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Wills Mountain State Park

State park in Maryland, USA

Summary

State park in Maryland, USA

Field	Value
name	Wills Mountain State Park
photo	Alt_US_40_Cumberland_Narrows.jpg
photo_caption	Cumberland Narrows seen
from the Wills Mountain side of the gap
photo_alt	View
map	USA Maryland
map_caption	Location in Maryland
map_width	280
relief	1
label	Wills Mountain State Park
location	Allegany County, Maryland, United States
nearest_town	Cumberland, Maryland
coordinates
area	470 acre
elevation	804 ft
established	1998
designation	Maryland state park
administrator	Maryland Department of Natural Resources

from the Wills Mountain side of the gap

Wills Mountain State Park is an undeveloped public recreation area on Wills Mountain overlooking the Cumberland Narrows in Allegany County, Maryland. The state park occupies 470 acre on the northwest edge of the City of Cumberland. It is under the control of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

History

From 1899 until 1930, Wills Mountain was the site of the Wills Mountain Inn, a mansion featuring 46 bedrooms with private baths and a grand ballroom that was initially used as a fraternal clubhouse and informal country club. In 1902, the property was sold to Dr. Henry Fry for conversion to a sanatorium. The property burned down in 1930.

In 1952, the Maryland State Planning Commission encouraged the state to create an historic preserve on Wills Mountain through the purchase of 400 acres, the improvement of a private road that ascended to the summit, and development of picnicking and sightseeing facilities to take advantage of the natural beauty of the overlook. The park was created in 1998 when the state purchased 350 acres from Carl G. Valentine for $160,000, and George and Joan Henderson donated another 51 acres. The 2009 Maryland Land Preservation, Parks and Recreation Plan described the parcel as "virtually inaccessible" and "sensitive" with "no uses ... official or informal." The state began purchasing adjoining parcels in 2017 with the intention of creating public access to the site. An additional purchase of 48 acres was made in 2024.

References

"DNR Lands Acreage Report". Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
(March 1952). "Master Plan: Maryland State Parks and Recreation Areas". Maryland State Planning Commission.
"Maryland Land Preservation, Parks & Recreation Plan 2009". Maryland DNR.
Feldstein, Albert L.. (2006). "Allegany County". Arcadia Publishing.
(1902). "Medical News". American Medical Association Press.
Sawyers, Michael A.. (July 27, 2017). "Maryland's secret park expands, but still no public access". U.S. News & World Report.
Sawyers, Michael A.. (August 23, 2018). "Wills Mountain State Park will have first public access point". Cumberland Times-News.
Zimmermann, Joe. (June 10, 2024). "New land purchase gives Wills Mountain State Park a path for public access". Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

state-parks-of-maryland state-parks-of-the-appalachians parks-in-allegany-county,-maryland parks-in-cumberland,-md-wv-pa protected-areas-established-in-1998 1998-establishments-in-maryland

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