Exploring Cunningham Falls State Park

The Cunningham Falls.

Jeff Holland

Cunningham Falls State Park is divided into two unique areas. The William Houck Area, located three miles west of Thurmont on Route 77, which has the lake, falls and campgrounds. Campsites and camper cabins are available from April until October. Then there is the Manor Area off Route 15, three miles south of Thurmont, has a Scales and Tales Aviary, camping and the historic Catoctin Iron Furnace.

The ironworks was in operation from 1776 until 1903. Interpretive panels describe how immigrants from Germany and Ireland worked alongside free and enslaved Africans, many of whom were buried in unmarked graves on the site. The workers mined iron ore, cut down thousands of acres of trees to make charcoal and smelted the iron in tall stone “stacks.” The remains of one of three stacks still stand. While the historical markers on the site boast that iron from Catoctin Furnace was used to make cannon balls that George Washington’s army fired at Cornwallis at Yorktown. At least one prominent historian casts his doubts, along with the conjecture that the furnace supplied iron plates for USS Monitor and other Civil War iron-clad ships. Regardless, the ruins are impressive, and the site is worth a side trip while you’re visiting the park.

The star of the show at this park is Cunningham Falls. This is where Hunting Creek cascades 78' down a face of bare rock, catching on several ledges before collecting in a shallow pool at its base. It’s the tallest waterfall in Maryland and likely the most visited, perhaps because it’s so easy to reach. There’s a wheelchair-accessible boardwalk from a handicap-only parking lot off Foxville Road that leads to an overlook above the falls. Most folks approach from a parking lot near the lake and take the half-mile Lower Trail.

If you are a more experienced hiker you can try the more challenging Cliff Trail that starts out near our campsite and runs down the mountainside past dramatic rock formations. You drop about 400' in less than half a mile. At the bottom, you’re on a wooden platform at the base of the falls. Usually, on a summer day, the rock face is literally crawling with people, even though signs caution against that hazardous activity. There is no swimming allowed, in order to protect the delicate ecosystem of the creek.

There are other trails of various distances and levels of difficulty, the longest of which, the Catoctin Trail, runs 27 miles from Gambrill State Park in the city of Frederick through Cunningham Falls State Park and on into Catoctin Mountain Park. Nine miles of trail are in Cunningham Falls. Camping is permitted only in designated campgrounds. Notify the park in advance if you’re planning to leave a vehicle in the park overnight.

You can book a campsite or a cabin at parkreservations.maryland.gov.

This is an abridged article originally written by Jeff Holland.