BEST Pennsylvania Places to Picnic

Although Swedes and Dutch were the first European settlers, William Penn, a Quaker, named Pennsylvania in honor of his father by combining the name Penn and the Latin term sylvania, which translates as "woodlands," to come up with "Penn's woodlands." 

Known as the "Keystone State," Pennsylvania is one of the original 13 colonies (it entered the Union in 1787). 

Today, two major cities dominate the state--Philadelphia, home of the Liberty Bell, Constitution Hall, and a thriving metropolitan area, and Pittsburgh, a busy inland river port. 

The Amish, a group of people who live without the use of modern technology, live in the countryside of Pennsylvania. 

The capital is Harrisburg and the state bird is the ruffed grouse.

• Pennsylvania State Park Sites

  • Bald Eagle State Park

  • Beltzville State Park

  • Bendigo State Park

  • Big Pocono State Park

  • Big Spring State Park
  • Black Moshannon State Park

  • Blue Knob State Park

  • Buchanan's Birthplace State Park
  • Caledonia State Park

  • Canoe Creek State Park

  • Codorus State Park
  • Colonel Denning State Park 
  • Cowans Gap State Park
  • Gifford Pinchot State Park

  • Greenwood Furnace State Park

  • Little Buffalo State Park

  • Locust Lake State Park

  • Fowlers Hollow State Park

  • McCalls Dam State Park

  • Memorial Lake State Park

  • Milton State Park

  • Mont Alto State Park

  • Penn-Roosevelt State Park

  • Pine Grove Furnace State Park

  • Poe Paddy State Park

  • Poe Valley State Park

  • Prince Gallitzin State Park

  • R. B. Winter State Park

  • Ravensburg State Park

  • Reeds Gap State Park

  • Ryerson Station State Park

  • Samuel S. Lewis State Park

  • Sand Bridge State Park

  • Shawnee State Park

  • Shikellamy State Park

  • Susquehanna State Park

  • Trough Creek State Park

  • Tuscarora State Park

  • Warriors Path State Park

  • Whipple Dam State Park

  • Yellow Creek State Park

• National Park Sites

  • The Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site

  • Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and Middle Delaware National Scenic River

  • Edgar Allan Poe National Historical Site

  • Eisenhower National Historic Site

  • Fort Necessity National Battlefield

  • Friendship Hill National Historical Site

  • Gettysburg National Military Park

  • Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site

  • Independence National Historical Park

    • Independence Hall

    • Visit the Liberty Bell

    • Benjamin Franklin National Memorial (affiliated area)
    • Deshler-Morris House
    • Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church National Historic Site (affiliated area)
    • Carpenter's Hall
    • Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial

  • Valley Forge National Historic Park)

• City, County, & Town Sites

  • City and Town Parks

    • Harrisburg and vicinity

    • Millersburg Parks

    • Pittsburgh Parks

      • East

    • Willow Grove and Upper Moreland Township Parks

  • County Parks

    • Dauphin Co. Parks

    • Lancaster Co. Parks

• Pennsylvania State Forest Sites

• National Forest Service Sites