Shinglehouse, PA

Shinglehouse is a borough in Potter County, Pennsylvania, in a valley where the Oswayo River and Honeoye Creek meet. The name comes from a small log cabin built north of the present borough in 1806 by M. Generet, a Frenchman. The cabin was covered with handmade wooden shingles and became the landmark that gave the settlement its name. The community was first called Five Mile Corners, became a borough in 1902, and combined Shingle House into one word in 1906.

The river valley keeps Shinglehouse connected to the northwestern corner of Potter County, with roads following the streams toward McKean County and the borough's schools serving the surrounding country. Oswayo Valley Elementary and Middle-High School gives the area a local center, while the covered bridge and wooded hills add to the old valley-road feel. Shinglehouse is the only community bearing its name, and the reason is wonderfully literal: a hand-shingled cabin near the original town site became the signpost for an entire borough.