Cowans Gap State Park

Cowans Gap State Park is a 1,085-acre Pennsylvania state park in Todd Township, Fulton County and Metal Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is largely surrounded by Buchanan State Forest in Allens Valley just off Pennsylvania Route 75 near Fort Loudon.

The history of Cowans Gap State Park stretches back to the French and Indian War. At the time the Cowans Gap was on the western frontier of the Thirteen Colonies. The land to the west was held by the French and their Native American allies the Algonquians and Huron. The French and British fought for control of the Ohio River Valley, including the area surrounding Pittsburgh. British Major General Edward Braddock led an expedition through southwestern Pennsylvania in 1755. His men built Braddock's Road from Cumberland, Maryland to present-day North Braddock. At the same time, Braddock's subordinate, Colonel James Burd was building Burd's Road from Shippensburg to connect with Braddock's Road. Burd's road, built as a supply line, passed through Cowans Gap but was never completed due to Braddock's defeat at the Monongahela. The road ended just past Berlin.
The British again tried to gain control of the Ohio River Valley in 1758, this time under the leadership of General John Forbes, whose second-in-command was Lieutenant Colonel Henry Bouquet . They picked up where Burd's Road left off, built the Forbes Road and ultimately drove the French and their Indian allies out of Western Pennsylvania. Colonel Bouquet used the Forbes Road one more time in 1763 to break the siege of Fort Pitt during Pontiac's Rebellion.

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