Wildwood Park
Posted by: 
Gosffo
N 40° 18.464 W 076° 53.209
18T E 339662 N 4463621
Come to Wildwood and walk the boardwalk!
Waymark Code: WM5ZP
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 01/12/2006
Views: 38
This park was know for years as Wetzel's Swamp. In 1901 the City of Harrisburg established it as Wildwood Lake as part of there make Harrisburgh Beautiful Campaign. Between 1905 and 1913 they brought more land. The first path was opened in 1907, a baseball field in 1908 and a boat concession in 1909. In 1909 it almost became part of an industrial park! Oophs, that was close! In 1914 the City of Harrisburg annexed the land!
During the 1920's, 30's and 40's the land took on a whole new look. There was a zoo, riding stables and boats for the lake.
During the Depression the Work Progress Adm. completed trails, pinic groves, ball fields and a caretakers house.
By the 40's the park faded away. And, for shame, it was used for dumping waste!
In 1964 the National Aubon Society proposed a nature center. But part of the Park had been given to the Harrisburg Community College and the dumping continued. Finally, in 1976, the Dauphin County Commissioners and Harrisburg City Council bought the land for $1. By the following year the County withdrew their support! In 1980's support for the park grew and impovements where being made. 1987 was the year the non profit "Friends of Wildwood" was organized and the park was on it's way!
1989 the park sealed it's place when the American lotus plant ( one of the staple plants of Wildwood) was declared an endangered plant species.
1992 brought the founding of a trust fund started by Ben Olewine who donated $827,000 for a nature center. The fund raising began and $4.2 million dollars later the center was opened in 1999. It goal is to study wetlands and aquatic life.
I first came to Wildwood to find the two caches hidden in this park. I fell in love with it! You can walk out on the wetlands on the board walks, sit on the benchs along the way, or check out the birds from the blinds. You can hike all around the lake/wetlands on a paved trail. The nature center has a very interesting displays inside with a lot of hands on activities for the kids. I've even been know to crawl through the cave underground to see what animals live underground!
Now, my favorite place is the bathrooms! Yes, I said bathrooms. Inbedded in the floor are animal footprints. And a different animal's footprints takes you to a different stall. So, while following the deer tracks into a stall you also find deer skat along the way! So, how cool is that!
So to log this find take a picture of the sign or an interesting place in the park!
Marker Name: Wildwood Park
County: Dauphin
Date Dedicated: 11/17/2005
Marker Type: Roadside
Location: intersection of Industrail Rd. and Wildwood Way
Category: Cities& Towns, Education, Medicine&Science
Website: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
In your log, please say if you learned something new, and if you took any extra time to explore the area once you stopped at the historic marker waymark.
Please post a photo of you OR your GPS at the marker location.