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Columbia Crossing River Trails Center is a visitor center, museum, event space, and education center in Columbia, PA. It serves as the Columbia visitor center for Susquehanna National Heritage Area.Inside the building, visitors can access restrooms, purchase snacks and drinks, and learn about local trails and attractions. In particular, visitors can learn about the Northwest River Trail, a 14-mile bike and walking trail that begins a block from the center. The exhibit hall features rotating art, historical, and cultural exhibits on a range of topics related to the Susquehanna River.Columbia Crossing also features a river deck with views of the Susquehanna and the Veteran's Memorial Bridge. Visitors can enjoy picnic tables, rocking chairs, and free wifi on the deck.

Columbia Crossing River Trails Center

See what there is to see in the River Park!

Columbia River Park Walking Tour

The NW River Trail is a fourteen-mile, multi-use recreation trail along the Susquehanna River.

Northwest Lancaster County River Trail

Columbia River Park marks the beginning of the Northwest Lancaster County River Trail, a hugely popular trail for cyclists in the area. Therefore, no ordinary bike rack would do for the river park!Columbia Borough School District 3rd grade student Bella Gentile designed this unique mayfly bike rack in 2017, stating that she "...always wanted something original in this world made by me." Community members voted on 150 different designs, and John Morrow created Bella's design when she won.Mayflies can be found at Columbia River Park in June in huge numbers. They hatch en masse in the river, breed, and then die in hours. During that brief period, the mayflies can be a bit of a nuisance. However, mayflies are an indicator of good water quality, and they are a great food source for birds, bats, spiders, and fish. In fact, many fishermen and women use bait that resemble mayflies.Learning More about Mayflies:Mayflies are aquatic insects. The life cycle of mayflies consists of four stages: egg, nymph, subimago, and imago. Depending on the species, a female may produce fewer than 50 or more than 10,000 eggs. Typically, they are dropped on top of the water to develop into a nymph, which they live as for one year. They begin hatching at dusk, with the nymphs quickly rising to the surface of the water to emerge as a subimago and then take flight. The process from subimago to imago take about 24 hours in this process the mayflies develop their reproductive organs. Upon full maturity the mayflies swarm in a mating dance. Female mayflies usually live less than five minutes, while males can live a whopping two days. Mayflies are very sensitive to pollution, and as such are usually only found at high quality, minimally polluted sites. Mayfly eggs are extremely sensitive to pollution. Even modest levels of water pollution can kill up to 80 percent of their eggs. The return of the mayflies represents our renewed commitment to protecting the river and surrounding lands. Mayflies tend to swarm light sources, like the lights on the bridge and in parking lots throughout the Susquehanna River region. Many people gather to witness the swarms that occur during hatching season. In some regions, the number of insects is so expansive that they show up on the local weather radar. For about six weeks in late-June through August, Veterans Memorial Bridge lights are turned off to decrease the number of mayflies on the bridge.

A unique bike rack that pays homage to one of the river park's most numerous residents: the mayfly! This bike rack was designed by Bella Gentile, a student in the Columbia Borough SD, and created by artist John Morrow. Columbia Creative Factory sponsored the design contest and displayed 150 designs from area schoolchildren.

Mayfly Bike Rack

In 1814, the Columbia Bank and Bridge Company financed a wooden covered bridge that stretched 5,600 feet across the river, about 1/4 north of where the Route 462 bridge stands today. It operated until 1832, when a quick February thaw broke up ice and created a natural dam. Eventually, water and ice rose so high that it lifted the bridge off of its 52 stone piers and down the river.Two years later, the Bank and Bridge Co. built another wooden covered bridge on stone piers. Mother nature was kinder to this bridge, and canal tow paths and railroad tracks were added to the bridge in the 1840s and 50s. However, in June of 1863, local Union troops and militia burned the bridge in order to stop Confederate soldiers from crossing the river into Lancaster County. Today, you can still see the old piers from this bridge, just north of the Veterans' Memorial Bridge.Two more bridges, a wooden covered bridge and a steel truss bridge, were built near this spot throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. However, the art deco concrete arch bridge before you, the Veterans' Memorial Bridge, has lasted longer than any of it's predecessors. Construction began in 1930, meaning that the bridge's 100th anniversary is coming up soon. At the time that it was built, the bridge was one of the longest concrete arch bridges in the world.As beautiful and historic as the bridge is, increasing traffic necessitated another bridge. In 1972 the Wright's Ferry Bridge was built. Today, about 55,000 vehicles cross the river on Route 30 using the bridge every day.

This section of the Susquehanna River has always been an important crossing between what are now York and Lancaster counties. The original inhabitants of this region, now known as the Susquehannock people, used huge dugout canoes to cross here. Then, European settlers and their descendants used ferries to cross in a similar way. Since 1814, however, bridges like the two before you have connected either side of the river here.

View of the Veterans' Memorial Bridge and Columbia-Wrightsville Crossing

The Susquehanna River is incredibly old; geologists estimate her age to be about 340 million years. Geologic time frames can be hard to fathom, but to put it into perspective, the river is older than:<ul><li>Pangea (335 million years old)</li><li>The mountains through which the Susquehanna flows (325-300 myo)</li><li>Dinosaurs (245 myo)</li><li>The first flowers (125 myo)</li><li>Almost every other river on Earth</li></ul>Therefore, humans have only existed for the tiniest fraction of the river's history, but the river has touched the life of every human that has ever existed in this part of the world.From this spot in the park, you can see remnants of many people's activities on the river. The first people on the river, the ancestors of the Native people known today as the Susquehannock, used dugout canoes to cross the river and fished from her banks. Today, visitors and locals use the launch on which you are standing for canoes and, another Native invention, kayaks.As you look at the river, there is a small stream on your right. Parts of that culvert served as a canal from the 1830s until 1901. By the early 20th century, passenger and freight railroads mostly replaced the canals; three of the four bridges that predated the bridges you see before you featured railroad tracks to support the area's industry.Speaking of past bridges, the small, regularly spaced islands that run along the Veteran's Memorial Bridge are actually all that remains of the famous 1834 bridge that Union troops destroyed in 1863 to stop the advance of the Confederate army. Today, you can paddle out to the piers on kayaks and canoes; you may even find some hidden geocaches, if you know where to look!

Columbia River Park is a great destination for locals and visitors looking to enjoy some outdoor recreation. Our canoe, kayak, and boat launches are open to anyone with Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission permits. You can also rent kayaks from Chiques Rock Outfitters or go on one of their guided tours. Susquehanna National Heritage Area also hosts guided paddles, information about witch can be found at http://www.susquehannaheritage.org/events/

Kayak Launch

Columbia was a bustling, industrial community by the 1800s. In the 1870s, a large roundhouse (a building that allowed trains to turn around) was built for the Pennsylvania Railroad near this spot. Today, the oddly-shaped intersection of front street and bridge street is the only remnant of that structure. However, the Norfolk Southern rail lines still runs several trains through Columbia a day on the tracks to your right.One of the many businesses that has operated along the waterfront in Columbia over the years was the Columbia Washing Machine Co., open on Bridge Street from 1891 until the 1960s. According to local sources, bootleggers ran an illegal distillery inside of the building during prohibition, hence the name of Bootleg Antiques, which operates out of the building today. The storm water system under your feet supposedly provided tunnels that bootleggers used to transport gin or moonshine from the distillery to waiting boats on the river!There are plans for future expansion of Columbia River Park into this area, including construction of an amphitheater, pedestrian walkway on the old bridge piers, walking paths, and improved access to the Northwest River Trail.

Many of the visitors who end up in this meadow do so accidently. Generally, they mistake the gravel path for the Northwest Lancaster County River Trail, get here, realize they are in the wrong place, and promptly head back to the trail center for directions. However, we invite you to explore this part of the river park a little further with this tour.

Columbia River Park Walking Tour

Columbia Crossing River Trails Center

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Additional Information