Ridley Creek State Park

The Experience

Bicycle or hike along the 12 miles of trails that weave through Ridley Creek State Park’s 2,600 acres of woodlands and meadows. Dip a fishing line in trout-stocked Ridley Creek, or ride horseback on the 4.7-mile equestrian path. When it snows, try cross-country skiing or tobogganing.

The park offers hands-on environmental education and interpretive programming.

The park is open for archery deer hunting during the appropriate season. In the interest of raising awareness, appreciation and knowledge about natural resources, the park offers hands-on environmental education and interpretive programming.

In season, visit the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation, a 300-year-old farming mainstay; it was restored using nothing but 18th-century tools. Interpreters in period clothes bake bread, mend fences and card wool to recreate the lives of the Pratt family, three generations of whom lived on this 1710 Quaker plantation.

Children will find fun at every turn: playgrounds and athletic fields, rocks to climb and wildlife to identify.

The History

The former Jefford estate, with additional parcels of wooded and meadow farmland, was purchased by the state in the 1960s. Ridley Creek Park was dedicated to public use in August 1972, and the park offices now occupy the family’s 1914 Hunting Hill Mansion. The park, including a small 18th-century village, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark.

Don’t Miss

Take time to investigate the cluster of historic buildings at the small 18th-century mill village known as Sycamore Mills.