Homestead Picnic Shelter Sheltered Picnic Area

Homestead Picnic Shelter sits in a broad, sunny clearing ringed by tall shade trees, with the cheerful clink of grill lids, the smell of charcoal, and children’s laughter drifting over from the nearby playground. Families spread out at the open-sided shelter’s tables, kids race between swings and slides, and beyond the mowed grass you catch glimpses of the surrounding woods and bluffs that hint at the wilder parts of Wyalusing just down the trail.

A convenient parking area beside the shelter makes it easy to unload coolers and gear, and a short connecting road from the southern section of Homestead Campground brings campers and day-users directly to the picnic area. From here you have simple access to two of the park’s best paths: the Sugar Maple Nature Trail crosses the road just beyond the shelter, inviting you onto a signed loop through rich hardwood forest, while the Mississippi Ridge Trail begins at the same area and follows the bluff toward Hennegar Point and big Mississippi River views. The terrain around the shelter is mostly gentle lawn and short paved or gravel stretches, so most visitors can move easily between the parking lot, playground, restrooms, and trailheads. 

Named for the Glenn family, who farmed this ridgetop before the park was established, the Homestead area hints at Wyalusing’s roots as private farmland owned by Robert Glenn, an early advocate for preserving the bluffs and mounds as a state park. Today, the picnic shelter and playground stand where a working farm once did, and visitors are enjoying the same breezy high ground that helped inspire Glenn and his family to push for this “most picturesque point” to be protected for everyone.