Seneca Creek State Park

Seneca Creek State Park, Maryland, USA
IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
Remains of the Black Rock Mill in Seneca Creek State Park
Location	Montgomery County, Maryland, USA
Coordinates	39°8′42″N 77°15′23″W
Area	6,290 acres (25.45 km²)
Governing body	Maryland Department of Natural Resources

Seneca Creek State Park encompasses approximately 6,300 acres (25 km²) in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, and extends along 14 miles of Seneca Creek to the Potomac River.

Clopper Lake Day Use Area

The developed portion of the park centers on 90-acre (360,000 m²) Clopper Lake. This is the Clopper Lake Day Use Area (CLDUA); it is the most well known portion of the park. Located in Gaithersburg, MD, The lake was created by a dam built in 1975 on Long Draught Creek, a tributary of Seneca Creek. The lake was created for recreational use and for flood control. The lake averages a depth of 18 feet (5.5 m), but also has shallow enclaves. Stocked with largemouth bass, tiger muskie, channel catfish, sunfish, bluegill and pumpkinseed sunfish, Clopper Lake is a popular Gaithersburg fishing area. Boating is also available on the lake. As a part of the park, the lake can be accessed by a series of trails, including the Lake Shore Trail which loops around the entire lake. The trails are used for hiking and mountain biking.

The CLDUA is bounded by Clopper Road (to the north), Longdraft Road (to the east), Great Seneca Highway (to the south), and Riffleford Road (to the west). A service charge is levied per person, on weekends and holidays from the beginning of April through the end of October. Service charge revenues are deposited into the Maryland Park Service's general fund that goes toward operating expenses.

Hiking trails

The park contains many miles of trails, some of which are in the CLDUA. Some are also in the Schaeffer Farm Trails Area. The longest one is the Seneca Creek Greenway Trail, which follows Great Seneca Creek for 16.5 miles (27 km), from Route 355 down to the Potomac River.^{[citation needed]}

Other uses

Hunting is also permitted in several areas of the park. See the Department of Natural Resources website for detailed information, and for maps of each hunting area.

Events

Several annual special events are held at the park. One of them is the Winter Lights Festival. Since 1995, the Winter Lights festival has featured a drive-through holiday light show from November through early January, in the Clopper Lake Day Use Area.

Operations

The park is managed by the Maryland Park Service, a unit of the MD Department of Natural Resources. Currently, the staff consists of 2 LEO (Law Enforcement Officer) Rangers, and a mix of civilian permanent and seasonal employees.^{[citation needed]} These employees perform either maintenance or operations work.

In addition, the park relies heavily on volunteers and volunteer groups, who perform a variety of services ranging from maintenance to operations to trail work. Most trails are maintained by volunteers, not staff.

History

Seneca Creek State Park is also home to historic landmarks. Black Rock Mill is a partially restored mill in the park that includes exhibits featuring a history of area floods. The Seneca Schoolhouse is a restored 19th century schoolhouse which was built for area children of local quarry laborer. Parts of the park are located on land once a part of an estate owned by the Clopper Family. Near the CLDUA, The Woodlands, an area dedicated to commemorating life for the Clopper Family, offers visitors a look into life in the area in the 19th Century along a self-guided trail.

See also

• The Blair Witch Project was partially filmed in the SCSP
• Seneca Creek, Maryland

External links

• Seneca Creek State Park - Maryland DNR