History & local legend
North Park’s Gravity Hill is at the lower of the two junctions between McKinney and Kummer roads, on the hillside above Marshall Lake. Visitors describe an odd effect there: a vehicle appears ready to roll toward the intersection, yet instead drifts backward up what looks like a rise.
A Southwestern Pennsylvania Guide writer documented the spot in 2020, comparing photographs and the slopes of the neighboring roads. Trees obscure the horizon, removing one of the eye’s usual references for level ground. The adjacent, more steeply sloping pavement then distorts the apparent angle of the shallower road.
The result is a convincing impression of reversed gravity, even when a visitor knows it is an optical illusion.
