Scotia

Overview

Carnegie's ore town in the barrens

Scotia sits in the Scotia Barrens, a low basin of pitch pine and scrub oak just west of State College. Iron ore lay in the sand and clay here, and local furnaces had dug it from the surface long before Andrew Carnegie arrived. Around 1878 Carnegie, who needed ore for his Pittsburgh furnaces, leased about 500 acres from Moses Thompson. In 1880 he bought more land and built a company town: houses, a store, a church, an office, stables and an ore washer that broke the ore out of the clay. He called it Scotia, after Scotland. The post office went by another name, Benore, which is how the 1908 USGS map labels it.

The railroad was extended to the works within two years. At the turn of the century about 400 people lived here, with a school, a library in the civic center, a baseball team and the Forest Cornet Band, which once paraded for Carnegie himself. Carnegie sold out to the Bellefonte Furnace Company in 1899, after richer ore turned up near the Great Lakes, and the mines closed in 1911. The Game Commission bought most of the barrens in 1942. A wartime attempt to reopen the mine shipped about 40 rail cars of ore before the ore was rejected, and left the biggest concrete ruins on the site.

Today the townsite is inside State Game Lands 176. The ore washer's concrete slabs stand about 20 feet high under a coat of graffiti, and the cellars of the company houses and the store's porch are still findable in the woods. A 2019 first-hand report described a five-minute walk from a gate on Scotia Range Road; current gate conditions have not been confirmed.

Timeline

From Carnegie's lease to game lands

1. Late 1700sIron ore is dug from the surface of the pine barrens for local furnaces. Centre County History dates this to the late 1700s; Wikipedia says the early 1800s.
2. About 1878Andrew Carnegie, looking for ore for his Pittsburgh furnaces, hears of the deposits from his friend George W. Lyon at Pennsylvania Furnace and leases about 500 acres from Moses Thompson.
3. 1880Carnegie buys the River Hill Tract and more land, and pays for company houses, a store, a church, an office building, stables and an ore washer. He names the place Scotia, after his native Scotland.
4. Within two yearsThe Lewisburg and Tyrone tracks are extended to Scotia. Steam shovels and narrow-gauge rail move the ore to the washer, and about 250 tons a day go out to Pittsburgh.
5. About 1900About 400 people live here. The town has a school, a church, a civic center with a small library, a baseball team and the Forest Cornet Band. The post office is called Benore.
6. 1899Carnegie, now drawing richer ore from the Great Lakes region, sells the works to the Bellefonte Furnace Company. The Pennsylvania Center for the Book says his interest waned around 1890, before the sale.
7. 1911The mines close and the town is abandoned. Uncovering PA gives 1909. A lumber company uses the tracks until about 1915.
8. 1942The Pennsylvania Game Commission buys 5,100 acres from the Boal estate and adds them to 700 acres it already holds: State Game Lands 176.
9. World War IIThe federal Defense Plant Corporation spends about $500,000 reopening the mine. About 40 rail cars of ore are shipped before it is rejected as worthless, and the works shut down again.
10. PreservationCentre County History describes volunteers clearing brush from the ruins. The washer slabs, the engine room foundation, the house cellars and the store porch are still there.

What's left

Concrete in the woods

Centre County History's Bob Hazelton, whose Scotia article was published in June 2022 and updated in September 2026, describes the ore washer site as marked by concrete slabs about 20 feet high, with the foundation of the engine room still visible. Root cellars mark where about a dozen company houses stood, and the store's concrete front porch remains. Volunteers have been clearing brush from the sites. ClearWater Conservancy adds that most of the concrete dates from the World War II attempt, including quarter-mile ramps up to a receiving hopper, while Carnegie's own washer left only its concrete bases and support pads.

Uncovering PA, visiting in 2019, measured the main concrete structure at about 15 feet and found a two-part concrete shell, its upper part painted with graffiti and its lower walls mossy, with old mining pits and ponds nearby. The two heights don't agree; we give both.

• Ore washer concrete slabs
• Engine room foundation
• Root cellars of about a dozen houses
• Company store porch
• WWII ramps and hopper footings
• Mining pits and ponds
• Old railroad grade

Setting

A frost pocket full of warblers

The Scotia Barrens are a basin ringed by ridges. Cold air drains off the ridge tops at night and pools in the low ground, so the barrens run colder than the country around them. The Pennsylvania Center for the Book says mornings can be near freezing while afternoons reach the high 70s. Pitch pine, jack pine, scrub oak and native grasses grow in the sandy soil, and logging and fires long ago took the original forest.

The barrens cover about 6,200 acres inside State Game Lands 176, one of the largest pitch pine and scrub oak barrens left in Pennsylvania. Wikipedia, citing the county natural heritage inventory, counts more than 33 warbler species here, along with the northern saw-whet owl.

Rules

Walking in, and the orange rule

State game lands exist first for wildlife and hunting. The Game Commission's own page says other recreation is "permitted in accordance with the Game Commission's regulations," and those regulations, in 58 Pa. Code § 135.41, were last amended on May 29, 2026, effective July 1, 2026. The rules that matter here:

• Fluorescent orange. From October 1 through January 31 and from April 20 through May 31, anyone on the game lands who isn't hunting, trapping or fishing must wear at least 250 square inches of fluorescent orange on head, chest and back combined, or an orange hat, visible all the way round. These spans include Sundays under the rule effective July 1, 2026. Shooting-range users are exempt from this orange requirement.
• Bikes and horses. Recreational riding is banned during those same periods. Outside them, use only roads normally open to public travel or posted designated routes. The rule has an exception for people lawfully engaged in hunting, trapping or fishing. The trails here are unofficial and unmarked, by Centre County History's account.
• Drones. Launching, operating, controlling or retrieving a drone on or from state game lands is prohibited unless an exception or written agency authorization applies.
• Finding the ruins. Uncovering PA, in a 2019 visit report, puts the gate on the right side of Scotia Range Road about 0.6 mile from Scotia Road, with the ruins about five minutes' walk beyond it. The site is "crisscrossed by miles of trails," and the author warned it's easy to get turned around.

Historic maps

Scotia on USGS maps, 1908–1994

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19081:62,50019431:125,00019621:24,00019841:100,00019941:24,000

Map & directions

Getting there

These mapped routes lead to Scotia Range Road. State College is about 17 minutes away. From Pittsburgh the drive runs out US 22 and up I-99 to the Grays Woods exit. Both routes end on Scotia Range Road, which leads to the game lands parking areas. The 2019 visit report describes a gate and a short walk; current gate conditions are unknown.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

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Visitor reports

Been to Scotia?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Scotia

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Pennsylvania index.

• Peale15.4 mi NW · Clearfield
• Ingleby26.9 mi E · Centre
• Aitch31.5 mi S · Huntingdon
• Beula48.7 mi SW · Cambria
• Ellmont54.1 mi NW · Jefferson
• Alvira56.6 mi NE · Union
• Wehrum57.3 mi SW · Indiana
• Cashtown70.4 mi SE · Adams

Sources

Sources and credits

1. ghosttowns.com, "Scotia Village": alternate name and fact-sheet county/remains fields. Its undated visit and decline story are not used to establish current access or historical dates.
2. Wikipedia, "Scotia, Pennsylvania", retrieved October 2026: coordinates (GNIS), Patton Township, the Benore post office name, Carnegie's lease and 1880 purchases, population of about 400, the 1899 sale, 1911 closure, the WWII reopening, the 6,200 acres and the warbler count.
3. Centre County History, "Scotia", Bob Hazelton, June 6, 2022, updated September 30, 2026: George W. Lyon, the River Hill Tract, the Bellefonte Furnace Company and the Waddle rail link, lumber to about 1915, the 20-foot slabs, engine room, root cellars, store porch and brush clearing.
4. Centre County History, "Scotia Barrens", Ben Cramer, June 30, 2024, updated February 24, 2025: ruins within State Game Lands 176, 6,200 acres, directions via Grays Woods Boulevard, Scotia Road and Scotia Range Road, unofficial and unmarked trails, the cold-air basin.
5. ClearWater Conservancy, "Scotia: An Area Rich in History", July 30, 2020: the name, the rail extension within two years, the 1942 Game Commission purchase (5,100 plus 700 acres), the Defense Plant Corporation's $500,000 and 40 rail cars, the WWII ramps and hopper.
6. Pennsylvania Center for the Book, "A Geologic Wonder: Scotia Barrens", Mark Hughes, 2010: 250 tons a day, declining interest dated about 1890, mining to 1911, the town of 400 with school, church, library, baseball team and Forest Cornet Band, the frost pocket and its plants.
7. Uncovering PA, "Exploring the Scotia Barrens and the Abandoned Ruins of Scotia", Jim Cheney, July 10, 2019, updated February 23, 2023: the gate on Scotia Range Road, the five-minute walk, the 15-foot structure, graffiti, pits and ponds, the 1909 date, miles of trails.
8. 58 Pa. Code § 135.41, "State game lands", amended May 29, 2026, effective July 1, 2026: the fluorescent orange rule and its dates, riding restrictions, speed and weight limits, and the drone prohibition.
9. Pennsylvania Game Commission, "State Game Lands", read October 2026: the purpose of game lands and secondary recreational uses.
10. Outdoor News, April 16, 2026: the board's April 11 vote adding Sundays to the orange and riding periods.
11. USGS Bellefonte 15-minute sheet, 1908 (in the historic maps below): the "Scotia / Benore PO" label.
12. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

• Top photo: Goonsnick, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Bellefonte 1908, 1:62,500; Lewistown 1943, 1:125,000; Julian 1962, 1:24,000; State College 1984, 1:100,000; Julian 1994, 1:24,000.