Shawnee State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Juniata and Napier Townships, Bedford County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Shawnee Lake, a warm water reservoir, is at the center of the park as its main attraction. The park's main entrance is just east of Schellsburg, along U.S. Route 30 and about west of the county seat of Bedford. The park is also easily accessed via State Route 31 and by State Route 96 (Shawnee Road). History Shawnee State Park is named for Shawnee Creek, a stream which flowed through the area and was dammed to create the recreational lake at the park. The creek was named for the Shawnee, a Native American tribe that once lived in many parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky. They were forced from their lands in Ohio and Kentucky by invading Iroquois, the powerful five-nation confederacy based in western New York. Later the Shawnee were forced west out of Ohio by encroachment by settlers of the Thirteen Colonies. The area surrounding the park was used as a trade route and military road during the French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Years' War). General John Forbes built the Forbes Road (which the modern-day U.S. Highway 30 parallels) to send supplies from the ports in Philadelphia and Baltimore to a force of British soldiers under his command as he tried to capture Fort Duquesne from the French in 1758. The park was authorized by the 1947 Session of the Legislature of Pennsylvania. Construction of the dam began in 1949 and it was completed in 1951, when the park opened to the public. The lake was declared "full" on March 4, 1951, when water began pouring down the breast of the dam. The first person to drown in the lake was Robert Mowry, age 17, of Schellsburg, on June 28, 1951, only a few months after the park opened. Geology The bedrock at the park consists of the Devonian Brallier Formation, Harrell Formation, Mahantango Formation, and Marcellus Formation. These formations are all dominantly shales and siltstones, which dip to the southeast at approximately 20-30 degrees. The park lies at the southern end of Chestnut Ridge, which is a broad, doubly plunging anticline. Some of the shales (probably the Harrell Formation) outcrop along the shores of the lake, particularly the southern shore near the dam. Staying overnight Camping Shawnee State Park has a 293 site