There is a vital piece of Centre County history stretching back to the 1790's that has been largely dormant over the years. It is not a small parcel, but rather 1800 acres in the heart of the County that has made front page news recently, but not due to its history.
The land is that of the Rockview State Correctional Institution property between State College and Bellefonte and is the center of a controversy involving its future ownership. Various discussions have occurred involving several potential owners and conservation groups. What has been glossed over is the rich history of the area that is the very roots of Centre County. Due to its being out of the public sector while under Rockview control, some of the historical evidence from several layers of bygone history may still be waiting to be found and documented.
Explore "Spring Creek Canyon - An Early History" with the Centre County Historical Society on Sunday, March 30 at 2:30 p.m. in the Central Pennsylvania Convention & Visitors Bureau auditorium. The CPCVB is located at 800 E. Park Ave in State College (the parking lot is off Porter Road across from Beaver Stadium).
The Centre County Historical Society urges that the proposed transfer of state-owned Rockview lands in Benner Township be delayed until the unique historical, cultural and environmental resources represented in its approximately 1,800 acres have been adequately inventoried, and until a master plan has been completed on how best to protect, preserve and manage these state-owned resources for the benefit of future citizens of the Commonwealth.
The master plan should identify the protection and preservation objectives for these resources and, in turn, should consider and specify the agencies, private or public, that can best serve as appropriate stewards of these lands and their resources in terms of fulfilling long-term protection, preservation and management objectives.
While discussions surrounding alternative outcomes for the proposed transfer of these Rockview lands have highlighted the natural resources and ecological significance of the area, another important but underexamined component is one that focuses on the area's history and its prehistory. The Centre County Historical Society strongly recommends that the developers of the master plan be specifically charged to address these prehistoric and historic resources; that the resources be inventoried, assessed and evaluated; and that a coherent system for sustaining, interpreting and providing access and management of these resources be developed. The divestiture of Rockview lands should be considered only after the plan regarding their future stewardship is completed.
The master plan should be developed with the full support and under the guidance of state agencies with expertise and responsibilities relevant to these unique resources and with the public good as a foremost consideration. In particular, the Centre County Historical Society urges that the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission's Bureau for Historic Preservation provide input on how best to identify, protect and interpret prehistoric and historic resources on this Rockview property. The Centre County Historical Society would be most willing to provide assistance.
It is rare for such a large state-owned, and therefore publicly owned, property of roughly 1,800 acres-one as potentially rich in resources as this one is-to have been "off limits" for so many years. Caring and creative planning and development of this land offers a unique opportunity for Centre County and the commonwealth to protect, preserve and make information available about the area's early history, information that will provide historical and cultural context to be shared with present and future residents and visitors.
To do otherwise would be a most unfortunate lost opportunity.
~ Jacqueline Melander, president of the Centre County Historical Society
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