Snake Spring 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 1,830 at the 2020 census.

History

The Defibaugh Tavern, Bridge in Snake Spring Township, and

Juniata Woolen Mill and Newry Manor The Juniata Woolen Mill and Newry Manor, also known as the Lutz Mansion and Woolen Mill, Lux Vista, Lutz Mill, and Lutz Factory, is an historic, American Textile manufacturing, woolen mill building and manor house located in Snake Spring Township, ...

are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

Geography

Snake Spring Township is located in east-central Bedford County, between the boroughs 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 county seat) and Everett. The townships borders follow mountain ridges on three sides:

Tussey Mountain Tussey Mountain is a stratigraphic ridge in central Pennsylvania, United States, trending east of the Bald Eagle, Brush, Dunning and Evitts Mountain ridges. Its southern foot just crosses the Mason–Dixon line near Flintstone, Maryland, run ...

on the east,

Evitts Mountain Evitts Mountain is a stratigraphic ridge in the Ridge and Valley region of the Appalachian Mountains, located in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, and Allegany County, Maryland. Geography The ridge line runs north from Rocky Gap State Park in Mar ...

on the west, and a lower ridge connecting the two in the north. The Raystown Branch of the Juniata River flows west to east through the southern part of the township, cutting

water gap A water gap is a gap that flowing water has carved through a mountain range or mountain ridge and that still carries water today. Such gaps that no longer carry water currents are called wind gaps. Water gaps and wind gaps often offer a prac ...

s through Evitts Mountain (at

The Narrows __NOTOC__ The Narrows is the tidal strait separating the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It connects the Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay and forms the principal channel by which the Hudson Riv ...

) and Tussey Mountain (at Mount Dallas). The

Pennsylvania Turnpike The Pennsylvania Turnpike (Penna Turnpike or PA Turnpike) is a toll highway operated by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A controlled-access highway, it runs for across the state. The turnpike's we ...

(

I-70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of I-695 in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth-longest Interstate in the c ...

and

I-76 Interstate 76 may refer to: Interstate Highways in the United States * Interstate 76 (Colorado–Nebraska) * Interstate 76 (Ohio–New Jersey), running through Pennsylvania Video gaming * ''Interstate '76 ''Interstate '76'' is a vehicular ...

) and the older

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental highway in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 1913 ...

( US-30) follow the river and pass through the water gaps. 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 0.71%, is water.

Adjacent municipalities

* Bedford Township (west) * South Woodbury Township (north) * Hopewell Township (northeast) * West Providence Township (east) * Colerain Township (south)

Geology

Snake Spring valley is an anticlinal valley, with

and

forming the limbs. 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 the ridges and is stratigraphically higher and thus younger 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 valley. The low knobs or "benches" on the northwest side of Tussey Mountain and the southeast side of Evitts Mountain are formed by the

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start ...

Bald Eagle Formation The Ordovician Bald Eagle Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in central Pennsylvania, USA. It is a ridge-forming unit in the Appalachian Mountains. Description The Bald Eagle is defined as a gray to olive-gray and grayish-red, fine to coarse-gra ...

, another sandstone, that is stratigraphically below the Tuscarora. The two mountains nearly converge at the north end of the township. The rock formations in the valley range from Ordovician

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

s and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

s to the

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...

Warrior Formation, another sandstone. The limestones can form

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

s.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

Portions of the

Pennsylvania State Game Lands The Pennsylvania State Game Lands (SGL) are lands managed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) for hunting, trapping, and fishing. These lands, often not usable for farming or development, are donated to the PGC or purchased by the PGC with hun ...

Number 73, Number 97, and

Number 108 108 (one hundred ndeight) is the natural number following 107 and preceding 109. In mathematics 108 is: *an abundant number. *a semiperfect number. *a tetranacci number. *the hyperfactorial of 3 since it is of the form 1^1 \cdot 2^2 \cdot 3 ...

are located in the township.https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/advanced-viewer/ The National Map, retrieved 13 October 2018Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 73
retrieved 13 October 2018Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 97
retrieved 20 October 2018Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 108
retrieved 11 November 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 1,482 people, 552 households, and 432 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 652 housing units at an average density of 25.3/sq mi (9.8/km²). The racial makeup of the township was 98.11%

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 ...

, 0.20%

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 ...

, 0.20% Native American, 0.54%

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 ...

, 0.40% 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 0.54% 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 0.20% of the population. There were 552 households, out of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 70.5% were married couples living together, 5.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.7% were non-families. 18.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 2.82. In the township the population was spread out, with 18.9% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 25.7% from 25 to 44, 26.0% from 45 to 64, and 23.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 93.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.3 males. The median income for a household in the township was $36,389, and the median income for a family was $38,289. Males had a median income of $32,159 versus $17,772 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 $16,801. About 4.4% of families and 6.3% 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 6.3% of those under age 18 and 6.5% of those age 65 or over.

References

{{coord, 39, 58, 42, N, 78, 24, 42, W, type:city_region:US-PA_source:GNIS-enwiki, display=title Populated places established in 1763 Townships in Bedford County, Pennsylvania