Lawrence County, Pa
Name: Quakertown Falls
Class: Falls
Latitude: 41.0222819
Longitude: -80.5097915
USGS GNIS FID: 1201322
Quakertown Falls is located in Lawrence County along side US 224, less than a mile east of the Ohio border. The road crosses the creek upstream of the falls, so the waterfall is not visible from the road, but a short, if steep, walk will take you to the base of the falls. There are no official trails here, but there is a wide shoulder on the north side of the highway where you can park, and it is easy to see the different routes people take down to the falls. You can also easily walk up to the brink of the falls.
I do no know what the name of the stream the falls are on. My guess is that it is called Quakertown Creek. I also do not know how seasonal the creek is. It had a nice steady flow in March 2009. Like most waterfalls, this one is probably best seen in the spring.
There is also an abandoned railroad bridge above the falls, and abandoned tracks on the south side of the road. Maps of the area can be miss leading because they imply that you will cross the tracks just before reaching the falls, but the tracks no longer cross the road.
Source: Quakertown Falls
Page 255
(Bottom of first column)
QUAKERTOWN.
The first settler on the ground where
Quakertown now stands was probably
Septimus Cadwallader, who came from
near Brownsville, Pa., somewhere in the
neighborhood of 1800, possibly not until
1804. He settled on a 400-acre tract, and
built a frame house very near where the
present stone house stands on the old
place, at the foot of the hill, on the bank
of the river. Mr. Cadwallader had worked
at the milling business at his old home, and
when he arrived in Mahoning Township he
built a grist-mill on the Mahoning, a short
distance north of his house. The mill was
a frame structure, and was afterward
moved away from the river and set on the
stream which he called "Falling Spring"
(second column)
run, near the falls now known as Quakertown
Falls. After moving the mill he put
in a carding machine, which he operated
for some time. Mr. Cadwallader, Benjamin
Sharpless and Talbot Townsend, all
three of wliom settled here, were Quakers,
and from this circumstance the place became
known as Quakertown. Mr. Sharpless
came in 1808, and Mr. Townsend probably
shortly before.
John Shearer was also one tif the early
comers, and had a fulling-mill on the brow
of the hill, on the run, and afterwards
moved it to another location a little southeast.
Mr. Cadwallader had a linseed-oil
mill, and some other parties built a gristmill
on the run at the foot of the hill, and
Mr. Cadwallader probably built a saw-mill
also. An old grist-mill is now standing
at the top of the hill, probably built by
Cadwallader and his son-in-law. Sharpless.
It is now abandoned and falling to
pieces, as are all the others. The wheel
in this is twenty-eight feet in diameter. A
mile up the stream one or two other gristmills
and saw-mills were built.
Mr. Cadwallader 's son, Septimus, Jr.,
built a tannery early, and about 1830 another
one was started by Mifflin Cadwallader,
who, after running it a year or two,
took in George W. Jackson, of Pittsburg,
as a partner. These are the only tanneries
ever located in the place. Nothing is now
left of any of the mills or tanneries, except,
in a few instances, old decaying
frames.
A bridge was built across the Mahoning,
nearly opposite the Cadwallader stonehouse,
about 1832, but it had too many
piers, and the ice gorged and carried it
away the next winter.
(End)
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