Location(s)

Potter Township, the oldest in Centre County, PA was first settled in 1767 and incorporated by Northumberland County in 1774. It was named for General James Potter of Revolutionary War fame, who first saw his Penns Valley "empire" in 1765 from atop Nittany Mountain at the crest between Pleasant Gap and Centre Hall. In the early 1770s he returned to the site of his explorations, began to acquire land, and built a home. He erected a stockade around his house and a nearby spring at Old Fort, making it the anchor of a chain of three forts at the foot of Nittany Mountain for defense against Indians. In the 1780s he built a log house, tavern, grist mill, and saw mill at what became known as Potter's Mills, at the northern end of the gap through the Seven Mountains along the early road that connected Bellefonte and Lewistown.

Information and text courtesy of The Centre County Historical Society
www.centrecountyhistory.org/

Visit Potter Township Here 
www.pottertownship.org/