If you grew up in Heckscherville, Forestville, Primrose or Pine Hill, this map puts your village and its hills on one sheet. It's a modern aerial view of Cass Township in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, made from modern data and given a vintage look. You can see long wooded ridges, blue ponds in the low spots and red buildings along Sunbury Road. Up top, the big buildings on Keystone Boulevard stand out on the hillside.
Sunbury Road, Heckscherville and the Villages of Cass
On this map you'll find Sunbury Road, Keystone Boulevard, Heckscherville, Coal Castle, Forestville, Primrose, Pine Hill, Jonestown, Duncott, the Cass Township Municipal Building, High Ridge Park Road, Thomaston Road, Schaeffer Hill Road, Church Road, and more. Each red shape is a building, so zoom in on the preview and look for yours.
The old sawmills at Forestville, Coal Castle and Heckscherville
Coal is the story of Cass. The History of Schuylkill County says coal work began to draw businessmen to the south part of the township in 1830. Before then, only a few families lived between Forestville and Minersville. The villages each had an old sawmill. At Forestville, an old house and an old mill sat empty, and no one could say who built them. Robert Patton fixed that mill up around 1840 and ran it for a few years. At Coal Castle, Lewis C. Dougherty repaired an old saw-mill and ran it. At Heckscherville, George and William Payne fixed up another mill. They cut lumber for work around their collieries. As mining took the place of farming, the land passed to newcomers. Look for Coal Castle and Heckscherville near High Ridge Park Road.
Bear hunts and the first settler on Primrose Hill
The same book says Cass was formed from Branch Township in 1848. It calls the land rough and uneven, with Sharp and Broad mountains crowding in. A Mr. Alspach is named as the first settler. He cleared land on top of Primrose hill, between Minersville and Forestville. Bears and wolves raided pig pens and sheep folds so often that people for miles around joined in hunts. By 1880, Cass had 3,061 people. Today, Primrose sits just off Sunbury Road, with the ridges still rising between the villages.
Heckscherville and Primrose on your wall
Created by KNOWOL in 2026, this print shows Cass in soft greens, with shaded ridges, blue ponds and creeks, and buildings in red. The title panel reads Aerial View of Cass, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, with 40°42' North 76°15' West printed beneath it.
It fits a living room, a den or an office wall. It's a good gift for a family with roots in Heckscherville, or for someone who moved away from Forestville and still talks about it. Open the preview and find your own street. See sizes and frames for the Cass, Schuylkill County map.
