Historic Penn’s Cave and Wildlife Park Up for Sale

The historic Penn’s Cave and Wildlife Park is up for sale after more than a century of ownership by the same family.

The Campbell family, which has owned the 1,400-acre property in Gregg Township since 1908, listed it for sale this week through Lusk & Associates with an asking a price of $34 million.

“Penn’s Cave has been our family’s legacy. We have a lot of pride in this property and the business,” owners Russ Schleiden and Jeanne (Campbell) Schleiden said in a statement. “We will continue to maintain the property and business with the same level of commitment and care as we search for Penn’s Cave’s next owner. Continuing the experience we’re known for is our greatest priority throughout this transition.”

Proposals will be accepted beginning Oct. 1.

The listing comes as the Schleidens have also sought to have the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources acquire the property and make it the commonwealth’s 126th state park. State Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Bellefonte, a backer of that proposal, said on Wednesday that the state still has interest and the effort continues to move forward.

Opened in 1885, Penn’s Cave is one of three all-water caverns in the United States and Pennsylvania’s only cave listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

In addition to the 1,300-foot-long cavern that visitors tour by flat bottom boat, the property includes the nearly 308-acre farm and wildlife park, with bison, longhorn cattle, elk, wolves, mountain lions, wild horses, burros and other animals.

The site also features attractions include a miner’s maze, gemstone panning, picnic grounds and off-road mountain tours, and has its own small airport, an FAA-designated private fly-in facility within walking distance of the visitors center. The Penn’s Cave House on the property is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The deep groundwater that makes Penn’s Cave unique, meanwhile, generates up to 11 million gallons of water daily and forms the headwaters of Penn’s Creek, a Class A wild trout stream which ultimately flows into the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay.

Four generations of the Campbell family have established water rights and acquired surrounding land to protect the headwaters and the natural environment of the Penns Valley landscape.

The family stressed that they are looking for a new owner who will “steward one of Pennsylvania’s most celebrated destinations while carrying its remarkable legacy into the future.”

At a July 7 Centre County Board of Commissioners meeting where the Schleidens and Benninghoff sought a letter of support for the state park proposal, the family said that they did not want to see the property developed and preferred that it be acquired and maintained by the commonwealth.

“We have been the custodians of it, and we strongly desire this to go to the state to protect and continue to conserve and have it available to the public,” executive business director Jeanine Schleiden Watson said. “We just want it to be preserved and taken care of. We’ve always felt like we were the stewards of that. We would hate to see this go into development, and unfortunately, that would be the alternative.”

The family has been working with DCNR on the proposal for several years, and an effort to have it included in the 2026-27 state budget was unsuccessful.

“We just really ran out of time [this year],” Benninghoff told StateCollegee.com on Wednesday. “The budget was starting to get sluggish and it got to the point where I think… they weren’t going to do any more add-ons to anything. It just wasn’t able to get all the stars lined up that we needed to this year. But the interest is still there.”

Benninghoff said he still plans to introduce the proposal during next year’s budget process.

“What the Schleidens do in the interim is up to them and I can’t speak for them,” Benninghoff said. “They know our interest and they, too, would like to keep it in some kind of public situation there to let people have access.

“The interest is still there, by me, by DCNR. I think this is a pretty good priority for them. They see the beauty and they see the importance of trying to protect that whole animal habitat and that 1,400 hundred acres that sits between those two mountain ridges.”

The uncertain future of Penn’s Cave’s ownership has complicated the property’s with the Nittany Antique Machinery Association, which for more than 50 years has hosted fall and spring shows at the site.

Earlier this month, the association filed a petition asking a judge to intervene because Penn’s Cave ownership allegedly is not negotiating a five-year lease renewal option in good-faith, instead proposing a one-year term with a substantial increase in rent and new conditions.

The association’s current lease expires at the end of 2026. It has a five-year renewal option based on mutually agreeable terms that the organization notified Penn’s Cave in July it planned to exercise.

In a letter to the association’s counsel, Penn’s Cave attorney Thomas Schrack wrote that future plans for the property are a “strong consideration” in negotiating a new lease.

“Although there is no specific timetable at this point for a potential sale date, given this uncertainty regarding future ownership of the leased premises, my client is unable to commit to a long-term lease that would bind any future owner of the property,” Schrack wrote. “As I am sure your client can appreciate, any long-term lease encumbering the property would significantly impact any future sale.”

On Monday, the association formally withdrew its petition for a preliminary injunction, writing in a press release that it “is hopeful that this decision will create an opportunity for constructive, good-faith negotiations between the two organizations.”

“We believe the best path forward is through communication and good-faith negotiations,” Preston Weaver, 3rd Vice President of NAMA, said. “NAMA has always wanted to preserve this
important tradition, and we remain hopeful that we can work with Penn’s Cave to find a solution that recognizes the interests of both organizations. However, we are still willing to pursue legal action, if necessary.”