I Love this P l ace
BROCK, PA
by Colleen Nelson
Students attending the Joint School in Brock in 1915.
F
inding lost towns to write about is fun - get a map of Greene County and look for interesting names in bold letters scattered on the back roads from the Mon River to every part of this western corner of the state. I admit I chose Brock this month because it is on Rudolph Run and with Christmas just around the corner it made me laugh. Could this be the forgotten valley where Santa keeps his reindeer during the offseason? A quick look in the phone book lists some Rudolphs who still live in the county, so Santa is off the hook. Creeks were sometimes named after those who first explored the hills and valleys and towns tend to bear the names of a first settler. In the 1840s census for Perry and Wayne townships, Richard O. Brock heads the list and members of his family are on record as attending Valley Chapel Church of Brock since its earliest days. Thanks to Alvah John Washington Headlee (19024
1990) who was born on Rudolph Run and went on to be a teacher, chemical engineer, consultant to the gas and oil industry and later in life a dedicated historian and family genealogist, this story has some great historical facts to pass on about early days in the land along Dunkard Creek where the Mason Dixon Line was drawn in 1767. In Alvah’s book “Valley Chapel - a United Methodist Church” he notes that settlements where Rudolph, Hacklebander and Shannon Runs follow the valleys to Dunkard Creek near Blacksville “began immediately after the running of the Mason Dixon Line between Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania.” The 25-foot wide “visto” cut by the survey party ended on Browns Hill and it took 115 men to axe it. “On their return home eastward they spread stories of Dunkard Valley which was still virgin forest and settlement began immediately as settlers followed the Mason-Dixon visto.” They began arriving in
1770 and some of the farms on Rudolph Run were patented as early as 1773. Straddling the creek between Perry and Wayne townships, Brock was born to serve the community with a grist and saw mill, blacksmith shops, a couple of general stores and by 1838, a Methodist church. Brock began getting its mail from Spraggs in 1852 and by 1873 had its own post office in a small addition to the left side of Minor Stephens General Store. Its first and second postmasters were Daniel S. and John A. Brock. The post office closed in 1919 and all mail went to Spraggs, but a handful of postcards survived that are postmarked Brock, each a quaint glimpse into those first years of 20th century living. Getting to Brock means leaving the main roads behind and jumping back a few centuries to a time when isolated crossroad towns were bustling community hubs. GreeneScene Magazine •
HOLIDAY #1 - Mid November 2018
