Bernville, PA

Bernville is a Berks County borough at the meeting of Northkill Creek and the Tulpehocken, with Pennsylvania Route 183 running along its southwest side. Before the borough, the valley was Lenape country; in 1723, thirty-three Palatine families arrived from Schoharie, and the Umbenhauer family later laid out the town lots that became Bernville. The name honors Bern, Switzerland, where Stephanus Umbenhauer was born. Main Street, the creek, and the surrounding Penn Township roads make the place easy to read on a map.

The town got a real boost from water transport. Union Canal lock 36 sat near the Northkill-Tulpehocken confluence, and Bernville became a canal port with mills, a lime kiln, and a tannery before the canal closed in 1884. Today Northkill Creek feeds Blue Marsh Lake, so the same water corridor links Bernville to flood control, trails, boating, and fishing. Umbenhauer Park supplies baseball, a tot-lot, and a pavilion; Stanton Clay Park adds a gazebo and field. Bernville is a borough where canals have disappeared, but the creeks still do the orienting.