Cherry Springs State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Potter
County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The park was created from
land within the Susquehannock State Forest, and is on Pennsylvania
Route 44 in West Branch Township. Cherry Springs, named for a large
stand of Black Cherry trees in the park, is atop the dissected
Allegheny Plateau at an elevation of 2,300 feet (701 m). It is popular
with astronomers and stargazers for having some of the "darkest night
skies on the east coast" of the United States, and was chosen by the
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and its
Bureau of Parks as one of "Twenty Must-See Pennsylvania State Parks".
"Cherry Springs Scenic Drive" was established in 1922, and the Civilian
Conservation Corps built much of Cherry Springs State Park during the
Great Depression, including a picnic pavilion listed on the National
Register of Historic Places. An annual "Woodsmen's Show" has been held
in the park each August since 1952. There are regular stargazing and
educational programs for the public at the park, and the Woodsmen's
Show attracts thousands each summer. Cherry Springs also offers rustic
camping, picnic facilities, and trails for mountain biking, hiking, and
snowmobiling. The surrounding state forest and park are home to a
variety of flora and fauna.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Springs_State_Park>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1345:
Inspecting a new prison without being escorted by his bodyguard,
Byzantine megas doux Alexios Apokaukos was lynched and killed by the
political prisoners there.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexios_Apokaukos>
1770:
The Great Barrier Reef first became known to Europeans when the HM
Bark Endeavour, captained by English explorer James Cook, ran aground
there, sustaining considerable damage.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrier_Reef>
1938:
The Battle of Wuhan began, lasting four and half months, the longest
and largest battles of the entire Second Sino-Japanese War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wuhan>
1956:
The six-day Gal Oya riots, the first ethnic riots that targeted the
minority Sri Lankan Tamils in post-independent Sri Lanka, began,
eventually resulting in the deaths of at least 150 people and 100
injuries.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal_Oya_riots>
1963:
Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức burned himself to
death in Saigon to protest the persecution of Buddhists by South
Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem's administration.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Qu%E1%BA%A3ng_%C4%90%E1%BB%A9c>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
erstwhile (adj):
(now literary) Former, previous
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/erstwhile>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Talking and eloquence are not the same: to speak, and to speak well,
are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.
--Ben Jonson
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Jonson>