Wakefield, PA

Wakefield is an unincorporated community and census-designated place within Fulton Township in southern Lancaster County. The 2010 census counted 609 residents. It is the largest community in the Peach Bottom ZIP code, with the area post office on PA 272 just north of town. The CDP includes Wakefield proper and Penn Hill, and its ridge drains west toward Puddle Duck Creek and Peters Creek and east toward Conowingo Creek. Roads do most of the connecting: US 222 runs north to Lancaster and south toward Maryland, while PA 272 heads toward the river country.

Conowingo Dam and the Susquehanna are the big geographic reference points. The old Peach Bottom landscape changed when the dam submerged earlier settlements and pushed the road and rail routes higher on the hillside. Today, Fulton Township offices, the Robert Fulton Fire Company, and volunteer Wakefield EMS serve a spread-out community of farms, crossroads, and small neighborhoods. The result is a place that feels tied to both Lancaster County and the Susquehanna corridor, with the post office, fire company, and highways doing the everyday work of holding the area together.