Named for William Parker, a contractor who cut timber along Laurel Run, the park is virtually surrounded by the Moshannon State Forest, and is easily accessible via Exits 18 and 19 of I-80. Once heavily lumbered, the park was later established as a public trust. With careful maintenance and replanting, forest and swamp meadows, pine plantations, and second-growth timber flourish where desolate land once stood.
Recreation is plentiful here.
Clearfield County consists of more than 70 miles of fishing streams and approximately 75 acres of regularly-stocked lakes. With forest land occupying 80 percent of the county, Parker Dam is one of four primary outdoor destinations. S.B. Elliott State Park Forest succession and recovery is evident throughout the park whose pleasant solitude is particularly attractive to visitors. The park was named for the Honorable Simon B. Elliott, early conservationist and legislator, who promoted the idea of raising forest trees for replanting. As a result, the Clearfield Forest Tree Nursery, otherwise known as the Dague Nursery, was established in 1911.