Elk State Park

If you look
very closely
at the floor
of this drained
lake, you'll
see the
remains of
the town of
Instanter, PA.
(As always,
click on
the image
to enlarge.)

Either the snow is hiding most of it, or else I'm like one of those poor saps in college who could never make out the images in the then-popular 3-D posters, which initially just look like a bunch of colorful dots. (What ever happened to 3-D posters?)

I do see something
that looks
like old bridge
supports.
And a few l
ines of
cement or stone
formations
could be
foundations.

This was a living place
until 1948, when the
government began to
buy up all the propetries
in order to make
East Branch Lake.

But I don't really see much. At least when a town is drowned by the Army Corps of Engineers, its memory is kept alive. Most of the ghost towns in this area aren't as well documented as Instanter, which has a boat ramp and a road named after it. Click on the above link, and you'll even find "interactive photos" of the old town during its living years.

This is Elk State Park, the location of Instanter. It's really just a boat launch with some picnic tables and restrooms. A nice place. There's lots of woods within the bounds of the 3,200 acre park, and even more in the adjacent Elk State Forest, but there are no hiking trails in either. A bushwackers paradise, but not till spring thaw. My little girls and I sat on a picnic table and read Dr. Seuss books in 52 degree temps, but I'll be back when the snow's gone and the lakewater's back.