Quaker Falls --a must visit for beauty and history

Quaker Falls is located off of Route 224 on the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line. 

🠈 Quaker Falls 1886

This photo was taken around 1886 of Middleton Friends who visited the falls. Several members recently visited the falls and told us about the history. Here is a little bit about the history and influence of Quakers in our area.......

The following is taken from information published by Lawrence County PA. The brochure can be accessed by clicking here:  Brochure

HISTORY:

Quaker Falls was first settled between 1799 and 1804 by Septimus Cadwalader and his family. They were Quakers, as the town’s name will suggest, who came from Brownsville, Fayette County. Others soon joined them, including the Sharpless, Shearer and Townsend families. As the town grew in number, it became a self-sustaining community with a grist mill, saw mill, train station, machine shop and a schoolhouse. This thriving community came 

⮜ Quaker Falls today

to be known as Quakertown. In the late 1830’s, Septimus Cadwalader’s son, Septimus Cadwalader Jr., operated a tannery. This was part and parcel of the industrial and agricultural success that the town saw at its peak in the later half of the 19th Century. 

In 1850 after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, a group of citizens from Lawrence County said that they would “make a war upon that infamous law.” Soon after, many residents in Quakertown, including the Wright, Cadwalader, Sharpless and Townsend families grew to prominence as conductors on a secret collaborative effort to assist the former slaves to freedom, known as the Underground Railroad. 

In 1894 the Pennsylvania & Lake Erie Railroad Bridge was installed spanning over the creek. As iron, steel, quarry, and munitions industries moved into the area, Quakertown’s farm families were bought out of their land, primarily by the Burton Powder Company, which later became known as the Atlas Powder Company. Tragedy struck the Burton plant April 4th, 1912 when a massive explosion blew the press building to pieces, killing two men. 

This tragedy was one of many in short succession that led to numerous lost lives. By the early 1930’s some 130 years after its founding, the final resident of Quakertown left and the buildings followed a natural course of decay as the landscape returned to its woodland origins. All that remains today are the foundations of a once thriving American community located just 1/2 mile Northeast of the falls in Mahoning Township, Lawrence County. 

In 2019, archaeological digs were excavated throughout the area at which time pieces of flint were found dating to the Precontact Period. More information can be found on the many interpretive signs located along the park trail.

VISITING:

Quaker Falls Recreation Area officially opened on October 29th, 2021, thanks in part to the generosity of the Pennsylvania DCNR. The Quaker Falls property is comprised of 293 acres and is a natural historic landmark. The highlight of this newly created park is the 50 foot-tall, double-tiered waterfall, Quaker Falls.

 As visitors arrive at the park, they are immediately immersed in the sensory experience of the sound of water rushing over the falls. The park features ADA accessible parking and a crushed stone walking trail that allows views of the cascading water. From the parking area, visitors will cross directly over the falls via a pedestrian bridge that spans Falling Spring Creek. The trail continues on the Route 224 side of the park where Phase 2 of the park development will feature two viewing platforms that will allow all visitors the opportunity to enjoy the splendid natural beauty of the falls and gorge in a safe and accessible way (recent WFMJ news story  on 10/11/24 says this is almost complete!) From here they can take in the scenic view surrounded by native trees, shrubs, vegetation and wildlife.

ECOLOGY:

Quaker Falls stands about 50 feet tall and is a result of the Pleistocene glaciation of Northwestern Pennsylvania almost 1.5 million years ago. It was during that period that many of the streams were dammed and rerouted, as they once flowed towards what is today, Lake Erie. The environmental changes influenced much of the settlement and utilization of the land at the site. It was during the Wisconsinian glaciation, around 16,000 B.C., that many forests extended southward to the Carolinas. During this time, there were many frozen tundras and large open meadows containing spruce and fir trees with only some shrubs. Around 7240 B.C., forests were more open and diverse with browsing herbivores. There was a mixture of spruce and firs where larger mammals, such as caribou, elk, mammoth and mastodons roamed freely. Today the average climate of the region is 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer months and 60 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter months. Approximately 38 inches of precipitation falls annually.