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State Park Link: Frances Slocum State Park
Nearby Parks: Archbald Pothole State Park
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| State Park Contact Information: |
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Frances Slocum State Park 565 Mount Olivet Rd. Wyoming, Pennsylvania 18644 Phone: 570-696-3525 Toll Free: 888-727-2757 Reservations: 888-727-2757 Email: francesslocumsp@state.pa.us
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Area Accommodations
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| Adopt-A-Park Contacts: |
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Photography: add your photos
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| State Park Reservations: |
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Reservations:
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| State Park Overview: |
 | Frances Slocum State Park consists of 1,035 acres in northeastern Pennsylvania?s Luzerne County. Frances Slocum Lake is the focal point of the park and forms a horseshoe covering 165 acres. |
| Reviews By Park Visitors: |
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Beautiful park nice camping sites.Can;t wait to go back in 2009
Written by Don Blose
30-Dec-2008
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Nice weekend getaway
We visit Francis Slocum at least 3 times a season for camping and absolutely love it. The people are friendly, the pool is great and the hiking is a lot of fun. The sites are well maintained and large -- we have always stayed close to the water. The rangers are around if you need them but they are not constantly checking up on you as they do at a couple of other PA state parks.
(name not given)
22-Jun-2009
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| Camping: |
| Camping: modern sites, some with elec.
A 100-site campground, with 15 walk-in tent sites, and 85 tent or trailer sites (some accessible and some with electric hookups), is available from the second Friday in April through the third Sunday in October. Each site contains a picnic table and fire ring. Flush toilets, showers, drinking water, and a sanitary dump station are available.
Organized Group Tenting:
Organized groups can rent this modern area, which can accommodate up to 40 people, and has drinking water, fire rings, picnic tables, flush toilets and shower facilities. |
| Trails: |
| Frances Slocum Trail: blue blazes, 0.7-mile: This loop trail begins and ends at the boat rental parking lot. On this trail you will see beautiful forests and the rock shelter where American Indians temporarily held their small captive (Frances Slocum).
Campground Trail: white blazes, 1 mile: Campers can access this trail from the Stony Point parking lot or from behind the Organized Group Tenting Area. A short stretch of Campground Trail follows Larch Tree Trail.
Deer Trail: yellow blazes, 1.3-mile, 2.5 miles, 3.8 miles: This interpretive trail has three loops of varying lengths which allow you take a short walk or an adventure of almost four miles. This trail starts at the environmental interpretive center and passes through a diversity of habitats including lakeshore, thicket, hemlock stand, mixed forest, marsh and hardwood forest. A portion of this trail passes through hunting lands. Use caution when hiking in hunting seasons.
Lakeshore Trail: red blazes, 1.4-mile: This trail begins at the Campground Road bridge or the Big Pines Picnic Area and follows the lake shore. It is popular with shore anglers.
Larch Tree Trail: orange blazes, 2 miles: This hilly trail loops around the northeast corner of the park and through a large stand of larch trees. |
| Picnicking: |
| You may picnic year-round in the picnic areas. Drinking water, restrooms, garbage and recycling receptacles, charcoal grills and charcoal disposal pits are available. All areas are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Three accessible picnic pavilions may be reserved up to 11 months in advance for a fee. Unreserved picnic pavilions are free on a first-come, first-served basis. |
| Boating: |
| Boating: electric motors only
The 165-acre Frances Slocum Lake has two boat launches, two mooring areas and courtesy docks. A boat concession rents rowboats, paddleboats and canoes.
Motorboats must display a boat registration from any state. Non-powered boats must display one of the following: boat registration from any state; launching permit or mooring permit from Pennsylvania State Parks that are available at most state park offices; launch use permit from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. |
| Swimming: |
| The swimming pool is open daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day, unless posted otherwise. A seasonal snack bar has fast food and beverages. Fee charged for pool use. |
| Fishing and Hunting: |
| Fishing:
The 165-acre Frances Slocum Lake is a warm-water fishery. There are crappie, bluegill, perch, catfish, muskellunge, pickerel, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass and walleye. Ice fishing is permitted. An accessible fishing pier is between Picnic Pavilion Three and the main boat launch.
Hunting:
About 300 acres are open to hunting, trapping and the training of dogs during established seasons. Common game species are deer, rabbit and squirrel.
Hunting woodchucks, also known as groundhogs, is prohibited. Dog training is only permitted from the day following Labor Day through March 31 in designated hunting areas. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Pennsylvania Game Commission rules and regulations apply. Contact the park office for accessible hunting information.
Use extreme caution with firearms at all times. The park is used by other visitors during hunting seasons. Firearms and archery equipment may be uncased and ready for use only in authorized hunting areas during hunting seasons. In areas not open to hunting or during non-hunting seasons, firearms and archery equipment must be kept in the owner's car, trailer or camp. |
| History of the Area: |
| On November 2, 1778, a small group of Delaware Indians entered the Slocum home and carried away Frances who was then just five years old. The first night after her abduction was spent in a crude shelter under a rock ledge along Abraham Creek, believed to be within the state park boundary. Frances tried to escape during the first night but was soon recaptured. Frances was taken along as the American Indians moved westward and spent the rest of her life with them.
Her brothers never gave up the search. Fifty-nine years after her abduction they found her living on a reservation near Peru, Indiana. She had been married twice and had borne four children. Frances refused the pleas of her brothers to return to Pennsylvania. The brothers wrote to her and learned many of the details of her abduction and life with American Indians.
Frances Slocum died in Indiana in 1847, at the age of 74. The Mississinewa Reservoir and State Forest in Indiana contains the Frances Slocum State Recreational Area and Lost Sister Trail. Along the Mississinewa River in Indiana, there is a monument that marks the final resting-place of Frances Slocum, also called Mocanaquah, the ?Young Bear.? |
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| Area Accommodations |
| B&Bs / Inns | |  | Whistling Swan Inn - Stanhope, NJ Nestled in the beautiful Skylands Region of New Jersey, the house now known as The Whistling Swan Inn was built in 1905 by Justice of the Peace, Daniel Best, for his wife, Sarah. Come visit Northwest NJ's finest Victorian Inn Voted "Top Ten B&B in US" by Inn Traveler Magazine Web Site: http://www.whistlingswaninn.com |
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|  | Advertise your park related business on stateparks.com
...vacation cabin, weekend getaway, log cabin rental, romantic cottage, vacation home, resort, hotel, motel, bed and breakfast, country inn, campground, RV park, horseback riding stable, canoe livery, river rafting, outfitting, sporting goods store, guide service, RV rental, etc read more.... |
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| Related Links: |
 | 99th Annual Ide Reunion - Chat. | Daily Search. | My GenForum. | Community Standards. | Terms of Service. Jump to Forum. Home: Surnames: Ide Family Genealogy Forum. 99th Annual Ide Reunion. Posted by: Anna-Marie Shimer... |
| Nature Programs: |
| Natural and cultural history programs are conducted by a park environmental educator from March through November. The park provides environmental education and interpretive programs that usually begin at the campground amphitheater from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day.
Curriculum-based environmental education programs and teacher workshops are available to area schools.
An environmental interpretive center in the day use area features exhibits on American Indians and ecological topics. A self-guiding nature trail starts nearby and interprets the park?s natural resources. |
| Area Campgrounds | | Frances Slocum State Park 565 Mount Olivet Rd Wyoming, PA (570) 696-3525

| Lake Greeley Camp 330 N Main St Moscow, PA (570) 842-3739

| Luzerne County Court House: Recreation & Parks-Programs Moon Lake Park Hunlock Creek, PA (570) 477-5467

| Sweet Valley Village Hunlock Creek, PA (570) 477-1455

| Moon Lake Hunlock Creek, PA (570) 477-5467

| Selmad Equipment & Supplies Inc RR 347 Olyphant, PA (570) 383-7734

| Highland Campground RR 2 Box 278 Dalton, PA (570) 586-0145

| How Kola Camp Brinktown Clarks Summit, PA (570) 587-1732

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| | Area Fishing Related Businesses | | Stapleton Pharmacy-Sporting Goods 299 Wyoming Ave Wyoming, PA (570) 693-1374

| West Side Bait & Tackle Goods 453 W 8th St # B Wyoming, PA (570) 693-0248

| Ray's Bait & Tackle 220 Main St Avoca, PA (570) 654-9555

| Salmon Steelhead Trout Sports Shop 177 Hemlock St Kingston, PA (570) 287-4143

| A & G Outfitters 1152 Commerce Blvd Dickson City, PA (570) 489-1650

| Bait Buddies 671 Prichards Rd Hunlock Creek, PA (570) 256-7780

| Ray's Bait & Tackle 220 Main St Pittston, PA (570) 654-9555

| Z's Bait & Tackle Route 92 Falls, PA (570) 388-6801

| Seventh Sense Fishing Products 4822 Blue Ridge Trl Mountain Top, PA (570) 868-6010

| Anglers Vice Fly Fishing 104 S State St Clarks Summit, PA (570) 587-2737

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| | Area Resorts and Lodging | | Woodlands Inn & Resort 1073 Highway 315 Wilkes Barre, PA (800) 762-2222

| Clarion Inn 300 Meadow Avenue Scranton, PA (570) 344-9811

| Plymouth Lodge 332 F & AM 45 Center Ave Plymouth, PA (570) 719-1375

| Bear Lake Lodge Ber LK Wilkes Barre, PA (570) 472-3811

| Montage Mountain Ski Resort 1000 Montage Mountain Rd Scranton, PA (570) 969-7669

| Carmen's Radisson Lackawanna Sta Hotel Scranton 700 Lackawanna Ave Scranton, PA (570) 342-8300

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| Directions: |
| The park is five miles from Dallas and ten miles from Wilkes-Barre. From exit 170B of I-81, take PA 309 north about seven miles (7.2). Turn right (east) on Carverton Road and go about four miles (4.2). Turn left (north) on 8th Street Road and go about one mile (1.3). Turn left (west) onto Mt. Olivet Road and go one mile. The park entrance is on the left. |
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