I lived on the Old Ridge Rd and my family is one of the hundreds that were displaced. A part of my childhood that will never be forgotten … the Aspinall Family.
Starting when I was 13 my family spent entire summers in TOHICKON VILLAGE, best times of my life. We came from Philadelphia where my father worked as a fireman. He would drive up when his shift permitted. We rented the small white cabin which you can see in one of your pictures and I fished off of the five arch stone bridge. There was a 'legend' among the locals about 'ringing rocks' somewhere in Haycock Mountain (which is ajacent what is now the lake). A hignlight of one of the summers is when one of the local kids and I set out, Indiana Jones style, to find them... we did! I missed most of the fuss about making the lake but I went to check it out when I came back from Vienam. Very sad for me. Many memories and stories. Thanks for your trip. (I am 81 now)
Comments like these are why I wanted to make this channel, I really enjoy hearing from the folks who experience these areas in person than reading about them. Thank you for your service and leaving such a great detailed comment on the area, if I may ask were you for or against the building of the dam and eventually the lake?
If you're still in the area, ringing rocks is an actual park now. There is a boulder field where you can hit rocks with a hammer and hear them ring. It's very unique!
Haha maybe next time we explore a dam we’ll keep that in mind
Месяц назад+1
Nice hike! I knew of another grist mill out there, Sterner's Mill, that I and my brother actually went into before it's demise. That would have been about 1968-69. I was 14, my brother was 9. It was in terrible condition, crumbling and vandalized, but the beautiful massive water wheel was still intact. At 70 now, I have never forgotten that surreal scene. The miller's home was up the hill from the mill, and on the other side was the Tohickon Stone Quarry. The mill was built in 1758. It must have been a busy territory with the mill and quarry in operation. All was destroyed for the park, and I heard that the quarry was used to dump all of the trees, bushes and maybe even debris from buildings into before the lake came along. The sacrifices for that park are just unimaginable. Earl Underkoffler.
Thanks for coming to the East Coast of Pa. While we don’t have the beauty of some of the western parks, we try our best. :) love your videos! So happy I found your channel. Keep up the great work!
Hey that means a lot! The Eastern side has some amazing state parks, I have a few more coming out here soon so stay tuned! How did ya find the channel!? Thanks for such a great comment
That’s awesome, this was our first time ever here and we both found the history of the park very interesting! We have another video coming out from Nockamixon in a few weeks as well.
Interesting history behind the Park - PA has some WONDERFUL state Parks! Looks like you are putting a dent in that list! Keep making memories & adventure on! ~Karen & Shannon WOY
Peace Valley's Lake Galena has a similar story. It is located south of Nockamixon and just a few miles from our home. It is a much smaller lake. My husband and I enjoy walking at the lakes and kayaking.
The more you research lakes in PA the more and more you'll find, just about every damming of a river or creek in the commonwealth impacted someone, somewhere...some worse than others. People tend to forget those stories and I want to try and shed a light on them.
Well done Very enjoyable. Kind of a tough call as far as yeah or nay as far as building this beautiful park that is used 365 days a year by so many. I have seen both sides as I use to go there while it was still being farmed I will only say they were some of the nicest farms I have seen in Pennsylvania Even after all these years I still am undecided if this was the right decision even though my family and I still make great use of this gem
I hope someone told you to go to the Country Place for dinner. It's always been a place for a cold beer and a good meal at a decent price. I've been going there since the late '70s when it was Tony's mug and it's always been the same The looks have changed, The owners have changed, but the service is still the same. Excellent!
For those interested, try to find a copy of "Lost Tohickon Valley" by two ladies who lived there and their homes were taken by eminent domain for the park. The book is loaded with pictures, and is truthfully the most fascinating book I've ever purchased. You will learn everything you desire about that area and what was destroyed to create Nockamixon Park.
Nice video. Enjoyed the video, scenes from home. Lived about 15 minute walk from the 3 Mile Run Pa. Boating Access Area. From 1957 to 1961, 3 years in the Army and back home in 1964. I don't remember if you mentioned the main stream that feeds Nockamixon, but it was named "Tohickon Creek, Haycock Creek, the third one we called 3 Mile Run Creek" because it flowed along 3 Mile Run Road. Over my life time I fished and hunted practically the entire length of that body of water, and lands before and after the building of the Dam. Your right a lot of people lost homes when they flooded that stream. My mother and I attended a meeting at the Palisades High School in Dec of 1962, or Jan of 1963, I was home on leave for Christmas. The Reps for the state told the people they could either sell for what was being offered or be evicted. Enough on that score, one of the DARK sides. You mentioned "Indians". The largest local tribe were "The Lenape". Their Tribe was practically wiped out due to Cholera. A little research into that will amaze you. There is boundless History in that 5000 plus acres of Pennsylvania.
My grandparents had friends who lived there and we made many trips across that stone bridge you showed in the photo. I also had a friend that I worked with who was a scuba diver and dove in the lake, he told me that they didn't do as much clearing of buildings as they said. In some areas you could still see complete structures. the state tried to do the same thing with Evansburg State Park by damning the Skippack Creek but the idea met with such a great deal of opposition the state decided against it.
Wow that is very interesting, would love to see what remains under the lake, im sure the old wooden buildings are long gone, wonder if they ever draw the lake down enough to see anything remaining? Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment Bill!
I would like to know why they covered an entire town with water. When I still lived in Quakertown, when we had a drought you could see the steeple from the church poking out of the water.
fun fact the house across from the rangers station used to be in that valley my buddy's grandfather and his brother moved serval houses out of the valley including the one they live into to this day the frame was pulled from a barn and into a home, a lot of older homes in Quakertown used resources form houses in that valley
@@MaksimOutdoors np I live in the area my whole life my father used to tell me there was a town under there and i didn't believe it until later on i started to research it and if you know people in the area people now love the park but the older generation didnt like it because to alot of them it was there home
Did the Placard mention anything about a second Mill on this creek? Aerial imagery from 1938 shows what appears to be a second mill below the site of the Stover mill.
Could be worse...I grew up in Earl Twp, Berks County. Lived near Shanesville where there was a small community dump when I was a kid. Our hill had deer, grouse, all kinds of wildlife. Springs coming out of the hill, and streams that my Dad said had wild trout populations back 60's. Well, in 70's & 80s the landfill began to grow larger and was eventually bought by Delware County's waste authority in 85'. They then evicted approx 40 or more families off the hill via eminent domain in 86' & 87'. What was once a wonderful area, full of history, wildlife and some picturesque scenery (there were large rock formations on the hill that we always played on and our home was a 200 yr old farmhouse). Now it's all gone and what's left is a scarred hillside, a mountain of trash & sludge. So at least a lake provides some value to the local population and is not a ticking enviromental time bomb.
Fun fact: Pennsylvania has no naturally formed lakes. That would mean that every larger reservoir would have displaced people in the process of their construction.
You need to check out Haystack Mountain near the park on State Game Land .Huge rocks -a favorite spot for bouldering and rock climbing ) According to legend there was a murderous group of albino cannibals living near the park at one time .
I live right next to the park. You can tell it’s a man made lake just by driving around. The entire local road system was really disrupted when the lake was created.
My neighbor Mrs. Goldthorpe was one of those displaced. She often said , the fight for their farm Killed the man( her husband.). Truly an awful thing to do . I believe Mr. Michener was apart of the idea also . I don’t know why , but for some reason I feel there was much more to the reason for choosing this beautiful place. A personal vendetta to someone or someone who owned land there. Sounds ludicrous I know , but how in the world do you justify displacing over 800 people and over 200 properties for a state park? I grew up in Tyler State Park. I lived there before it was a park. There were lovely homes and still are . I was actually born in a house located now underwater in Core Creek state park . Also flooded . I live close to Nockamixon and hike there often . But, I always think of my next door neighbor that lost their farm for a state park….Thank you for the information.
I absolutely love getting comments like this and this is why I love making these videos thank you so much for leaving such a detailed amazing comment here, such a sad story and even more sad it’s such a common theme around this state , when making this video I never realized how many folks would comment that were directly affected by this state park. Really opens your eyes, thank you so much Melanie, even cooler that this comment will be forever attached to this video for everyone to read.
Should look up the history around Top Rock trail near the lake. Indians used to use that area for some unsavory purposes legend goes. Not a place you want to be at night either I'm told.
Can tell your not from the area the park/lake wasn't just for recreation but like Peace Valley/Lake Galena built as flood, drought control in future as well as need for the continuing need of growth of eastern PA.
It's actually 45 minutes. I drive it all the time for last 30 years. Now if your coming from south Philly it could take 1.5 because half of that is just getting out of philly
There is a pack of Marlboro's floating around the bottom of that lake with a gram of coke and a hundred Doller bill in the box that Bill Jarred threw out of the window that Friday night in August '72
I lived within 5 miles of this park back in the day when it was created. So i remember all those homes being destroyed. As for the state of PA confiscating land, check out the history of the Quehanna wilderness area in NC PA.
@@ernieforrest7218 I am very familiar with the Quehannah Wildnerness story, I think it’s even crazier what took place there and how they handled all of the waste afterwords…
@@ernieforrest7218 within the Quehanna area? That’s such a giant swath of land it doesn’t surprise me at all, doesn’t make it any better that they trashed the area once they left
@@MaksimOutdoors Yes within the Quehanna area. Many of the camps including ours were on state land leases. But the private homes and farms were private property. Made no difference, they confiscated all of it and the sold about 300 acres to Curtis Wright for building the nuclear facility, and leased them the rest of the land. Our camp was located about one half mile from where the nuclear site was located. The whole thing only lasted about five years untill Curtis Wright gave up on the idea of nuclear powered jet engines. Penn State University took over the nuclear facility for a few years afterward.
I lived on the Old Ridge Rd and my family is one of the hundreds that were displaced. A part of my childhood that will never be forgotten … the Aspinall Family.
Interesting place to explore and learn the history of this state park. Thanks for telling the story of this place.
For sure! Always fun to dive into the history of these parks, so much is forgotten about these places !
Starting when I was 13 my family spent entire summers in TOHICKON VILLAGE, best times of my life. We came from Philadelphia where my father worked as a fireman. He would drive up when his shift permitted. We rented the small white cabin which you can see in one of your pictures and I fished off of the five arch stone bridge. There was a 'legend' among the locals about 'ringing rocks' somewhere in Haycock Mountain (which is ajacent what is now the lake). A hignlight of one of the summers is when one of the local kids and I set out, Indiana Jones style, to find them... we did! I missed most of the fuss about making the lake but I went to check it out when I came back from Vienam. Very sad for me. Many memories and stories. Thanks for your trip. (I am 81 now)
Comments like these are why I wanted to make this channel, I really enjoy hearing from the folks who experience these areas in person than reading about them. Thank you for your service and leaving such a great detailed comment on the area, if I may ask were you for or against the building of the dam and eventually the lake?
If you're still in the area, ringing rocks is an actual park now. There is a boulder field where you can hit rocks with a hammer and hear them ring. It's very unique!
Great park & hike. I was so hoping to hear Sam say,
"Sam, at a dam, I am."
Sorry, I had to.
Great job, you two.
Haha maybe next time we explore a dam we’ll keep that in mind
Nice hike! I knew of another grist mill out there, Sterner's Mill, that I and my brother actually went into before it's demise. That would have been about 1968-69. I was 14, my brother was 9. It was in terrible condition, crumbling and vandalized, but the beautiful massive water wheel was still intact. At 70 now, I have never forgotten that surreal scene. The miller's home was up the hill from the mill, and on the other side was the Tohickon Stone Quarry. The mill was built in 1758. It must have been a busy territory with the mill and quarry in operation. All was destroyed for the park, and I heard that the quarry was used to dump all of the trees, bushes and maybe even debris from buildings into before the lake came along. The sacrifices for that park are just unimaginable. Earl Underkoffler.
Thanks for sharing Earl, those are some amazing memories!
Thanks for coming to the East Coast of Pa. While we don’t have the beauty of some of the western parks, we try our best. :) love your videos! So happy I found your channel. Keep up the great work!
Hey that means a lot! The Eastern side has some amazing state parks, I have a few more coming out here soon so stay tuned! How did ya find the channel!? Thanks for such a great comment
Wow, I had no idea that the state flooded out to the town for the lake. Very interesting to learn the history of the park.
It’s more common than you think!
Thanks for the great video. I have been to Lake Nockamixon many times, but never knew the history of TOHICKON village. Great history lesson.
Great job. I just did a video on this state park on Mother’s Day. I love this state park and have been coming here for yrs since Chris was small. 🤗
That’s awesome, this was our first time ever here and we both found the history of the park very interesting! We have another video coming out from Nockamixon in a few weeks as well.
Very interesting history. Thanks for taking the time.
Interesting history behind the Park - PA has some WONDERFUL state Parks! Looks like you are putting a dent in that list! Keep making memories & adventure on! ~Karen & Shannon WOY
Peace Valley's Lake Galena has a similar story. It is located south of Nockamixon and just a few miles from our home. It is a much smaller lake. My husband and I enjoy walking at the lakes and kayaking.
The more you research lakes in PA the more and more you'll find, just about every damming of a river or creek in the commonwealth impacted someone, somewhere...some worse than others. People tend to forget those stories and I want to try and shed a light on them.
Well done Very enjoyable. Kind of a tough call as far as yeah or nay as far as building this beautiful park that is used 365 days a year by so many. I have seen both sides as I use to go there while it was still being farmed I will only say they were some of the nicest farms I have seen in Pennsylvania Even after all these years I still am undecided if this was the right decision even though my family and I still make great use of this gem
Read "Our Lost Tohickon Valley". Available from Haycock historical society. It definitely was wrong.
Good video ! I'm gonna jump on board !✌
Thanks for joining!
Milford Mills, PA was a small town that was flooded out to create the Marsh Creek State Park and Lake.
When I was a kid, there was a paved road, double Yellow that ran directly into the lake.
We used to use it to launch our little rowboats.
It’s still there. I saw it at the south end right off of Ridge Road.
It’s Old Bethlehem Road, still dead ends but they put up a gate so you can’t launch there.
I hope someone told you to go to the Country Place for dinner. It's always been a place for a cold beer and a good meal at a decent price. I've been going there since the late '70s when it was Tony's mug and it's always been the same The looks have changed, The owners have changed, but the service is still the same. Excellent!
Try Haycock mtn up there road and across from the park.
It’s on the radar!
@@MaksimOutdoors and don't forget Ringing Rocks
For those interested, try to find a copy of "Lost Tohickon Valley" by two ladies who lived there and their homes were taken by eminent domain for the park. The book is loaded with pictures, and is truthfully the most fascinating book I've ever purchased. You will learn everything you desire about that area and what was destroyed to create Nockamixon Park.
I’m going to have to track down a copy of that book! It seems like a very important piece of history for the park.
Thank you for this video! I’m planning to visit this was awesome for Halloween 👻
Glad you enjoyed it! Have a great time exploring!
Nice video. Enjoyed the video, scenes from home. Lived about 15 minute walk from the 3 Mile Run Pa. Boating Access Area. From 1957 to 1961, 3 years in the Army and back home in 1964. I don't remember if you mentioned the main stream that feeds Nockamixon, but it was named "Tohickon Creek, Haycock Creek, the third one we called 3 Mile Run Creek" because it flowed along 3 Mile Run Road. Over my life time I fished and hunted practically the entire length of that body of water, and lands before and after the building of the Dam. Your right a lot of people lost homes when they flooded that stream. My mother and I attended a meeting at the Palisades High School in Dec of 1962, or Jan of 1963, I was home on leave for Christmas. The Reps for the state told the people they could either sell for what was being offered or be evicted. Enough on that score, one of the DARK sides. You mentioned "Indians". The largest local tribe were "The Lenape". Their Tribe was practically wiped out due to Cholera. A little research into that will amaze you. There is boundless History in that 5000 plus acres of Pennsylvania.
My grandparents had friends who lived there and we made many trips across that stone bridge you showed in the photo. I also had a friend that I worked with who was a scuba diver and dove in the lake, he told me that they didn't do as much clearing of buildings as they said. In some areas you could still see complete structures. the state tried to do the same thing with Evansburg State Park by damning the Skippack Creek but the idea met with such a great deal of opposition the state decided against it.
Wow that is very interesting, would love to see what remains under the lake, im sure the old wooden buildings are long gone, wonder if they ever draw the lake down enough to see anything remaining? Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment Bill!
I would like to know why they covered an entire town with water. When I still lived in Quakertown, when we had a drought you could see the steeple from the church poking out of the water.
Wow....would make an epic photo!
Fake News !
fun fact the house across from the rangers station used to be in that valley my buddy's grandfather and his brother moved serval houses out of the valley including the one they live into to this day the frame was pulled from a barn and into a home, a lot of older homes in Quakertown used resources form houses in that valley
Very interesting, thanks for sharing that for everyone to read here.
@@MaksimOutdoors np I live in the area my whole life my father used to tell me there was a town under there and i didn't believe it until later on i started to research it and if you know people in the area people now love the park but the older generation didnt like it because to alot of them it was there home
Did the Placard mention anything about a second Mill on this creek? Aerial imagery from 1938 shows what appears to be a second mill below the site of the Stover mill.
Thanks for the video. Any idea why swimming is not permitted in the lake?
no life guards for one reason....
Could be worse...I grew up in Earl Twp, Berks County. Lived near Shanesville where there was a small community dump when I was a kid. Our hill had deer, grouse, all kinds of wildlife. Springs coming out of the hill, and streams that my Dad said had wild trout populations back 60's.
Well, in 70's & 80s the landfill began to grow larger and was eventually bought by Delware County's waste authority in 85'. They then evicted approx 40 or more families off the hill via eminent domain in 86' & 87'.
What was once a wonderful area, full of history, wildlife and some picturesque scenery (there were large rock formations on the hill that we always played on and our home was a 200 yr old farmhouse). Now it's all gone and what's left is a scarred hillside, a mountain of trash & sludge. So at least a lake provides some value to the local population and is not a ticking enviromental time bomb.
Beautiful lake. Hard to fish though
agreed w the fishing
Fun fact: Pennsylvania has no naturally formed lakes. That would mean that every larger reservoir would have displaced people in the process of their construction.
I believe there are quite a few natural lakes such as Conneaut Lake not too far from my house as well as Bruce Lake out in the Poconos to make a few.
@@MaksimOutdoors Oops! You're right. My bad.
My son lives about 10 minutes from the park and mountain bikes there. I rode with him there as well. Fun trails, very flat.
My favorite State Park in PA.
Interesting! This was my first time ever there, enjoyed my time there thanks for stopping by Ed!
The bridge that was not dismantled is over by the dam. That's the deepest part of the lake, at least 60' according to the Lake maps
Interesting
My brother loves telling people that he went to nursery school underneath the lake - Haha!
@@KayRockafellow haha that’s a great story for sure!
@@KayRockafellow 😆
@@KayRockafellow he went to fish "school " 😆
You need to check out Haystack Mountain near the park on State Game Land .Huge rocks -a favorite spot for bouldering and rock climbing ) According to legend there was a murderous group of albino cannibals living near the park at one time .
I actually had it planned to go to during this trip but ran outta time!
I live right next to the park. You can tell it’s a man made lake just by driving around. The entire local road system was really disrupted when the lake was created.
Nearly every lake in Pennsylvania is man made. It looks like about 50 of them are natural. The rest, close to 2500, are man made.
My summer place was in a meadow by the Tohickon Creek right next to the old three-arch bridge. Both are now under the lake!
Hunted Rabbits and Pheasants on the Lake floor before it was flooded. Very surreal with the empty farms and homes.
Wow, what a unique perspective. Thanks for sharing!
My neighbor Mrs. Goldthorpe was one of those displaced. She often said , the fight for their farm Killed the man( her husband.). Truly an awful thing to do . I believe Mr. Michener was apart of the idea also . I don’t know why , but for some reason I feel there was much more to the reason for choosing this beautiful place. A personal vendetta to someone or someone who owned land there. Sounds ludicrous I know , but how in the world do you justify displacing over 800 people and over 200 properties for a state park? I grew up in Tyler State Park. I lived there before it was a park. There were lovely homes and still are . I was actually born in a house located now underwater in Core Creek state park . Also flooded . I live close to Nockamixon and hike there often . But, I always think of my next door neighbor that lost their farm for a state park….Thank you for the information.
I absolutely love getting comments like this and this is why I love making these videos thank you so much for leaving such a detailed amazing comment here, such a sad story and even more sad it’s such a common theme around this state , when making this video I never realized how many folks would comment that were directly affected by this state park. Really opens your eyes, thank you so much Melanie, even cooler that this comment will be forever attached to this video for everyone to read.
Should look up the history around Top Rock trail near the lake. Indians used to use that area for some unsavory purposes legend goes. Not a place you want to be at night either I'm told.
@@Q7WhinyGuy is that the area now known as Haycock Mountain? If so I have read about it and it sounds interesting
@MaksimOutdoors I believe it's part of that mountain, yes.
Can tell your not from the area the park/lake wasn't just for recreation but like Peace Valley/Lake Galena built as flood, drought control in future as well as need for the continuing need of growth of eastern PA.
what about the large mouth bass tho
They got some large mouths
driving 5 hours for nockamixon is crazy ass
Nockamixon is more like 1.5 hrs from Philly, not half an hour. Just sayin.
Not by helicopter. Lol
I was thinking the same thing .
i literally live 5 miles from nockamixon nd phillys like 40 mins
It's actually 45 minutes. I drive it all the time for last 30 years. Now if your coming from south Philly it could take 1.5 because half of that is just getting out of philly
Not true you can get to NE Philly in 1/2 hourish
So for the benefit of many, they ruined the lives of a few. That's just cold. :(
When you say it that way I guess it doesn’t sound as bad, but yah unfortunately it seems like a lot of folks lost some great land in that valley.
Mushrooms of every kind grow there...from blue, purple, orange, red etc
There is a pack of Marlboro's floating around the bottom of that lake with a gram of coke and a hundred Doller bill in the box that Bill Jarred threw out of the window that Friday night in August '72
I lived within 5 miles of this park back in the day when it was created.
So i remember all those homes being destroyed.
As for the state of PA confiscating land, check out the history of the Quehanna wilderness area in NC PA.
@@ernieforrest7218 I am very familiar with the Quehannah Wildnerness story, I think it’s even crazier what took place there and how they handled all of the waste afterwords…
@@MaksimOutdoors Are you aware that there were over 300 hunting camps, private homes, and a few farms on that land including one in was a member of.
@@ernieforrest7218 within the Quehanna area? That’s such a giant swath of land it doesn’t surprise me at all, doesn’t make it any better that they trashed the area once they left
@@MaksimOutdoors Yes within the Quehanna area.
Many of the camps including ours were on state land leases.
But the private homes and farms were private property.
Made no difference, they confiscated all of it and the sold about 300 acres to Curtis Wright for building the nuclear facility, and leased them the rest of the land.
Our camp was located about one half mile from where the nuclear site was located.
The whole thing only lasted about five years untill Curtis Wright gave up on the idea of nuclear powered jet engines.
Penn State University took over the nuclear facility for a few years afterward.
@@ernieforrest7218 I’d love to make a video up there about this, I might reach out to you in the future for more information
You may be more than 26 miles from Philadelphia thank God
I'm glad that you visited, but unfortunately you recorded the most boring & least interesting part of the entire State Park 😢
Too long to get to story....bailing out....