Tidioute Overlook: Allegheny National Forest, Warren County

The Allegheny National Forest's Tidioute Overlook provides a tremendous vista of the Allegheny River and its gorge, with one side showing a view of Courson Island, part of the Allegheny River Islands Wilderness Area, and the other showing the small village of Tidioute. A short hike takes you to both overlooks and a nice picnic area is provided. This portion of the river is designated as "Wild and Scenic" and it certainly shows. 

Decisions, decisions! It is easy to do both, with the hike being no more than a quarter mile or so between both. 

As mentioned earlier, Courson Island is designated as a Wilderness area. A series of islands on the river have been given this designation in order to preserve them as undeveloped examples of river coast line. This area of the river is rustic and beautiful. 

The picnic area itself is beautifully wooded, certainly a great place to go on a hot summer day to cool down a little bit and catch some awesome views. 

The overlook of the borough of Tidioute shows a place that was once a sawmill and oil boom town. The town is still intact and it has some beautiful old buildings, but at one point this boomtown was the birthplace of Standard Oil, Rockefeller's oil company that would eventually be broken up as a monopoly. The borough was also home to one of the region's perennial industries, knife making. Tidioute Cutlery began in the borough, and was moved in 1911 to Olean, NY, a place located up the Allegheny River and not terribly far from this location. There are still a few knife makers around the region, namely in Titusville. Union Cutlery itself would go on to have an illustrious history, namely with their KA-Bar branded knives, which started becoming standard issue in the military in World War II. They still operate from the small town of Olean, NY to this day. All of this history began right here in Tidioute.

The Tidouite Overlook is certainly a place you should check out while you explore the Allegheny National Forest.

Coordinates:

41.675274, -79.392834