ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE PARK:

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The pools are deep and therefore only suitable for swimmers or children with a flotation device. However, there is a shallow part of the main pool separated off for children. There are lifeguard observation points for all the pools. No special footwear is required since you will not be touching the ground when you are in the water, except when standing by the sides of the pools. There are restrooms and showers.

 

At the far end of the parking lot is the “Footprints in the Valley” museum and activity center which is open Sunday to Thursday from 10.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. There is a Bell Garden containing restored bells used in pioneer times for different occasions. Also, an exact replica of the stockade and tower settlement that was erected at Tel Amal, the modern-day Kibbutz Nir David.

 

This settlement was built overnight by pioneers who had been living in Kibbutz Beit Alpha. It was the first tower and stockade settlement erected in Israel and was built in December 1936 in response to Arab riots. During the three years of intermittent rioting, 57 settlements of this type were constructed in Israel, their aim being to rapidly increase Jewish settlement. It measured only 35 x 35 meter and was surrounded by a double wooden defense wall, in which gravel was placed between the walls to prevent penetration of bullets. One can wander through the rooms that include living quarters with furniture appropriate for the time and a communal dining room.

 

There is also an archeological museum that shows antiquities found in the Beit She'an Valley. It is on the southern side of the river and can be accessed from the Stockade and Tower site by a footbridge. It is only open Sunday to Thursday 10.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. There is also a reconstructed 200-year-old flour mill by the Mill Snack Bar.