Author: TheKnowOwl

Follow Oberlin Road from Ebenezer toward Freys Grove on this Lower Swatara map. Then learn how an 1840 law drew the township’s lines at Nissley’s mill, and how Portsmouth voters won free schools in 1843 on almost impassable roads.

Follow Montgomery Avenue from Bryn Mawr to Bala-Cynwyd on this Lower Merion map, then learn how Pencoyd got its Welsh name and how its iron works made more than 467,000 railroad axles by 1880.

Follow Brookside Road and Spring Creek Road across a new map of Lower Macungie in Lehigh County. Then learn why Spring Creek was once called Mill Creek, and which old mill families’ names still show up on the roads.

Follow Boyles Run Road and Hallowing Run Road across the ridges of Lower Augusta Township, then learn how Fishers Ferry grew from a ferry and hotel into a place with a store, a post office and a church.

Follow Upper Strasburg Road from Pleasant Hall into the ridges of Letterkenny Township. Then learn how Dewalt Keefer founded Strasburg in 1789 and how Rocky Spring Church got its name.

Follow Wyoming Avenue across Kingston, then trace Pierce Street toward the river, and learn about the swing gate that kept cattle out of the crops on the old Blind Town road until the 1818 bridge to Wilkes-Barre.

Follow Waynesboro Pike past Shanks Mill and Stouter, then Tract Road up through Liberty Township in Adams County. Learn about John Hanson Steelman, honored as the valley’s first settler, and the Mason and Dixon stones along the Maryland line.

Follow Rockport Road to the old sawmill town once called Laurytown, then learn how Buck Mountain coal left Rockport by canal until the flood of 1862 washed the canal away.

Follow Main Street and Franklin Street through Johnstown, from Cambria City to Moxham. Then learn how First Cambria AME Zion Church began in the Woodvale Tannery and came through the flood of 1889.

Follow Newport Road from Intercourse past Hatville to New Milltown, then learn how 151 village lots were given out by lottery in 1814 and the crossroads called Cross Keys became Intercourse.

Jenner Township in Somerset County was named in 1811 for Dr. Jenner, who discovered vaccination. Follow Lincoln Highway and Somerset Pike from Jenners Crossroads, and find the 1817 family names still printed on its roads.

Follow Old York Road north and south from Jenkintown Borough Hall, then learn how a Welsh family’s inn gave Jenkintown its name, first printed as “Jenkens’ Town” on a 1759 map.

Follow Main Street from the Jenkins Township Municipal Building past Inkerman, Port Blanchard and Port Griffith, then learn how the icy Susquehanna broke into the Knox Mine in 1959.

Follow Philadelphia Street through downtown Indiana, then out past the campus to Whites Woods. Then learn how townspeople freed 12-year-old Anthony Hollingsworth from slave hunters in 1845, on a corner you can find on the map.

Follow Darby Road and Haverford Road across a new map of Haverford Township in Delaware County. Then meet Joshua Humphrey, the Haverford-born shipbuilder who designed Old Ironsides.

Hellam Township was named for a township in England, and Kreutz Creek may take its name from the German word for cross. This York County map shows Lincoln Highway, Accomac, Codorus Furnace and the hills between.

Follow Main Road and Sans Souci Parkway through Hanover Township in Luzerne County, and learn how Lazarus Stewart and his Paxton Boys split the land into long lots running from the river over Big Mountain.

Follow Airport Road from Schoenersville to Sherwood Park on this Hanover Township map, then learn how families living on the Penns’ Manor of Fermor finally bought their land in 1795.

Follow Hyndman Road from Manns Choice to Buffalo Mills and Bard on this Harrison Township map. Then learn how summer guests came to the White Sulphur spring in Milligan’s cove in the 1870s.

Follow Carlisle Pike, Good Hope Road and Orrs Bridge Road across Hampden Township’s creek loops, then learn how Peace Church was built in 1798 and shared by two congregations for 60 years.

Follow Lincoln Way West and Warm Spring Road from Hamilton Heights to Social Island and Cashtown, then find the corner where Fort McCord stood before the attack of April 1, 1756.

Find Garards Fort, Fordyce, Headlee Heights and Willow Tree on this map of Greene Township, then read how the county’s first church was formed by the fort in 1776 and what its pastor John Corbly came through.

A map of Guilford Township in Franklin County with Stoufferstown, East and West Fayetteville, New Franklin and Marion, plus the story of Patrick Gass, the Lewis and Clark sergeant born near Stoufferstown, and how Stouffer’s Mill turned a crossroads into a village.

Follow North Street, Main Street and Academy Street through the Borough of Ulysses in Potter County, then learn why the town was also called Lewisville in 1890 and how the borough voted on loose farm animals in 1879.

On May 31, 1889, a flood took out Roulette’s Fishing Creek bridge and made teams drive through an orchard. This map of Roulette Township in Potter County, Pennsylvania runs from Burtville to Knowlton along the Grand Army of the Republic Highway.

Follow Wattsburg Road and Lake Pleasant Road across Greene Township in Erie County, find Bogus Corners and Weeds Corners, and learn how Welsh families settled the corner called Wales.

A map of Greene Township in Franklin County with Green Village, Scotland, Fayetteville and the hills of Michaux State Forest, plus the story of Alexander Thomson and the Scotland School for Veterans’ Children.

Follow Interchange Road from Weissport past Harrity to Beltzville on this Franklin Township map. Then read how an iron furnace on the Poho Poco creek became the Maria, and why Franklin was called the Mother of the Sheriffs.

Follow Chambersburg Road from Seven Stars up to Graefenburg on this Franklin Township map. Then learn what the 1886 county history said about village heights, mountain spring water and a chestnut tree 22 feet around.

Trace Broadway, Cherokee and Pawnee Streets on this Fountain Hill map, and learn how a French-born music dealer’s villa, Fountainbleu, and Tinsley Jeter’s street plan shaped the borough.

Forward Township in Allegheny County was settled by New Jersey families in 1766 and later named for a U.S. treasury secretary. This map follows Bunola River Road, Rainbow Run Road and Hayden Boulevard around the bend of the Monongahela.

Follow Wyoming Avenue and River Street through Forty Fort, learn what became of the old fort, and find the 1893 farm family names, like Shoemaker, Tripp and Pettebone, printed on today’s streets.

In 1802, a York County court sent six men to look over a new township. They liked the view from the ridge so much it got a new name. This York County map shows New Market, Redland Village, Fishing Creek Road and the hills they crossed.

A map of Elizabeth Township in Allegheny County, with Boston, Buena Vista, Blythedale and Round Hill Park, plus the story of how a Scottish name and German settlers shaped Greenock.

Follow Sugartown Road and Creek Road across Easttown Township, then learn about Glassley, the town Robert McClenachan laid out near Berwyn in 1800. Many of its lots sold, but they sat empty and unfenced for years.

Follow North Courtland Street, Prospect Street and Normal Street on this East Stroudsburg map. Then learn how the railroad made the town a borough in 1870, and meet the early council members whose names match its streets.

Follow Center Street from Sheppton up to Oneida and Main Boulevard down to Brandonville, then read how rescuers drilled down to two trapped miners near Sheppton in 1963.

Follow Old Philadelphia Pike from Bridgeport past Smoketown to Bird in Hand, then learn how young Quakers galloped across Abraham Witmer’s toll bridge without paying.

Follow Downingtown Pike, Copeland School Road and West Strasburg Road across East Bradford, then learn how floods, a gift of planks and a fallen date stone are part of the story of Cope’s bridge over the Brandywine.

Follow Morrell Avenue, University Drive and Hardy Hill Road from Sitka to Irishtown on this Dunbar Township map. Then learn how Christopher Gist settled here by 1753, where Washington bought a horse, and the British colonel the township is named for.

Doylestown started as William Doyle’s tavern where two great roads crossed, now Main and State streets. This aerial map of the Bucks County seat shows that crossing, Doylestown Borough Hall, Burpee Park and Cross Keys.

Dunkard Creek winds past Bobtown on this map of Dunkard Township in Greene County. Trace the roads to Davistown, Wiley and Dilliner, and learn why an 1888 county history called this valley the first settled part of the county.

Follow Main Street and Macdade Boulevard across Darby Borough in Delaware County. Then read what Sarah Eve wrote about the town and its hills after a rainy ride in 1773.

Follow Market Street across Camp Hill and find the month streets off Trindle Road. Then learn about the June 1863 skirmish at Oyster Point, the farthest a body of Confederate troops got toward Harrisburg, and how White Hall became Camp Hill.

In Sweden Township’s first school, a teacher cut the letter M from a board and told his son to eat it. This Potter County map follows East Second Street from Sweden Valley, just above Ice Mine, to Denton Hill, with Brookland Road and Sweden Hill Road up north.

Follow Honeoye Street across Shinglehouse, take Stevens Street south to Oswayo Street and Maple Grove Cemetery, and meet the 1879 store clerk who became George W. Dodge’s hardware partner.

Follow Portage Road from Sizerville State Park to Costello, once called North Wharton. Then read how an 1876 tax list of 24 names didn’t match a report of just two families in Portage Township, Potter County.

Follow East and West Main Street through the Borough of Oswayo in Potter County, from School Street to Depot Street and Bryant Hollow. Then learn about the village’s first store, its 1866 graded school and how many people lived here in 1880.

Follow Rte 6 West from West Pike down the Pine Creek valley on this Pike Township map, and read how an 1826 traveler at the Phoenix Tavern judged the valley unfit for farming. By 1890, West Pike was the trading center of a rich farm district.