Mt. Gretna History


Mount Gretna was founded in an effort to locate railroad stations between the towns of Cornwall and Colebrook. Mr. Robert Coleman, owner of the Cornwall ore empire and its railroad lines, took an interest in the area and orginally began development
for a picnic grove. The community was a pleasure stop on what was then Coleman's Cornwall and Lebanon Railroad. The picnic grove rapidly developed into a summer community during the period of 1882-1885. Cornwall Iron Furnace still stands nearby
today and is open to the public.

In 1885, the Pennsylvania National Guard used 120 acres of this area as its summer encampment site. This proved to be so satisfactory that it was 1935 before they moved to the Indiantown Gap area.

The Conewago Lake was originally built by the Army Corp of Engineers by damming the Conewago Creek.