Moraine State Park is one of the most popular state parks in western Pennsylvania, largely because of the massive 3,225-acre Lake Arthur. However, if you don’t have your own boat (or don’t rent one), it can be hard to fully appreciate this park.
Fortunately, you can also take a boat tour aboard Preston’s Pearl.
Preston’s Pearl is a large pontoon boat that offers tours of Lake Arthur from Memorial Day Weekend through October. They offer a variety of tour options, including dinner cruises, yoga on the lake, and more, but I opted for their 90-minute sight-seeing cruises, which they offer most weekends and on most Wednesday afternoons. (Note that my cruise was closer to 105 minutes, so make sure to leave a little buffer time at the end.)
Tours are run by the Moraine Preservation Fund, who help support the park and does projects around it. They also run the Owl Gift Shop next to the boat launch where you can buy souvenirs and snacks, as well as check in for your tour.
The boat is loaded on a handicap-accessible dock near the McDanels Boat Launch on the lake’s North Shore.
The boat itself has both an indoor area on the first floor, as well as a roof-top viewing area. Everyone is required to start and end the trip in the downstairs area.
This first floor consists of large windows, though they are a bit high, so it might be a bit hard to see much out of them when your sitting (or for younger kids, when they are standing). The space is filled with movable chairs, which sort of give it a small church vibe.
Fortunately, once the boat is out of the no wake zone, you are allowed to venture out onto the rooftop area or the first floor deck. Just note that kids are required to wear life jackets while outside.
The rooftop space is large enough to accommodate anyone that wants to go up there, but note that there are only two small benches, so those that want to sit will likely need to go indoors. Also, the stairs to the top are a bit narrow and steep, which might pose difficulty for some passengers.
The tour itself covers a very sizable percentage of the lake, starting on Lake Arthur’s western end before traveling nearly to the end of the two main branches of the lake to the east. From a quick estimate on Google Maps, it covers about 14-total miles on the lake!
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The trip includes going under the Route 528 bridge, which is one of the highlights of the trip.
Narration is provided during the first half of the cruise and covers everything from the history of the lake and park to the various things that you can see on the lake’s shore (plus some of what is now underwater). They even point out a portion of the park’s fabulous Sunken Garden Trail.
Along the way, they also pointed out various bird nests along the lake including those for bald eagles and ospreys. Sadly, while we did see some fun birds, the bald eagles were nowhere to be seen during my visit.
One thing that I thought was cool was that they had a number of pairs of binoculars for both adults and kids to use during the cruise. This helps with both viewing wildlife and the boat traffic on the lake.
My only two small complaints about the tour is that the downstairs area would probably be a bit stuffy and without great views if you were visiting on a rainy day. Because of this, I definitely recommend trying to pick a day with good weather.
Also, there is room for only a handful of people to sit on the roof, which is where most people spend most of the cruise. A few chairs or benches to sit on would be really quite lovely.
All that being said, I had a really fabulous time on my cruise of Moraine State Park aboard the Preston’s Pearl, and I highly recommend checking it out on your next visit to this corner of Butler County.
Find out more about cruises aboard the Preston’s Pearl on the website for the Moraine Preservation Fund. Purchasing tickets ahead of time is recommended.
Looking for more things to do in the area? Check out Gateway Clipper Cruises in Pittsburgh, the Best Things to Do in McConnells Mill State Park, and Jennings Environmental Education Center.
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