Duff Park
Duff Park, a passive recreation park, is located at 4500 School Road South, Murrysville. It features 250 acres of wooded, hilly terrain and is within walking distance of the center of Murrysville and easily accessible from the Westmoreland County Heritage Trail. The primary activity is walking; there are about 7.5 miles of trails ranking from easy to strenuous.
This is also the first park where tree signs were installed. A Duff Park tree sign is an aluminum plaque (12” by 8” in size) on a three feet post that contains pertinent information on leaves, fruit and bark. There are 41 tree signs in Duff Park.
Duff park is also the home of the FOMP recognition column; this displays the names of those that have made significant contributions, either as a donor or as a volunteer.
The park is widely known for its native flowers, especially in the spring when the hillsides are covered by Trillium, Dutchman’s breeches, Spring beauty, and dozens of other species. Because of its abundance of native plants, FOMP submitted an application to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; as a result, it awarded Duff Park the rare and coveted designation of Wild Plant Sanctuary. Also, through FOMP’s initiative, Duff Park has been dedicated as an Old Growth Forest because, in a large area of the park, trees have never been cut by man; a rare occurrence in Pennsylvania.
The Duff Park information center was designed and built by FOMP with a $6,000 grant honoring Dr. J. Shogan. It displays a large trail map as well many photos of native wildflowers. In addition, there are narratives and photos of flora and fauna, history of the park, the Turtle Creek watershed, etc.
