BELLEFONTE -- Access to Pennsylvania state parks is free. Unlike many states that charge admission fees at park gates, anyone can pull into any of the commonwealth's 117 state parks at no charge and take in whatever natural experience it has to offer. At parks that offer overnight stays, options range from primitive and hookup campsites to Mongolian yurts, rustic cottages and comfortably furnished cabins.
That range of access and accommodation contributed to the Pennsylvania state park system's recent rating as best in the United States by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration and the National Recreation and Park Association.
But in recent years, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which administers the parks, has begun exploring ways to accommodate a previously overlooked "outdoors user group" -- the well off.
Free access to picnic tables and mountain lake swimming is a good deal for middle class families and the financially strapped, but it takes more to attract those who might otherwise drop $500, $800 or more for a weekend at a ski lodge, spa or luxury resort.
In hopes of reaching out to people who enjoy nature as well as disposable income, last week DCNR officially opened the first luxury hotel located in a Pennsylvania state park. The $7.5 million, 16-room Nature Inn at Bald Eagle, overlooking Sayers Reservoir Lake in Centre County's Bald Eagle State Park, is comfortable, gorgeous and pricey -- perhaps the most visible sign of a successful park system stretching its wings from primitive to posh.
"The Nature Inn is kind of a new tier of overnight accommodations in the state park system," said DCNR secretary John Quigley, during a May interview. "It's designed to attract people who normally wouldn't go to a state park. Or maybe they have been through the system -- started out camping and then in cabins -- and they don't necessarily want to rough it anymore, but they still want to take advantage of the state parks and connect to the natural resources."
The Nature Inn makes maximum use of green building technologies from geothermal heating to rain water-flushed toilets. Amenities include deck-mounted high-powered optics (check in on the bald eagle nest directly across the lake), an indoor computer birding kiosk, Pennsylvania hardwood furniture crafted by state prisoners, and art pieces crafted by regional artisans. Weekend nightly rates run from $135 for a single to nearly $350 for a two-bedroom suite on weekends when the Nittany Lions play a half hour away at State College.
"We tried to survey the market and determine what the appropriate price point was," said Quigley. "This is not an 'upscale' facility, it's 'high quality.' It's upscale compared to a cabin, compared to a yurt. ... but we don't want to appear to be exclusive."
Park manager John Ferrara said the entire hotel project is "atypical" for a government agency.
"The principle was borne from input from the general public," he said. "There was such a clamor from baby boomers ... 'We want to come to [a] place and have everything we need. We can afford it.' This facility is what they wanted."
What DCNR wants from The Nature Inn, however, is more than mere revenue generation. Although the park system's budget is $2 million less than seven years ago and the 2009 visitor count was 4.5 million higher than the year before, there's an overriding Harrisburg-imposed philosophical "mission" at play.
The building's environmentally friendly features are designed to be visible and interpretive -- Quigley said he hopes guests will be encouraged to take those ideas home and become stewards of nature. There's no path across 100 yards of low brush to the lake -- Ferrara said the absence of access will encourage guests to visit other areas of the park and use it as a gateway to the northcentral Pennsylvania Wilds. Perhaps most curious, The Nature Inn doesn't serve dinner to its guests -- innkeeper and concession operator Charlie Brooks said it will encourage them to cook out on the patio grills or boost the local economy by patronizing restaurants in Bellefonte, Lock Haven and State College.
"The mission here, I think, is threefold," said Brooks. "It's educational interpretation of the green features of the building, it's the birding and other recreational activities here in the park, and the third prong of the mission -- and part of the reason this location was chosen -- was to support, promote and be a stepping stone to the Pennsylvania Wilds. And, yes, I'm a businessman and it's got to make money, too."
Ferrara said he sees the inn as more of a bed-and-breakfast from which guests can explore the area. Brooks said his concession contract with DCNR is clear about not serving dinner and other restrictions, but he feels he's been given a "toolbox" with enough control to make the calls necessary to turn a profit. Alterations to the contract, he said, could be negotiated with DCNR based on demand.
Quigley isn't shy about sharing the agency's forecast for The Nature Inn.
"We think it's going to be a spectacular success and we'd like to replicate it in strategic areas around our system, just to broaden our offerings," he said. "The concept is to replicate it, but we'd like to get some success under our belts first."
First Published: September 5, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
