This is Oil Creek, an unfortunate name for a scenic body of water which, just the day before I visited, was stocked with trout by the Commonwealth. You’ve noticed by now that I obsess over things for a season then forget them and move on to something else? One of my current obsessions is Oil Creek State Park.
I can’t believe how resistant I was to exploring this place. But it’s big, and picturesque, and so close to my camp…which is good because the GD Republicans are already talking about increasing drilling, fracking, and timbering on the Allegheny National Forest, so as to decrease our dependence on Canadian resources. How could anyone possibly hate Canada? They’re the most innocuous country on earth…except Belgium. Belgium First. 🇧🇪
All of this was private farmland that got overtaken by the oil boom of the 1860s. The farms became bleak oilfields, denuded of all trees, stripped of all natural life, polluted, barren, wretched. This was the Miller Farm, and here’s Miller Farm Road, which is a public road that wends through the modern park.
The Miller Family surely struck it rich and headed off to Californy, like Jed Clampett. But their ancestors are still buried here, on a hillside above a very steep cliff descending into the creek below. It’s a pretty place that shows on park maps as “Miller Cemetery.” No one has been buried there since the 1890s.
Just on the east bank of the creek, after crossing the bridge above, you see this little staircase to the left. It leads to the Miller Family Cemetery.
This place, which would not be a bad spot to rest for all eternity.
This poor young lady died at the age of 18, married. Probably due to complications from childbirth. Oh, how my heart aches to know that girls younger than my daughters suffered such a fate.
Someone still comes here to put flags on the graves of war veterans. Maybe it’s the park ranger, but there’s only one here at Oil Creek…
Still, a serene spot in the woods.
Moss, shade, a cliff, a quiet creek. It might be heaven…
The last time I drove on Miller Farm Road, it was after a winter overnight camping trip with a friend, and the road was covered in at least 6” of snow. His vehicle did great, but I was nervous the whole time. It’s been such a beautiful winter, but I barely covered it on this blog. I think I have an article about that camping trip below….
Prior to exploring Oil Creek State Park, I took a quick walk through State Game Lands 253, which is just outside Plumer, PA. It felt…haunted.
I wanted to reach a certain “Plumer Fire Tower” which showed up on some of my maps. My intuition led me to it after less than 2 miles of hiking. It’s very off-limits, probably because local kids used to come here to drink and horse around. There’s a chain link fence around the bottom.
Can you see the buzzards perching on the firetower? This place made me sad. I had cousins—all dead now—who were probably the kids who caused the State to close this firetower off. They lived nearby in Plumer, and I spent much time there as a child. Not at the firetower, but in Plumer at my aunt & uncle’s place. As soon as I arrived at the Plumer Firetower, a flock of buzzards began to circle and land on the roof of the tower. Can you see the evil bastards in this photo? Click on it. It’s like they were waiting for me to return in order to die, too. Not enough that they ate my cousins, now it’s time for more flesh from my ill-fated family…
I can’t even say that it’s a scenic spot, it’s not… But it was a good day in the woods of Venango County…
