Lou’s View

By Lou Bernard

I’ve gotten into this habit over the summer. We get up far too early in the morning, roust the kid out of bed, and my wife takes him to a summer day camp in Woodward Township on her way to work. Then I have all the time in the world to sit down, drink some coffee, and write an article. I try to write at least one thing every day, as long as I have an idea.

If I don’t have an idea, I generally wind up pacing the house, looking over my files, trying to think something up. This happens occasionally, and sometimes I’m even reduced to getting out my contract and re-reading it to panic myself into a topic. As for today….With the kid over in Woodward Township, seems like a good enough time to bring that one out.

Woodward Township dates back to 1841, two years after Clinton County was founded. As some areas were at the time, it was named after a local judge, George Woodward. The property was once included in Dunnstable Township, The county commissioners took Woodward from Dunnstable, which has to annoy the Dunnstable Township people. A few years later in 1844, the commssioners decided to annoy them even more, taking another portion of Dunnstable to add to Woodward. The commissioners enjoyed it so much that they decided to annoy the Colebrook people, too, taking a part of Colebrook to add to Woodward in 1853.

William Dunn was the first settler in Woodward Township, arriving about 1792. According to legend, he purchased the property from the Native Americans for some whiskey, beads, and a rifle. He founded Dunnstown, which was originally called Dunnsburgh.

Dunnstown has the distinction of being the oldest community in Clinton County. It was founded in 1792, which puts it at much older than Lock Haven, Mill Hall, Renovo, and all the others. When Lycoming County was founded in 1795, Dunnstown was suggested as the county seat but rejected because Williamsport was more central. Then in 1839, when Clinton County was founded, John Moorhead suggested Dunnstown as the county seat, but lost out to Jerry Church, who wanted Lock Haven and was more charming. To the best of my knowledge, this makes Dunnstown the only community in Pennsylvania to have lost out as county seat to two different counties.

Woodward Township also holds the Dunnstown Cemetery, which has the distinction of containing the oldest marked grave in Clinton County. William Baird died on September 7, 1792, at age seventy-nine, and was buried in Dunnstown Cemetery. This makes his grave older than any other marked grave in the county—If you find an older one, please let me and the Genealogical Society know.

Clinton County is filled with former small communities that were created once and then last, maybe, a week. At least one of these was in Woodward Township. Halltown was founded in the mid-1800s, but no longer exists, except in Linn’s History, which mentions it. It was founded by Isaac and Felix McCloskey, who bought the land from Peter Grove, Revolutionary War hero, for between two and four dollars an acre. They had a schoolhouse and some homes, but Halltown never seems to have grown into anything major, and the only mention I’ve ever seen of it is in one paragraph in Linn’s History.

Woodward Township is just north of the Susquehanna River, which means if you’re coming from Lock Haven, it can be accessed over either the Jay Street or the Constitution Bridge. I figure my wife probably takes Jay Street, and as I write this, she’s dropped the kid off by now. And here’s my article, which means I’ve done my job for the day.