Ferncliff Park was saved for the enjoyment of the present and future generations in 1951 when the late Edgar J. Kaufmann purchased it as it was about to be lumbered. He presented the tract to Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.

Ferncliff Park, the “Peninsula,” is formed by the Youghiogheny River as it makes a horseshoe curve at Ohiopyle, Fayette County, in south-western Pennsylvania. Its 100 acres have become the nucleus of a program destined to include several thousand acres of surrounding scenic splendor as one of the most beautiful spots in the state.

It is a botanically important natural area which for more than 75 years has been known as the habitat of many rare and unusually interesting plants, a considerable number of which are here at the northern-most limit of their range.

In the general Ohiopyle area there have now been discovered 127 different kinds of trees and shrubs. Notwithstanding its relatively small area and rather limited variety of ecological environments, Ferncliff Park contains at least 87 species and varieties of woody plants. It is quite probably that all the kinds of trees that were present when the first botanical studies were made – before the area was cut over in 1911 – are still present, although in different proportions. It is now beginning to assume a primeval appearance.

The most common trees in the Park are the oaks – the black, red, scarlet, white, and chestnut oak. Among the various other trees that are sure to attract attention are shellbark hickory, the tulip tree with its straight column-like boles and artistically lobed leaves, the cucumber tree with large tropical-like leaves, and the beech with its pale, smooth bark.

Along the Magnolia Trail the three or four examples of the Umbrella Tree here reach their northernmost know limit, but they are among the large rocks near the river's edge and are so difficult of access that their preservation is fairly well assured.

The Youghiogheny River at Ohiopyle falls 90 feet in less than two miles. The major waterfall is about 40 feet. As the river sweeps around the bend during floods it scours the outer bank down to bedrock, thus exposing a rather flat area of rock strata slightly tilted upstream with numerous breaks and crevices which afford a habitat for various mosses and crevice plants, a number of which are rare or noteworthy for our region.

Preserved as a protected area it continues to serve as a laboratory for the person interested in observing growing plants and trees reacting to nature's influences without human interference. At the same time, it provides healthful and aesthetic recreation for the visitor who respects its significance.