ARCHBALD, PA - A huge natural pothole hasn't turned into the tourist attraction that local officials hoped it would become.
Archbald Pothole State Park, centered around a pothole that is 38 feet deep and 42 feet wide, reopened five years ago after a $170,000 facelift. Organizers hoped the changes would make it the attraction it was about 100 years ago, but that hasn't happened.
"It never took off to the point where we hoped to see droves of people coming here," state Rep. Ed Staback said last week.
Instead, officials said, the pothole has simply become a prime location for trash dumping, vandalism and loitering.
Uncovered by a miner in 1884, the pothole was visited by people from around the world in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Officials said they hope more changes could bring tourists back to the pothole, which was formed by glacial movements about 18,000 years ago during the last Ice Age.
A 200-acre site just over the hill from the pothole that was formerly a strip-mining location has been cleared for recreational use. Staback said a project could start by fall that would add soccer fields, tennis courts, basketball courts and trails.
