Bedford Township is a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

in Bedford County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, United States. The population was 5,161 at the 2020 census.

History

The Bedford Village Archeological Site is located in northern Bedford Township, north of the borough of

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

. The site of a village of the

Monongahela tribe The Monongahela culture were an Iroquoian Native American cultural manifestation of Late Woodland peoples from AD 1050 to 1635 in present-day western Pennsylvania, western Maryland, eastern Ohio, and West Virginia. The culture was named by Mary ...

, it is currently occupied by Old Bedford Village, a

living history museum A living museum, also known as a living history museum, is a type of museum which recreates historical settings to simulate a past time period, providing visitors with an experiential interpretation of history. It is a type of museum that recre ...

Geography

Bedford Township is located in the center of Bedford County and surrounds the borough of Bedford. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the township has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.34%, is water.

Adjacent municipalities

* Harrison Township (southwest) * Napier Township (west) * East Saint Clair Township (northwest) * South Woodbury Township (north) * Snake Spring Township (east) * Colerain Township (southeast) * Cumberland Valley Township (south) *

Borough of Bedford The Borough of Bedford is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its council is based in Bedford, its namesake and principal settlement, which is the county town of Bedfordshire. The bor ...

(surrounded)

Geology

Bedford valley is a synclinal valley, with

Evitts Mountain Evitts Mountain is a stratigraphic ridge in the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, Ridge and Valley region of the Appalachian Mountains, located in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, and Allegany County, Maryland, Allegany Cou ...

forming the eastern limb and

Wills Mountain Wills Mountain is a quartzite-capped ridge in the Ridge and Valley physiographic province of the Appalachian Mountains in Pennsylvania and Maryland, United States, extending from near Bedford, Pennsylvania, to near Cumberland, Maryland. It is the ...

forming a part of the western limb. The northern end of Wills Mountain is known as

Kinton Knob Kinton Knob is a peak that is located in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Geography Kinton Knob marks the north end of Wills Mountain where it abruptly ends just southwest of the town of Bedford. The mountain has an array of communication towe ...

and is the crest of a plunging

anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the ...

. The

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...

Tuscarora Formation The Silurian Tuscarora Formation — also known as Tuscarora Sandstone or Tuscarora Quartzite — is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, USA. Description The Tuscarora is a thin- to thick-bedded fine-gr ...

, a hard

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

, outcrops at the crests of these ridges and is

stratigraphically Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithostrati ...

lower and thus older than the rest of the

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...

in the township. The overlying formations are either Silurian or

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

in age, and include (in ascending order) the

Clinton Group The Clinton Group (also referred to as the Clinton Formation or the Clinton Shale) is a mapped unit of sedimentary rock found throughout eastern North America. The interval was first defined by the geologist Lardner Vanuxem, who derived the name f ...

, the

Bloomsburg Formation The Silurian Bloomsburg Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Maryland. It is named for the town of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania in which it was first described. The Bloomsburg marked the first occurrence of re ...

, the

Mifflintown Formation The Mifflintown Formation is a geologic formation in Maryland. It preserves fossils dating back to the Silurian period. See also * List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Maryland * Paleontology in Maryland The location of the state of M ...

, the

Wills Creek Formation Wills Creek Formation is a mapped Silurian bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Description The Wills Creek is defined as a moderately well bedded greenish-gray shale containing local limestone and sandstone zon ...

, the

Tonoloway Formation The Late Silurian Tonoloway Formation is a mapped limestone bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. The Tonoloway is roughly equivalent to the Salina group that is found to the north and west. Description The basal ...

, the

Keyser Formation The Late Silurian to Early Devonian Keyser Formation is a mapped limestone bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Description The Keyser is a nodular limestone overlain by thick- and thin-bedded limestone and lamina ...

, the

Old Port Formation The Devonian Old Port Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, USA. Details of the type section and of stratigraphic nomenclature for this unit as used by the U.S. Geological Survey are available on-line at the National Geologic Map Da ...

, the

Onondaga Formation The Onondaga Limestone is a group of hard limestones and dolomites of Devonian age that form an important geographic feature in some areas in which it outcrops; in others, especially its Southern Ontario portion, the formation can be less promine ...

, and the

Hamilton Group The Hamilton Group is a Devonian-age geological group in the Appalachian region of the United States. It is present in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, northwestern Virginia and Ontario, Canada. It is mainly composed of mar ...

, which is composed of the

Marcellus Shale Marcellus may refer to: * Marcellus (name) * Marcus Claudius Marcellus, Roman commander Places * Marcellus, Lot-et-Garonne, France * Marcellus Township, Michigan ** Marcellus, Michigan, a village in Marcellus Township ** Marcellus Community Sch ...

and the

Mahantango Formation The Devonian Mahantango Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland. It is named for the North branch of the Mahantango Creek in Perry and Juniata counties in Pennsylvania. It is a member of the Hamilton Group, ...

. The Ridgeley Member of the Old Port Formation, another sandstone and

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** Co ...

, forms the low ridge in the center of the township south of the town of Bedford, as well as Stiffler Ridge in Dunning Cove. Dunning Cove itself is a

structural basin A structural basin is a large-scale structural formation of rock strata formed by tectonic warping of previously flat-lying strata. They are geological depressions, the inverse of domes. Elongated structural basins are also known as synclines. ...

.Berg, T.M., Edmunds, W.E., Geyer, A.R. and others, compilers, (1980). Geologic Map of Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geologic Survey, Map 1, scale 1:250,000.

Recreation

A portion of the

Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 48 The Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 48 are Pennsylvania State Game Lands in Bedford County in Pennsylvania in the United States providing hunting, bird watching, and other activities. Geography SGL 48 consists of two parcels located in Bedf ...

is located in the township.https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/advanced-viewer/ The National Map, retrieved 3 October 2018Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 48
retrieved 6 October 2018

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2000, there were 5,417 people, 2,144 households, and 1,560 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 2,403 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 97.14%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 1.33%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.06% Native American, 0.48%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.24% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 0.76% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 0.59% of the population. There were 2,144 households, out of which 28.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.8% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 7.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.2% were non-families. 23.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.86. In the township the population was spread out, with 21.3% under the age of 18, 6.3% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 20.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.9 males. The median income for a household in the township was $36,395, and the median income for a family was $43,235. Males had a median income of $28,833 versus $21,177 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the township was $18,676. About 5.3% of families and 6.5% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 6.8% of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

Bedford Township official website
{{Coord, 40, 00, 02, N, 78, 32, 29, W, type:city_region:US-PA_source:GNIS-enwiki, display=title Populated places established in 1761 Townships in Bedford County, Pennsylvania Townships in Pennsylvania