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Millbrook Marsh Nature Center is located in State College, Pennsylvania, less than two miles from Pennsylvania State University. The Centre Region Parks and Recreation Authority operates the Nature Center and is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The site is 62 acres total and made up of a 12-acre farmstead area and an adjacent 50-acre wetland area. A Conservation Easement between Pennsylvania State University and ClearWater Conservancy protects the wetland from development. On site is a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver Certified classroom building, called the Spring Creek Education Building, a restored bank barn, a wetland laboratory, a picnic pavilion, two sun shelters, a boardwalk, and walking trails.

Early History

The Millbrook Marsh Nature Center property includes part of Millbrook Marsh, other lowlands along Slab Cabin Creek, and the former Penn State Farm #12. Most of the Nature Center property is part of the Houserville Archaeological District, an area of about ½ square mile that includes lowlands along Spring Creek and Slab Cabin Creek and adjacent uplands. This district contains many prehistoric Native sites and others are nearby. The designation of the archeological district was made by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission following archaeological studies done before the completion of the Rt. 322 Expressway.

Before the expressway was built, much of the floodplain area was farmed. Sites in plowed fields were probably known to local artifact collectors. Other sites in unplowed areas were discovered by digging small holes and screening the soil to check for artifacts. Several sites that were to be partially or completely destroyed by bypass construction were partially excavated by personnel from the Penn State Anthropology Department in 1983. A hearth found on one site was radiocarbon dated; the result was 745 years A.D., plus or minus 80 years. It contained many heavily burned and closely packed limestone rocks, charcoal, some jasper flakes, charred maize, and nutshell and wild seeds.

Formerly known as "Penn State Farm 12," the tract was leased on a long-term basis starting in 1997 for $1 per year.