Beech Creek, PA

Beech Creek is a Clinton County borough in central Pennsylvania, settled in 1812 and incorporated in 1868. The 2020 census counted 736 residents. The borough sits on the northeastern side of Beech Creek, a tributary of Bald Eagle Creek, and the waterway forms the boundary between Clinton and Centre counties. That creek valley once carried lumber and a railroad grade, so the borough’s streets belong to a much older transportation corridor than its size might suggest.

Beech Creek also has an outsized literary connection. Alison Bechdel grew up here, and the borough became the setting for her 2006 graphic memoir Fun Home. The Friendship Community Center gives the town a gathering place, while the borough’s water and sewer authority handles the basic systems that keep a small valley settlement running. Beech Creek is close to larger college and county centers but keeps its own creekside address. Its story comes from the water, the border, the old timber route, and the way one writer turned a small Pennsylvania home town into a place known far beyond Clinton County.