
Nearby state parks
The following state parks are within 30 miles (48.3 km) of Ralph Stover State Park:- Benjamin Rush State ParkBenjamin Rush State ParkBenjamin Rush State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The park is undeveloped and is the site of community gardens, believed to be one of the largest in the world. The park is home to the Northeast Radio Controlled Airplane...
(Philadelphia CountyPhiladelphia County, Pennsylvania-History:Tribes of Lenape were the first known occupants in the area which became Philadelphia County. The first European settlers were Swedes and Finns who arrived in 1638. The Netherlands seized the area in 1655, but permanently lost control to England in 1674...
) - Bull's Island Recreation AreaBull's Island Recreation AreaThe 79-acre Bull's Island Recreation Area is on Bull's Island at Raven Rock along the Delaware River approximately 3 miles north of Stockton, within Delaware Township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. The park is a part of the 3,578-acre Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park. It...
(New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
) - Delaware and Raritan Canal State ParkDelaware and Raritan Canal State ParkDelaware and Raritan Canal State Park is a New Jersey state park along the Delaware and Raritan Canal.In 1974, most of the canal system was declared a New Jersey state park. It remains one today, and is used for canoeing, kayaking, and fishing...
(New Jersey) - Delaware Canal State ParkDelaware Canal State ParkDelaware Canal State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Bucks and Northampton Counties in Pennsylvania in the United States. The main attraction of the park is the Delaware Canal, which at is the only canal that remains fully intact from the towpath canal-building days of the 19th century...
(Bucks and Northampton CountiesNorthampton County, PennsylvaniaAs of the 2010 census, the county was 86.3% White, 5.0% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American or Alaskan Native, 2.4% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian, 2.2% were two or more races, and 3.8% were some other race. 10.5% of the population were of Hispanic or Latino ancestry.As of the census of...
) - Evansburg State ParkEvansburg State ParkEvansburg State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Lower Providence, Lower Salford, Skippack, Towamencin, and Worcester Townships in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park has a variety of habitats including forests, meadows, old fields, and farmland...
(Montgomery CountyMontgomery County, PennsylvaniaMontgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2010, the population was 799,874, making it the third most populous county in Pennsylvania . The county seat is Norristown.The county was created on September 10, 1784, out of land originally part...
) - Fort Washington State ParkFort Washington State ParkFort Washington State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Springfield and Whitemarsh Townships, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is noted for the springtime flowering of dogwood trees, and is popular with families for picnics and hiking...
(Montgomery County) - Hacklebarney State ParkHacklebarney State Park300px|right|thumb| One of the waterfalls at Hacklebarney State Park, New JerseyHacklebarney State Park is state park of the U.S. state of New Jersey, located between Long Valley and Chester in Morris County. The park contains of land in a glacial valley carved by the Black River and its...
(New Jersey) - Jacobsburg Environmental Education CenterJacobsburg Environmental Education CenterJacobsburg Environmental Education Center is a Pennsylvania state park near Wind Gap, in Bushkill Township, Northampton County in Pennsylvania, in the United States. The Jacobsburg National Historic District is almost entirely surrounded by the park...
(Northampton County) - Neshaminy State ParkNeshaminy State ParkNeshaminy State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Bensalem Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Visitors to the park can catch a glimpse of the Philadelphia skyline from a hiking trail on Logan Point. The park is located at the confluence of Neshaminy Creek and the...
(Bucks County) - Nockamixon State Park (Bucks County)
- Norristown Farm ParkNorristown Farm ParkNorristown Farm Park is a Pennsylvania state park in East Norriton and West Norriton Townships and the Borough of Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is operated in partnership with the Montgomery County Department of Parks. The park is a working farm on the site...
(Montgomery County) - Spruce Run State Park (New Jersey)
- Round Valley State Park (New Jersey)
- Tyler State Park (Bucks County)
- Voorhees State ParkVoorhees State ParkVoorhees State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is 1400 acres in area and is located in Glen Gardner Borough. The park is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry....
(New Jersey) - Washington Crossing State ParkWashington Crossing State ParkWashington Crossing State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is part of Washington's Crossing, a U.S. National Historic Landmark area. It is located in the Titusville section of Hopewell Township in Mercer County, north of Trenton along the Delaware River...
(New Jersey)