In 1950 the park was known as "Upper Pine Bottom State Forest Picnic Area" and was mentioned in a "New York Times" article on the Pine Creek Gorge. On November 11, 1954, the Pennsylvania Geographic Board made the picnic area name official. The Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry's Division of State Parks became the Bureau of State Parks in 1962 and Upper Pine Bottom (and all state parks and picnic areas) were transferred to it from Forestry that year. In 1972, Upper Pine Bottom was one of 10 state forest picnic areas kept by the Bureau of State Parks (35 were transferred to the Bureau of Forestry), and Forrey's 1984 "History of Pennsylvania's State Parks" referred to it as a state forest picnic area. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (Penn DOT) 1993 map still called it a picnic area, but Cupper's 1993 "Our Priceless Heritage: Pennsylvania's State Parks 1893–1993" called it a state park, as did the Penn DOT 2002 map.