Worlds End State Park - Name

Name

An 1872 map uses the name Worlds End for the area around the S-shaped serpentine bend in Loyalsock Creek. Worlds End State Forest Park opened in 1932, and its name has caused some confusion and controversy over the years. William S. Swingler, Assistant District Forester of Wyoming State Forest (reorganized as Loyalsock State Forest in 2005), penned this note about the story of the name in 1935:

There was even a dispute as to the proper name of the area. Some people called it Worlds End, others Whirl's Glen, and still others Whirls End. The first name arose from the topography of the place. Seven mountain ranges converge on the point and one does receive the sensation of being at the ultimate ends of the earth. The proponents of the second name base their claim upon the whirlpool in the Loyalsock Creek, and the third name was probably a contraction of the other two. Since the whirlpool had largely disappeared, it was decided that the name Worlds End would be most appropriate. Hence, the name Worlds End State Forest Park.

This was not the end of the controversy. A letter campaign led to the name of the park being changed to Whirls End State Forest Park in 1936; opponents of the new name launched another letter writing campaign to revert the name to Worlds End State Forest Park. This matter was brought before the State Geographic Board, which supervised the official naming of places. The board ruled that the name be changed once again to Worlds End State Forest Park in 1943. The word Forest was dropped on November 11, 1954, when the park was officially named Worlds End State Park by the Pennsylvania Geographic Board. This has been the official name ever since, but the names Whirls End and Whirls Glen are still used, and are synonymous with Worlds End.

Two other etymologies have been suggested. The first is that an early road along the gorge had a sheer drop to the creek hundreds of feet below, which prompted thoughts of the world's end in early travelers. The second is that the bend in Loyalsock Creek, and the surrounding area that became the park, was originally known as Huerle's Bend, but then "years of mispronunciation turned it into World's End (State Park)". Whatever the source, as of 2012 the name Worlds End State Park is unique in the USGS Geographic Names Information System and on its maps of the United States. The possessive apostrophe is not part of the official name, although it does appear in older records and in informal usage today.