1931 Map of Clearville

About this map

Sideling Hill and the series of northeast-trending ridges create the dominant structural character of this central Pennsylvania landscape, surveyed in 1927. The map documents a rural agrarian and mountain economy before modern highway expansion fully reshaped the region, though the newly established Pennsylvania Turnpike and the Lincoln Highway already cut across the northern terrain near the Raystown Br Juniata River. Family names are deeply etched into the topography at locations like Jackson Mills, Koontzville, and Diehl, while the density of country schoolhouses, such as Barkman Sch and Piney Lick Sch, indicates a decentralized community structure. The southern reaches near Inglesmith and Amaranth are particularly rich in local genealogy markers, featuring several landmark churches like Bethel Ch and cemeteries including Hendershot Cem and McKees Cem, which served the scattered residents of the Brush Creek Valley.