Author: TheKnowOwl

Austin grew up around two sawmills in 1886, and Mr. Austin’s garden became the mill pond. This map follows Main Street, Rugaber Street and Costello Road through the borough, beside the creek that carried the 1911 dam flood into town.

In Hebron Township a lot of the road names are creek names. This map follows the road from Coneville to Hebron Center and out along South Branch Road. Whitney Creek Road runs down the left side below State Game Lands Number 204, and Steer Brook Road heads toward the bottom edge.

Follow Fairfield Road, Emmitsburg Road and Taneytown Road around Gettysburg through Cumberland Township in Adams County. Then learn how David S. Stoner’s 1852 bridge over Marsh Creek was used by Union and Confederate troops in 1863 and restored after a 1996 flood.

Find Hook Road, Llanwellyn and Mount Lawn Cemetery on this Darby Township map. Then learn how Calcon Hook got its Swedish turkey name, and why a 1691 court had to settle the road to its landing.

How did Muddy Creek get its name? This Cumberland Township map shows Rte 88, Browns Ferry Road and places from Crucible to Ceylon, plus the 1888 story of John Swan’s fall into the creek.

Davidsville was laid out in 1831 and named for the first name of its founder, David Stutzman. Find it on this map of Conemaugh Township, along with Hollsopple, Jerome, Tire Hill and Penn Avenue.

Follow Copenhaffer Road, Butter Road and East Canal Road across Conewago Township in York County. Then read how Michael Quickel sold land for a log church in 1770 and made sure his wife Barbara had a pew for life.

Follow Baltimore Pike from Concordville to Painters Crossroads on this Concord Township map. Then find streets that share names with Concord’s first settlers, and read how Mary Suddery drove off a bear with a fire poker.

Follow Madison Street, West Second Street and Highland Avenue across this City of Chester map. Then read why an 1884 historian didn’t believe the old tale that William Penn renamed Upland on a friend’s whim.

Follow Columbia’s streets from the Susquehanna shore up Locust and Walnut to Lancaster Avenue, then learn how a little stone mill on Shawanese Run ground flour day and night for Braddock’s army in 1755.

Follow Noblestown Road past Rennerdale, Walkers Mill and Ewingsville on this Collier Township map. Then learn how the Walker and Ewing families settled here in the 1770s, and find their names still printed on the roads.

Follow Concord Road past Feltonville and Green Lawn Cemetery on this Chester Township map. Then read the 1725 letter Robert Park sent to his sister in Ireland about fast horses and a schoolteacher uncle.

A map of Clinton Township in Lycoming County, with State Home Road, Saegers and Montgomery, plus the winter of 1787 in Black Hole Valley and the haul of 2,500 shad that fed the settlers.

Follow Old York Road and Church Road across Cheltenham Township, then find Lamott, where more than 10,000 men of the U.S. Colored Troops trained at Camp William Penn from 1863 to 1865.

Brogue got its name from a wooden shoe hung on a tavern as a sign. This map of Chanceford Township in York County shows Brogue, Keys, Brownton, Collinsville, New Bridgeville and Lockport, with shaded hills and red buildings.

Carroll Township in Washington County was first named Knox Township. This map shows Baidland, Hazel Kirk, Wickerham Manor and Sampson, and the article tells the 1814 story of Columbia, a town planned with big lots and wide streets.

How did Bethel Township get its name? This Lebanon County map shows Fredericksburg, Shirksville, Mount Zion and the Blue Mountain ridges. Read the 1756 story of George Miess, a tub of butter and a side of bacon.

Follow Main Street out from the square in Chambersburg to Philadelphia Avenue and Memorial Park. Then learn how Confederate cavalry burned the town in 1864, and find the old jail and Masonic Temple that came through.

Follow Front Street, Race Street and Pine Street through Catasauqua in Lehigh County, then out to Hawktown. Along the way, learn about the Crane Iron Works, whose first furnace opened in 1840, and the man from Wales who built it.

Follow Memorial Boulevard from Prittstown to Coldbrook on this Bullskin Township map. Then learn how a fall from a furnace stack gave Breakneck its name, and the tall tale behind the name Bullskin.

Fountain Springs, Lavelle, Locustdale and Helfenstein on one aerial map of Butler Township in Schuylkill County, plus the 1810 Seitzinger tavern and the tame doe that brought in the venison.

Follow Runville Road from Wingate to Gum Stump, drive Eagle Valley Road to Curtin, and learn how an old-style iron furnace at Curtin kept burning until 1922.

Durham Road and York Road still cross at Centerville in Buckingham Township. Find Lahaska, Holicong, Furlong and Wycombe on this map, and learn about Bogart’s Tavern in the Revolution and the very tall Paul Preston.

Follow Valley Street from Cumbola to Union Street, find Silver Creek and Kaska, and learn how the Valley Furnace near Silver Creek first made iron with anthracite coal in 1836.

Trace West Street Road, Wylie Road and Brintons Bridge Road across Birmingham, then follow the Battle of Brandywine from Osborne’s Hill to Dilworthtown on September 11, 1777.

Follow Hulmeville Road and Bristol Pike across a map of Bensalem Township. Then learn how Eddington, Trevose and Flushing got their names, from a sailor who left his ship to a riding switch that grew into a giant tree.

Follow Georgetown Road from Georgetown to Ninepoints on this Bart Township map. Then learn how waste rock at the Gap mines turned out to be nickel, and why the township is called Bart.

Before it was Ashley, this Luzerne County town was Skunktown, Scrabbletown, Coalville and Hendricksburg. This map shows it block by block, from Manhattan Street down to Preston, with Coalville Street and Planes Avenue still printed.

Follow Old York Road through Abington Township, from Rubicam down to Meetinghouse Road. Then learn about Benjamin Lay, the Quaker who lived in a cave and spoke out against slavery, and whose marker stands at Abington Friends Meeting.

Follow Old Swede Road from Douglassville to Yellow House on this Amity map. Then learn why the Swedes who settled here chose the name Amity, and where Mounce Jones built his stone house in 1716.

Follow West Branch Township from Corbett and Burrows to Germania Road and the Paul Hollow roads. Learn where Kettle Creek starts, and find the spot on Cherry Springs Road where the Ole Bull’s Colony marker stands.

A map of Wharton Township in Potter County, with Hammersley, Logue, Five Points and three state forests. Plus the 1816 settler who came up the First Fork of the Sinnemahoning by canoe, and the fruit ark that went down it every fall.

Follow Fox Hill Road from Brookland to Newfield and Gold on this Ulysses Township map, then learn how Cushingville became Brookland and why grooms once wore Kibbeville leather.

Follow First Fork Road through the steep hills of Sylvania Township in Potter County, and meet Eli Rees and John Glaspy, who came by way of Jersey Shore in 1838 and chopped their way through the woods.

In 1855, Summit Township had 20 taxpayers, among them the Ayers and Nelson families. Today Ayers Hill Road and Nelson Run Road are printed on this map of the Potter County high country, along with Cherry Springs Road, First Fork Road and Borie.

In 1852 the violinist Ole Bull brought three hundred Norwegians and Danes to these hills and started a castle he never finished. This map of Stewardson Township follows Ole Bull Road from Oleona down the valley to Cross Fork.

Follow the roads of Sharon Township from Sharon Center to East Sharon, Honeoye and Millport, then read the 1890 history’s story of settlers who went months without bread.

In 1851 Isaac and Peter North built Pleasant Valley’s first grist mill at the head of Bell’s run. It had one run of stone and mostly crushed corn. This map of the Potter County township runs from Shaytown near the top to Williston on Sartwell Creek Road near the bottom.

Keating Summit was once Seven-mile hollow, then Shingle House, then Forest House. Follow Gardeau Road, Bark Shanty Road and Odin Road on this map of Keating Township in Potter County, Pennsylvania.

Follow Eleven Mile Road from Chrystal to Eleven Mile on this map of Oswayo Township in Potter County. Then learn about Stephen Potter’s toll gate post office, the Dalrymple mills and a bear found by its snore.

An 1890 history said Homer Township looks only one way, southward. This map of the Potter County township shows why, with Inez, Ayers Hill, Dividing Ridge Road and long valleys running south.

In 1849 the only house where Harrison Valley stands was Goodman’s frame house. Out by the Tioga County line, a North Fork peddler made potash and a blacksmith’s wife cooked over a campfire. This Potter County map follows the Main Streets from Mills through Harrison Valley to Elmer.

In 1836, Richard Ellis’s house and grist mill were the only buildings at Ellisburg, where the head streams of the Genesee’s west branch come together. This map of Genesee Township follows Gold Road, Ellisburg Road and Andrew Settlement Road from Kinney to Harmontown.

The coal on Eulalia’s hilltops ran only fourteen inches thick in 1839, and one Potter County oil well was so dry it blew dust in the driller’s face. This map follows East Second Street, Dingman Run Road and the valley down to Olmsted and Mina.

Galeton sits where two streams meet in a wide stretch of blue. This close-up map of the Potter County borough shows Bridge Street, West and East Main Streets, Germania Street and West Hill Cemetery, with each building marked in red.

In 1828 Coudersport had three families, and voters passed their ballots through a window with one pane of glass taken out. This map shows the county seat street by street, from North Main Street and Cartee Street out East Second Street to Lymansville.

The 1890 county history called Allegany “the summit township of Potter,” where the Allegheny, Oswayo and Genesee all begin. This map follows Rose Lake Road and Co Highway 566 through Andrews Settlement, down to Colesburg and over to Raymond.

Follow Parker Hill Road from Loucks Mills to Sunderlinville on this Hector Township map, and read the 1890 history’s account of a signal station built in a tree on a Hector farm in 1884.

In 1826, it’s said, Delila Kibbe taught a small class in a barn and told her mother a fortification was “two twentyfications.” This map follows Cross Road, Bingham Center Road and Northern Potter Road through North Bingham, Bingham Center and West Bingham.

Find Bridge Street, French Creek and the Schuylkill, then learn about the wooden crane still standing inside Phoenixville’s old foundry.

Find Gettysburg’s familiar streets, small alleys and cemetery names, then learn the story of Elizabeth Thorn at Evergreen Cemetery.

Wellsboro became Tioga County’s seat when just one family lived there. Find Morris Lane, Bacon Street and the downtown roads on this map.

Big Spring supplied Bellefonte homes through wooden pipes in 1807. Find the creek and familiar streets on KNOWOL’s Bellefonte map.

Broad and Main lead into Lititz’s smaller streets. God’s Acre, the oldest part of Lititz Moravian Cemetery, was laid out in 1758.

Find Broadway, the streets across the Lehigh and the hills that once gave Mauch Chunk its ‘Switzerland of America’ nickname.

An 1890 history recalls Germania’s first log house and a distant railroad station. The hills on this Abbott map give that account a setting.