Shamokin Dam, PA

Shamokin Dam is a Snyder County borough on the west bank of the Susquehanna, just south of the confluence of the river's West and North Branches. Its name comes from a nineteenth-century dam that supported steamboat ferries to Sunbury, and the crossing tied the two riverbanks together before the Bainbridge Street Bridge opened in 1907. U.S. Routes 11 and 15 now carry regional traffic through the borough, with Norfolk Southern tracks running between Old Trail Road and the river. Seasonal flooding shapes the lowlands beside the rail line.

River access is built into local recreation. Weller Field has ballfields, playground equipment, restrooms, a fenced dog park, benches, and a wooded walking trail; Fabridam Park at Adam T. Bower Memorial Dam provides shoreline access for kayaking, canoeing, and fishing. The borough's municipal building and police department sit near Routes 11 and 15 and the Susquehanna, alongside water and sewer services and a volunteer fire company that handles river and water-rescue calls. Shamokin Dam is a river borough where a regional highway, a railroad, and parks occupy the same narrow strip between Sunbury and residential streets.