Rausch Gap is a ghost town that is located in Cold Spring Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania in the United States.
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1 explorer visited this place
1.2 km
Cold Spring Township is a township in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Lebanon, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 52 at the 2010 census.
Almost all of the township is part of the Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 211. There are about twelve houses near Second Mountain. The single road - Gold Mine Road - is state-maintained. There are no local municipal taxes, no water, sewage, or road departments, no municipal building, and no public officials. There has apparently been no local government "since 1961, according to newspaper records, when folks just stopped running for office."
Three small settlements, Ellendale, Rausch Gap and a resort town named Cold Spring, once had a population of about 2,000 total, but no longer exist. The Cold Spring resort closed about 1900.
The Appalachian Trail runs through Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 211, and south of the township, in Swatara State Park.
3.5 km
Rush Township is a township in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 226, a decline from the figure of 231 tabulated in 2000.
Rush Township was named for Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
4.8 km
Swatara State Park is a 3,520-acre Pennsylvania state park in Bethel, Swatara and Union townships, Lebanon County and Pine Grove Township, Schuylkill County in Pennsylvania in the United States. 8 miles of Swatara Creek lie within the park's boundaries, which are roughly formed by Pennsylvania Route 443 to the north and Interstate 81 to the south. The park is in a valley in the ridge and valley region of Pennsylvania between Second Mountain and Blue Mountain.
Swatara State Park is a fairly new park for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It was opened in 1987 and is still largely undeveloped. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is working on plans to further develop the lands of Swatara State Park. The original plans called for the building of a dam and reservoir for recreational fishing and boating as well as to provide drinking water for the City of Lebanon. The PADCNR explored plans for developing the park without the recreational lake/reservoir, and in 2012 started developing the park with infrastructure improvements to increase access to biking, hiking, canoeing, fishing and picnicking opportunities in the park. Improvements include installing 10 miles of crushed stone along the rail-trail and work on abandoned Old State Road.
6.0 km
The Waterville Bridge is a lenticular truss bridge designed and manufactured by the Berlin Iron Bridge Co. It was built in 1890.
It was relocated from Waterville, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, to Swatara State Park in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, in 1985.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
6.3 km
Swatara Gap is a water gap through Blue Mountain formed by the Swatara Creek in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. PA Route 72 as well as Interstate 81 pass through the gap. The Appalachian Trail passes through the gap over the Waterville Bridge in Swatara State Park. The area was a fossil collecting site. "Swatara" comes from a Susquehannock word, Swahadowry or Schaha-dawa, which means "where we feed on eels". Ancient Native Americans built dozens of eel-weirs, V-shaped rock barriers designed to funnel eels to facilitate capture, on the Susquehanna River and its tributaries.
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