Mt. Penn Preserve | Reading

Mount Penn Preserve is a roughly fifteen-hundred-acre greenbelt that wraps around the eastern and southern flanks of Reading, Pennsylvania, unifying Mount Penn, Neversink Mountain, Antietam Lake Park, and several smaller municipal parcels into one protected landscape. Elevations rise from about four hundred feet along Angelica Creek to more than eleven hundred feet on the quartzite crest of Mount Penn, so an easy half-hour walk can carry you from riverside sycamores to ridge-top chestnut oaks with long views across the Schuylkill Valley and the Appalachian Blue Mountain beyond.

Geology, Water, and Habitats

Mount Penn’s hard, white quartzite forms cliffs, boulder fields, and the dramatic talus slopes below the Pagoda. Rain that falls on the ridge percolates through fractures and emerges as icy springs feeding Antietam and Angelica Creeks—headwaters that supply a portion of Reading’s drinking water. Vegetation shifts with aspect and elevation: south-facing slopes hold chestnut oak, mountain-laurel thickets, and lowbush blueberry; cooler coves shelter hemlock groves, spicebush, and spring seeps where spotted salamanders breed. In March, broad-winged hawks funnel up the ridgeline on thermals, and by May the woods ring with wood thrush, scarlet tanager, and cerulean warbler.

Cultural Landmarks

Two stone structures dominate the skyline. The Pagoda, a seven-story Japanese-style tower built in 1908, stands at eight hundred eighty-six feet and glows red each night, visible for miles. One mile east, the twelve-story William Penn Memorial Fire Tower rises to an even thousand feet and offers unobstructed 360-degree views when open on summer weekends. Between them, Skyline Drive follows the ridge—an early‐twentieth-century scenic “motor boulevard” now shared by cyclists, runners, and sunset seekers.

Trails and Recreation

More than thirty miles of marked paths lace the preserve. The Gravity Railroad Trail uses the gentle grade of an 1870s iron-ore railbed and is popular with families, while the steeper Neversink Mountain climbs reward hikers with quartzite ledges and airy vistas above the city. Mountain-bike riders flock to the machine-sculpted DH Flow Line and the annual Duryea Downhill Race, a one-and-a-half-mile plunge that drops nine hundred vertical feet from the fire tower into City Park. Runners toe the line each October for the Pagoda Pacers 10K, and cross-country skiers carve tracks on Skyline Drive whenever snowfall tops four inches. At lower elevation, Antietam Lake Reservoir offers trout fishing, paddle-boarding, and shoreline picnic groves shaded by massive tulip-poplars.

Stewardship and Conservation

Management is shared by the City of Reading, Alsace and Lower Alsace Townships, Berks County, and the nonprofit Berks Nature. Volunteers meet every “Trail Work Tuesday” to repair tread, install water bars, and cut invasive multiflora rose. Since 2018 more than fifteen-thousand red-oak, white-pine, and blight-resistant American-chestnut seedlings have been planted in storm-damaged gaps. A prescribed-burn program maintains blueberry understory and reduces wildfire risk, while seasonal lanternfly banding and garlic-mustard pulls curb non-native pests.

Visitor Logistics

Trailheads open at dawn and gates on Skyline Drive close at eleven p.m. Parking is free at six lots, the largest at Antietam Lake’s stone dam. Dogs must remain on six-foot leashes; bikes yield to hikers, and all users pack out their trash. Cell-phone coverage is reliable on ridge tops but patchy in hemlock ravines, so a printed map or offline GPS layer is wise. Tick checks are essential from May through September.

Events and Community Life

Full-moon hikes led by park rangers depart monthly from the fire tower. June brings “Arts on the Mountain,” a plein-air painting weekend centered on the Pagoda terrace, while autumn’s Trail Work Marathon invites teams to see how many feet of new tread they can build in twelve hours. In December the Pagoda’s neon turns green and white, the bell rings at midnight on New Year’s Eve, and families gather on Skyline Drive for sledding under floodlights powered by portable generators.

Significance

Mount Penn Preserve protects the scenic backdrop that frames Reading’s skyline, safeguards critical headwater forests, and offers residents a near-by wilderness escape without leaving the city limits. Its blend of geological drama, cultural icons, year-round recreation, and grassroots stewardship makes it both the lungs and the living room of Berks County.