Parryville, PA

Parryville is a borough in southern Carbon County, Pennsylvania, at Pohopoco Creek just north of its confluence with the Lehigh River. It sits off Route 248 between Bowmanstown and Palmerton, about six miles south of Jim Thorpe. Settlement began in 1780, when Peter Frantz arrived, followed by Leonard Beltz and Frederick Scheckler in 1781. Beltz and Scheckler built a stone gristmill beside Pohopoco Creek, tying the early settlement to waterpower and the river valley.

Transportation gave Parryville a larger regional role. In 1836, the Beaver Meadow Railroad and Coal Company installed a line that made the borough a terminus and shipping point. Coal from the Black Creek and Lehigh River valleys could be moved to canal boats, while later railroad lines and the Carbon Iron Company added new traffic along the river. Pohopoco Creek still meets the Lehigh beside the borough, and Route 248 keeps Parryville connected to the surrounding Carbon County towns. The place remains compact, but its map carries the old industrial pattern clearly: a gristmill creek, a navigable river, a railroad terminus, and coal moving through the valley.