George W. Childs Recreation Site
If you should have a complaint regarding the parking at Childs Park or need to get in touch with the National Park Service law enforcement, the person you need to contact is the Chief Ranger. His number is 570-426-2440.
CLOSED
since 2018 due to damage sustained from Winter Storms Riley & Quinn.
Construction work will take place in the spring and summer of 2023. The site is expected to re-open to the public in the spring of 2024.
5/30/23 - The final stage of restoration at George W. Childs Park in Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area starts this week and work is anticipated to continue through the fall and into early winter. The site remains closed to visitors during construction.
Once the restoration is complete, the site will tentatively re-open to the public in 2024. Park officials note that construction projects may encounter delays due to factors such as supply chain issues, unforeseen circumstances, and adverse weather conditions.
The popular site has been closed since March 2018 when winter storms caused an unprecedented amount of damage to utility lines, roads, trails, and structures, primarily due to falling trees. At Childs Park, the wind, ice, and snow uprooted trees which caused entire hillsides to slide downhill, taking the trails with them. Trees crushed trail bridges, choked Dingmans Creek and the waterfalls, and caused heavy damage to CCC-era historic buildings.
“Storm impacts at Childs Park were significant, and restoration and repair are complex processes, especially given the sensitive environment in which it is taking place,” explained Kara Deutsch who leads the park’s Resource Management and Science team. “When work is completed, Childs Park will be equally beautiful but safer and more resilient than it was before.”
Work that has already been completed in preparation for this stage of the restoration includes removal of downed trees, damaged railings and posts, and a failed section of trail on an unstable slope; completion of required natural and cultural resource studies and environmental compliance processes; and coordination of the engineering and design for trail improvements and repairs to bridges and other built structures.
On-site work during this final phase of the restoration includes:
- paving a portion of the existing trail and minimizing the slope from the parking area to the Woolen Mill sign exhibit to improve accessibility and drainage;
- installing a new accessible section of trail from the first bridge to the historic handpump shelter;
- removing an unsustainable stretch of trail between the second and third bridge on the west side of Dingmans Creek;
- repairing damage or replacing components of the trail, bridges, picnic sites, boardwalk, stairs, overlook areas, interpretive exhibits, and trail guardrails throughout the site; and
- installing a trail and stair retaining system near the fourth bridge.
For more information on Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area call the information desk at (570) 426-2452; visit our website at www.nps.gov/dewa; or follow us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/DelWaterGapNPS.
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The George W. Childs Recreation Site is a former Pennsylvania state park that is the site of a number of cascade waterfalls along Dingmans Creek; it has been part of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area since 1983. It is located in Dingmans Ferry in Delaware Township, Pike County, Pennsylvania and is named for the late newspaper publisher George William Childs, whose widow deeded the land to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1912. The site contains three main waterfalls: Factory Falls, Fulmer Falls and Deer Leap Falls and is a few miles upstream from Dingmans Falls and Silverthread Falls. The pools below the waterfalls were once a popular spot for swimming during its ownership by the Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks. However, that activity had been banned upon transfer of ownership to the National Park Service.
The Mill
The site is also host to the ruins of Joseph Brooks' 19th century woolen mill. About 1826 Joseph Brooks, a Welshman who had immigrated to Philadelphia, built a woolen mill of stone, 3½ stories high. He employed about 80 workers. His sheep, though, were devoured by wolves or died from eating poisonous Sheep Laurel. Supplies, operatives, and materials such as expensive raw wool, had to be brought in from Philadelphia, and the finished products were shipped down to this city by wagons, a trip which took 10 days. Brooks died in 1832, and the mill was abandoned. The ruins are still visible.
George W. Childs Recreation Site www.stateparks.com