Lake Marburg/Codorus

Last night I went to the Reliance Mine Saloon to meet Eric Wittenberg and several other Civil War bloggers/generally very interesting people - I had a great time, by the way. Eric and I somehow got to talking about Codorus (well, I as a local call the lake itself Codorus, but in reality it's called Lake Marburg). Neither of us knew why Lake Marburg and Codorus State Park were created, so I decided to look up some of the history today when I got home from work. Here is a mix of things I just read about on various sites and my own knowledge.

The area now known as Codorus State Park was once the location of Mary Ann Furnace. Founded in 1762 by George Stevenson, George Ross, William Thompson, and Mark Bird, it is regarded as the first of its kind on the western side of the Susquehanna River. Mary Ann Furnace provided the continental army with cannon balls and grapeshot and also employed Hessian prisoners, allowing the ironworks to be kept open while many of its original employees were off fighting the British during the Revolution. Nothing of the ironworks remains today.

Before Codorus State Park, there was Codorus Creek and the community of Marburg. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the P.H. Glatfelter Paper Company collaborated in order to establish Lake Marburg as both a water source for Glatfelter and the people of Spring Grove and a recreational lake. Codorus Creek was dammed and Marburg was flooded December 6, 1966 and Lake Marburg was full three years later. The creation of the park and Lake Marburg was known as "Project 70."

Lake Marburg is now 1275 acres with 26 miles of shoreline. It is used for fishing and boating, but it still provides water for P.H. Glatfelter. Because that company uses it in its manufacturing process, the depth of the lake fluctuates dramatically; some summers its level will drop 22 feet.

Because the lake was created over top of Marburg, during droughts it is possible to see the roads leading into the old community. Some original structures also remain under the water, so I'd imagine they can still be seen as well. Which I think is pretty neat, although a little... eerie.