The cache is located in Prince Gallitzin State Park near Patton, PA. Prince Gallitzin State Park features the forested hills of the Allegheny Plateau which cradle sprawling 1,635-acre Glendale Lake. Vistas offer scenic views of the lake with its 26 miles of shoreline, which is a favorite of anglers and boaters. Campers flock to the large campground and also enjoy hiking and other outdoor activities. The varied habitats of the park make it a home for many types of wildlife, and a rest stop in the spring and fall migrations. This cache was placed as part of the first Outdoors 4 Everyone Day at the Park on National Get Outdoors Day in 2015. It is designed to inspire geocachers and prospective geocachers to get outdoors and explore the world around them.
In the 1930s, much of the area that is now Prince Gallitzin State Park was forested and laced with trout streams and beaver dams. The Pennsylvania Game Commission owned much of the land. The local economy was depressed and the population of the area was declining. It was in this atmosphere that the idea of a park was conceived.
In 1935, during the Great Depression, the National Park Service proposed to establish several Recreation Demonstration Areas in Pennsylvania. A project was proposed and approved for this area, but was never implemented. The project proposal map is on file in the park office and has an uncanny resemblance to Prince Gallitzin State Park.
In 1955, the Patton Chamber of Commerce and the Patton Sportsmen proposed a 30-acre dam in the Killbuck Area. In March of that same year, Dr. Maurice K. Goddard, Secretary of the Department of Forests and Waters, met with the Patton Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Goddard approved of the idea and from that beginning, the original concept rapidly expanded.
On April 4, 1957, Governor George M. Leader announced plans for “Pennsylvania’s largest and most complete state park” and land acquisition began. The park was to have a 1,760-acre lake and “provide the people of this State with the finest recreation facilities.”
Money derived from the Oil and Gas Lease Fund, recently authorized by the state legislature, was to pay for the proposed two million dollar project. Secretary Goddard said, “No other areas that I have seen in the Commonwealth has this unique combination of characteristics. I predict we will be able to fulfill the desires of the Legislature much beyond their expectations in the development of this outstanding park.”
The park was one of Pennsylvania’s largest parks at the time. From July 8 to July 15, 1967, the park hosted the National Campers and Hikers Association convention. There were 26,500 people camped in the fields around Headache Hill. The convention brought national awareness to the park and Pennsylvania.
Prince Gallitzin State Park is named for Father Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin. Born in Holland (Netherlands) on December 22, 1770, he was the only son of Prince Dimitri Alexievitch Gallitzin, Russian Ambassador to Holland, and his wife Amalia Von Schmettau Gallitzin.
In 1792, young Gallitzin arrived in the United States and became intrigued at the contrast between the terrible social and political state of France and the civil and religious liberty that had become fundamental principles in the social structure of the new country. He determined to devote his life to being a Catholic priest and entered the Sulpician Seminary in Baltimore. On March 18, 1795, Gallitzin was ordained as one of the earliest people in the United States upon whom the full orders of the priesthood were conferred. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States and was first assigned to the Conewago mission near the Susquehanna River and south of present day Harrisburg.
Prince Gallitzin, the son of Russian nobility, played an important role in the settling of central and northern Cambria County. There were a large number of widely scattered farms throughout the region. Father Gallitzin was responsible for establishing the first Catholic Church between the Susquehanna and the Mississippi (St. Michael’s Parish) and the town of Loretto. He arranged the construction of a gristmill, tannery and sawmill. He taught children and for many settlers was their doctor, lawyer and banker.
