The Townships

By Christopher Miller

In November of 1924 the Clinton County Times ran a special piece on The Early History of Pine Creek Township.
“Pine Creek is one of the twelve townships into which Clinton county was first divided, and is named from the name of the creek flowing along its eastern border.” I hate to say it, but that is pretty self explanatory, but again – worth noting for those not familiar with the area.

But did you know that it was at one time “supplied with the choicest pine timber, hence the “pine” in “Pine Creek?” And you may also be familiar with the secondary (or primary name, depending who you ask) of Pine Creek. It was called “Tiadaghton” by the Indians.

It was first settled by the Scotch-Irish in 1772 who started off by establishing churches and schools from the very beginning. Now when it comes to schools, this article was not too kind towards the description of the earliest of school masters.

“The school masters of that day were mostly elderly Irishmen, who used the rod lavishly, and still had mischievous scholars.” This reminds me of a story my grandmother used to tell about her days in the one room schoolhouse (she was born in 1918). She said the troublemakers would climb on top of the schoolhouse roof during recess and throw stones at her classmates.

The first church was a framed structure built on the west branch of Pine Creek near the present-day bridge. A clever dispute arose as to the location of the church – those living below the church wanted it to be built closer to them, and those living above the church wanted it to be closest to them. In the night, each party of neighbors moved the timber logs closer to their homes to sway the decision of the carpenter.
Now you may have heard of the tale of the Tiadaghton Declaration of Independence. If you haven’t, you’re in for a treat.

A remarkable occurrence happened here in 1776 when independence was thought and talked of long before July 4. This is not the unusual part since independence-talks were discussed in many locales prior to the revolution.

The unique part about THIS independence talk was that the men of Pine Creek and vicinity met on the plans of Pine Creek township, formally declared themselves independent of Great Britain and drafted their own Declaration of Independence…on July 4, 1776.

In 1778 the Pine Creek valley was at the forefront of The Big Runaway, where the settlers were surrounded by Indians and prepared to abandon their settlements down the Susquehanna River. Though some succumbed to their wounds when attacked by natives, most were able to escape and fled to Fort Augusta at Northumberland.

Notable villages or towns within Pine Creek Township are South Avis, Charlton and Richville (Woolrich). What is interesting to note about Woolrich, aside from the woolen mill by the same name, is that, “from its birth, Woolrich has been a model village, only two of the inhabitants living there in 1875 chewing tobacco or using liquor.”

The book Historical View of Clinton County reports that the local places of business in the late 1800s were that of grocer, blacksmith, wagon maker, shoemakers, undertaker and cabinetmaker, carpenter, tailor, postmaster, Justice of the Peace, minister, and woolen mill.

Fast-forwarding to 2022, Pine Creek Township is a thriving locality within Clinton County with a 2010 population of about 3,200 souls. The population is fairly spread out in age with less than 25% of people under the age of 18, 27% between 18 and 24, and 27% between ages 25 to 44.

Pine Creek Township is a “border township” straddling the border between Lycoming and Clinton Counties. Pine Creek and its gorge are a very popular outdoor recreation destination known as the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. This creek runs from the Susquehanna River in Clinton/Lycoming Counties north to Ulysses, PA in Potter County for an official length of 87.2 miles.