Hidden Gem of the Week: Columcille Megalith Park in Bangor

Columcille Megalith Park is this week's Hidden Gem of the Week: a free, 20-acre Celtic-inspired sanctuary tucked against Blue Mountain in Bangor, at the northern edge of Northampton County. It is a quiet hillside of more than 90 standing stones, trilithons, a dolmen, and a small chapel of uncut stone, open every day from dawn to dusk. Most people who know the Lehigh Valley well have still never heard of it, which is exactly what makes it worth the drive.

How Columcille Came to Be

The park began with a single visitor. In 1977, William H. Cohea, Jr. traveled to the Isle of Iona off the west coast of Scotland, where the ancient stones and the island's Celtic Christian heritage connected to St. Columcille (also known as Columba) left a deep impression. He came home inspired to create a quiet place of the same spirit, and over the years he and a small community of supporters built the stone settings you see today. The park is now managed by Columcille Inc., a non-profit, and 2026 marks its 48th year, making it one of the most unusual cultural spaces in the Lehigh Valley.

What You Will See

The park covers more than 20 acres on the slope of Blue Mountain, near the Kittatinny Ridge and the Appalachian Trail. Pathways wind through open meadow and woodland, and along them you will find menhirs (single standing stones), trilithons (two upright stones topped by a capstone), a dolmen, and a chapel and bell tower built of uncut stone. There is no visitor center and no programmed experience: the idea is simply to walk the paths, sit on a bench, and take it in at your own pace.

• 🌱 90+ megalith stone settings across 20+ acres of meadow and woods on Blue Mountain's slope.
• 🏫 A chapel and bell tower of uncut stone are the park's quiet centerpiece, open to visitors.
• 📚 A living art project: the stone settings were raised one at a time since the park's founding in 1978.
• 🐾 Leashed dogs are welcome on the paths, except during scheduled events.

Why It Is a Hidden Gem

Columcille is free, it is open every single day, and it is unlike anything else in the region. A field of standing stones on a Pennsylvania mountainside sounds like something you would need to travel to Scotland or Ireland to see, yet here it is less than an hour from Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton. It is also a quiet place by design, which makes it a lovely counterpoint to a more active day: the park abuts the Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center and sits close to Appalachian Trail access, so you can pair a morning walk among the stones with a hike or a picnic before heading home.

October is a wonderful time to visit. Early fall color spreads across the mountain slope, the light is softer, and the stones catch long afternoon shadows the way the park's founders intended. On a weekday you may have whole paths to yourself.

Worth the Drive to Northampton County

Columcille is proof that you do not need a long trip to find somewhere genuinely surprising. It is free, it is easy to reach, and it rewards a slow visit: walk the paths, listen to the quiet, and look at stones that someone carried and set by hand, one at a time, for nearly half a century. Hours and event schedules can change, so it is always a good idea to check the official website before you go.

And if a fall drive through Northampton County gets you thinking about what it would be like to live in Bangor, Northampton, or another Lehigh Valley community, Tim Tepes has helped buyers and sellers across Northampton, Lehigh, and Carbon Counties for more than 36 years. Reach out any time for honest, local guidance.