A park east of Forest City that is the second highest point in Iowa will mark its 100th anniversary Saturday.
Pilot Knob State Park Manager Katie Hemann (He-man) says people in two counties got things moving to preserve the area. “Kind of started in the 1920s with Winnebago and Hancock County residents seeing a piece of land and wanting to preserve it. So the process of it becoming a state park started in 1920 and then it became a dedicated State Park in 1924,” she says.
A depression-era program led to the building of a feature at the park that has become its signature..”Probably the most distinct feature in Pilot Knob is our observation tower that was built in 1934,” Hemann says, “so it will be 90 years old this year, which is really neat. It was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps out of glacial rubble.” She says they put in a lot of work cutting those large rocks to build the structure, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
There’s also a lake, an amphitheater, and picnic shelter. Hemann says another unique feature of Pilot Knob is they have 90 camping spaces that are open year round. “We do have quite a few winter campers. A lot of them are hunters, but we do have some people that just enjoy camping in the winter, the peace and tranquility of fresh snowfall,” she says.
There are several events planned for the celebration, which is open to the public. “We ask that people use the main entrance in order to be able to manage all of the vehicle traffic coming in and making sure everybody has a place to park to the best of our abilities. The celebration will start at 10 a.m. down by our warming house, which is right next to Pilot Knob Lake,” Hemann says.
The volunteer group Friends of Pilot Knob State Park is hosting the celebration.
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