Cunningham Falls State Park
Continuing on with my goal of 12 Maryland State Parks in the year, we went for a hike at Cunningham Falls State Park. Located in Thurmont, Maryland in the Catoctin Mountains and neighboring Catoctin Mountain Park, this beautiful park is home to the largest cascading waterfall in Maryland, a 43-acre man-made lake and the remains of a historic iron furnace.
Once we were there, I realized we had in fact been there before! There is a beautiful upper falls trail, with a higher difficulty scale than the perfectly paved lower-falls trail that takes you right from the parking area to the falls. We enjoy going to the falls via the upper trail and returning to the car via the lower trail after a quick lunch on the rocks at the falls.
A little history on the park:
In the 1930s the Federal government purchased the land. In 1935 workers with the Workers Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps began tranforming the area for public use. The Northern portion was seperated and stayed with the federal governemnt where later, in 1954, it because Catoctin Mountain Park, while the southern 5,000 acres were transferred to Maryland as Cunningham Falls State OPark.
But before all of that, Native Americans used this area for hunting, fishing, and for gathering rhyolite, a volcanic rock used for projectiles. During the 19th century, settlers began cutting the forests for charcoal to power the Catoctin Iron Furnace (which is still there today, though it hasn’t forged anything since 1903). Some of the “iron float” areas, where the settlers would cut into the earth for charcoal, can still be seen in the park today. It’s even said that the Catoctin Iron Furnace supplied iron to General Washington’s Continental Army in 1776! Immigrants from Germany and Ireland would work alongside free and enslaved Africans, many who are buried in unmarked graves at the site.
The park is perfect for those who love to hike, boat, cap, hunt, watch wildlife and more. Though we typically just go for hikes, Cunningham Falls really has something for everyone: even a Maple Festival!
You can find out more on events, seasonal passes and hours here: https://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/Pages/western/cunningham.aspx
The parking area for the trail that leads to the falls is located at William Houck Dr. Thurmont, MD.
I love the All Trails app. If you search “Cunningham Falls Lower Trail and Cliff Trail Loop” on your app, scroll down to “get directions”, it will lead you right to parking and provide a map of the trails!
Have you explored this State Park? What is your favorite thing about it?