Cunningham Falls State Park

State park in Maryland, United States

Cunningham Falls State Park
The longest cascading waterfall in Maryland
Cunningham Falls State ParkLocation in Maryland
Location	Frederick County, Maryland, United States
Nearest town	Thurmont, Maryland
Coordinates	39°37′53″N 77°28′16″W / 39.63139°N 77.47111°W / 39.63139; -77.47111
Area	6,157 acres (2,492 ha)
Elevation	1,273 ft (388 m)
Established	1954
Administered by	Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Designation	Maryland state park
Website	Official website

Cunningham Falls State Park is a public recreation area located west of Thurmont, Maryland, in the United States. The state park is the home of Cunningham Falls, the largest cascading waterfall in Maryland, a 43-acre (17 ha) man-made lake, and the remains of a historic iron furnace. The park is one of several protected areas occupying 50-mile-long Catoctin Mountain; it is bordered on its north by Catoctin Mountain Park and on its south by Frederick Municipal Forest.

History

Before the arrival of European settlers, Native Americans used the Catoctin Mountain area for hunting and fishing and also quarried it for rhyolite to make projectile points. During the 19th century, settlers began cutting the area's forests for charcoal to power the Catoctin Iron Furnace. "Charcoal flats"—square areas measuring approximately 25 by 25 feet (7.6 by 7.6 m), cut flat into the hillsides and linked by mule trails—were used to build charcoal kilns. The charcoal flats can still be seen in the park.

Over two hundred years of abuse of the forest led to the destruction of the land. In the 1930s, after years of clearcutting for the making of charcoal, mountain farming, and timber harvesting, the land was purchased by the Federal government. Beginning in 1935, workers with the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps began constructing the Catoctin Recreational Demonstration Area to transform the area for recreational use. The site's northern portion was transferred to the National Park Service on November 14, 1936, and renamed and reorganized on July 12, 1954, as Catoctin Mountain Park. The southern 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) were transferred to Maryland as Cunningham Falls State Park.

Features

Known locally as McAfee Falls, after a family of early settlers, 78-foot (24 m) Cunningham Falls was apparently named after a photographer from Pen Mar Park who frequently photographed the falls.

An old homestead can be seen above the falls. There is an abandoned iron mine located in the park in addition to the ruins of the third Catoctin iron furnace, owned and constructed by Jacob Kinkel, in the 1850s-1860s.

Activities and amenities

Recreational activities include hiking, hunting, swimming, boating, fishing, and camping. Big Hunting Creek, one of Maryland's premier trout streams, flows through the park.

Campgrounds are featured in the park's William Houck Area and Manor Area, with the former including numerous campsites, a camp store, and a handful of mini cabins, while the latter includes 31 campsites. Camp hosts are volunteers through the Maryland Park Service.

References

^ "Cunningham Falls". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
"DNR Lands Acreage Report" (PDF). Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
"Source Water Assessment for Cunningham Falls State Park" (PDF). Maryland Department of the Environment. April 22, 2003. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
^ "Cunningham Falls State Park". Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
Wehrle, Edmund F. (March 2000). "Settling the Catoctins". Catoctin Mountain Park Historic Resource Study. National Park Service. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
^ Miller, Jennifer (2011). "The Demonstration Succeeds" (PDF). The Mountaineer: Catoctin Mountain Park News: Special 75th-Anniversary Edition. National Park Service. p. 4. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
Strain, Paula M. (1993). The Blue Hills of Maryland. Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. pp. 257–260. ISBN 978-0915746453.
"Cunningham Falls". The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
"Big Hunting Creek". Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved July 15, 2015.

External links

Cunningham Falls State Park Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Cunningham Falls State Park Map Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Geographic data related to Cunningham Falls State Park at OpenStreetMap

Protected areas of Maryland

Federal

National battlefields	Antietam Monocacy
National historical parks	Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad
National historic sites	Clara Barton Hampton Thomas Stone
National monuments	Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine
National marine sanctuaries	Mallows Bay–Potomac River
National seashores	Assateague Island
National Park Service parks	Catoctin Mountain Fort Foote Fort Washington Glen Echo Greenbelt Harmony Hall Oxon Cove and Oxon Hill Farm Piscataway
National wildlife refuges	Blackwater Eastern Neck Glenn Martin Patuxent Research Susquehanna River
National historic and scenic trails	Appalachian Captain John Smith Chesapeake Potomac Heritage Star-Spangled Banner
Other protected areas	Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve

State

State parks	Assateague Big Run Bill Burton Fishing Pier Calvert Cliffs Canal Place Casselman River Bridge Chapel Point Cunningham Falls Dans Mountain Deep Creek Lake Elk Neck Fort Frederick Fort Tonoloway Gambrill Gathland Greenbrier Greenwell Gunpowder Falls Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Hart-Miller Island Herrington Manor Janes Island Martinak Matapeake New Germany North Point Palmer Patapsco Valley Patuxent River Pocomoke River Point Lookout Purse Rocks Rocky Gap Rosaryville Sandy Point Seneca Creek Smallwood South Mountain St. Clement's Island St. Mary's River Susquehanna Swallow Falls Tuckahoe Washington Monument Wye Oak
State forests	Cedarville Chesapeake Doncaster Elk Neck Garrett Green Ridge Mount Nebo Pocomoke Potomac Savage River Seth Stoney Wicomico
Wildlife management areas	Avondale Belle Grove Billmeyer Bodkin Island Bowen Cedar Island Cedar Point Cheltenham Chicamuxen Chicone Creek Cunningham Swamp Dan's Mountain Deal Island Devil Island Area Dierssen E.A. Vaughn Earleville Ellis Bay Fairmount Fishing Bay Fort Hill Globe Com Gravel Hill Swamp Grove Farm Gwynnbrook Heater's Island Hopkins Branch Hugg-Thomas Idylwild Indian Springs Islands of the Potomac Isle of Wight Johnson Kent Island Research Center Le Compte Linkwood Little Patuxent Oxbow Maryland Marine Properties McIntosh Run McKee-Beshers Millington Mt. Nebo Myrtle Grove Nanjemoy Nanjemoy Creek Nanticoke River Old Bohemia Parker's Creek Pocomoke River Pocomoke Sound Prather's Neck Ridenour Swamp Riverside Sideling Hill Sinepuxent Bay South Marsh Island Strider Tar Bay Taylors Island Warrior Mountain Wellington Wetipquin
Natural environment areas	Belt Woods Mattawoman Morgan Run Severn Run Soldiers Delight Youghiogheny Scenic & Wild River Zekiah Swamp

County and
municipal

Parks and sanctuaries

Non-
governmental

Parks and sanctuaries	Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Conservation and Environmental Research Areas of UMBC Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary and Visitor's Center Mount Pleasant Farm Center Sherwood Gardens Somers Cove Marina Sugarloaf Mountain University of Maryland Arboretum & Botanical Garden Western Maryland Rail Trail Youghiogheny Scenic & Wild River
Nature centers	List

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