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Jun 12, 2026 By Ben Moyer 5 min read

This goes a long way back into the past, but it’s the only way to introduce a story that grows timelier and more relevant today. It’s the story of the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art in Millersburg, Pennsylvania.

Older readers who read Pennsylvania Game News magazine (official publication of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, our state’s wildlife management agency) in the 1960s and ’70s cannot help but remember the stirring paintings by Ned Smith of Pennsylvania wildlife that graced Game News covers.

Smith was a self-trained artist who grew up fishing, hunting, and roaming the woods and Susquehanna riverbanks around Millersburg, Dauphin County, PA. His experience and observations in nature helped him render remarkably accurate drawings and paintings of the wild creatures he encountered on his excursions afield. It’s not practical to list all the diverse subjects of Smith’s art, but readers may recall startlingly lifelike paintings of white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, black bears, ruffed grouse, waterfowl, bluebirds, or red fox. There are so many more.

These artworks accomplished more than convey anatomically precise images of their featured animals. Smith’s dedication to ecological detail also placed those subjects in their natural surroundings, surrounded by plants and landscape fitting to the theme.

Though Smith continued his life in his boyhood hometown, his prestige as a wildlife artist grew far beyond central Pennsylvania. His art appeared in National Geographic, National Wildlife, Sports Afield, South Carolina Wildlife, and many other magazines. He illustrated 14 books on nature and wildlife, and he produced dozens of fine-art prints for conservation organizations to market in their fund-raising campaigns. These included Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, National Wild Turkey Federation, Trout Unlimited and others.

Paint and pencil were not the extent of Ned Smith’s talents. He was also a gifted and prolific nature writer. Through the 1960s, Smith authored the popular monthly Game News column, “Gone for the Day,” in which he related his encounters with nature within a few miles of his home. He illustrated those columns with exquisite pen-and-ink drawings. The Game Commission later published Smith’s column collection in book form, “Gone for the Day,” which remains in print and available.

Tragically, Smith battled heart disease for many years and in 1985, at the height of his productivity, he suffered a fatal attack while working in his garden. The already impressive value of his work spiked after his death. Original paintings now exceed $60,000.

Smith’s long-time wife and naturalist-partner Marie, friends, associates, and admirers wanted his contributions to nature and art appreciation to continue. Marie entrusted Ned’s extensive body of work to a non-profit entity that in 1993 became the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art.

The group worked endlessly at fund-raising and eventually purchased a 500-acre tract of forest along Wiconisco Creek and ascending the flank of Berry Mountain, just outside Millersburg, where Ned Smith spent countless hours observing nature, sketching, and taking notes. In recognition of Smith’s contribution to the state’s outdoor legacy, in 2002 Gov. Mark Schweiker presented a check for $2 million for construction of a permanent facility to house Smith’s art and to raise awareness of the link between art and environmental stewardship.

In 2011, with support of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the Center opened the permanent Ned Smith Gallery, which displays a rotating selection of Smith’s paintings, drawings, and notes.

Today the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art is an amazing destination for anyone interested in nature, wildlife, or art. Visitors from around the world marvel at the vivid images of Pennsylvania birds, mammals, and fish crafted by the hands and eye of Ned Smith.

The Center also functions as a community gathering place, offering summer camps for children, musical performances, readings, festivals, trail-runs, and classes in art and natural history. A staff of professional archivists, environmental educators, and artists help guests learn from and enjoy these events.

As Ned Smith would have preferred, most of the Center’s 500 acres are open to the public for fishing, hunting, and nature exploration. Nine miles of trails network the mountainside and flank Wiconisco Creek, a regionally renowned trout stream.

The Center expresses its mission as: Dedicated to bridging the worlds of creativity and nature, fostering an appreciation for the natural and cultural heritage of the Central Pennsylvania region, and furthering the legacy of the nationally recognized wildlife artist, naturalist, and writer, Ned Smith.

The Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art is located along Rte. 209 on the eastern outskirts of Millersburg, PA, about 20 miles north of Harrisburg. The address is: 176 Water Company Road, Millersburg, PA 17061. Galleries and gift shop are open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are welcomed.

For the nature and outdoor enthusiast, few destinations are more worthy of a 3-hour summer road-trip than the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art.

Ben Moyer is a member of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association and the Outdoor Writers Association of America.