Jonestown: Playground, Hiking Trails and Swatara Creek

Jonestown offers a variety of reasons to spend time outdoors while also discovering traces of the past. George H. Kaufman Park has a large playground and several sports facilities; the Jonestown Tour leads to a hiking trail with historic buildings. If you’d like to plan water activities, there are also options on Swatara Creek. When choosing a vacation rental, you can consider whether your trip will focus more on play and sports, hiking and biking, or history and water activities.

Playground and Sports at George H. Kaufman Park

George H. Kaufman Park has a large playground built by hundreds of volunteers. It also has three baseball fields, two tennis courts, a basketball court and a sand volleyball court. This mix gives families and sports enthusiasts traveling together a range of ideas for activities in the park, without limiting a visit to just one sport. The grounds also include a long hiking trail. If you’d rather get around on foot than on a playing field, you can consider it as a separate option.

The stated opening hours offer a clear guide for your visit: the park is open from sunrise to sunset. If your travel group has several interests, you can think of the playground, sports fields and hiking trail as different parts of a park visit.

Hiking, Biking and Water Activities

In Jonestown, visitors can walk, bike and run on the Rail Trail. Kayaking and tubing are also possible on Swatara Creek. This gives you a choice of different ways to spend active time outdoors: getting around on the Rail Trail or doing an activity on the water. When planning your stay, you can weigh these different interests as you decide whether Jonestown is the right destination, rather than planning your trip around just one activity.

The Swatara Creek Water Trail provides a broader perspective. It is a 42-mile section of Swatara Creek that runs from Jonestown in Lebanon County to the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission access point in Middletown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. Its length and named endpoints make clear that it extends beyond Jonestown. In the wider region, normal summer water levels allow most human-powered recreational boats to use the Water Trail.

Historic Traces Along the Way

The Jonestown Tour includes a hiking trail with numerous historic buildings, some of which date back to the 18th century. If you’re interested in the history of the buildings, you can make this trail a separate focus alongside play, sports and water activities. The reference to the 18th century applies to some of the buildings, not the entire trail or all historic sites.

Another historic point of interest is Sand Siding. It was a stop on the former Lebanon & Tremont Railroad and is now located in the 3,520-acre Swatara State Park, on the Swatara Rail Trail. The landscape also bears traces of an earlier railroad. For travelers who want to combine hiking or biking with a historical theme, the Rail Trail offers a different perspective from the buildings on the Jonestown Tour.

Jonestown as a Starting Point for Planning Your Trip

More town pages: Myerstown, Palmyra, Sand Hill, Lebanon, Annville, Campbelltown.

Return to the main travel overview: Lebanon.