Take exit 147 from I-80. Travel north to Sycamore Street [PA 144] and turn left onto Sycamore Road. Turn right [NE] onto Fourth Street [which becomes Clarence Road] and go through Snow Shoe, traveling a total of 2.5 miles. Turn right onto St Michael's Lane. This road ends in the cemetery at the Legion.
N41 degrees 03.294' and W77 degrees 56.870'

History:
The Slovak Catholics who settled in Clarence had a desire to worship in a church of their own rather than traveling to Snow Shoe for Mass. Therefore, in 1895 they sent a committee to the Bishop of the Harrisburg Diocese requesting the erection of the own church. They were refused. Andrew M. Kachik, Andrew Tobias, Andrew Slasek, Michael Tribusky, and William Takash were members of this committee.

The Slovaks hoped that if they paid for the building themselves, the Bishop would approve of their plan. In 1898, after collection donations, they once more traveled to Harrisburg to petition the Bishop. This time, the plan was approved.

There were no formal plans drawn up for the church. The committee drew up the plans and it was constructed entirely by local tradesmen. The first Mass was said in the church on St Michael's Day in 1900. In 1901 the church became part of the Altoona Diocese, and Father Zarek was appointed to its pastorate until 1905. Subsequent pastors were; Father Frankovsky 1905-1907; Father Corcoran, 1907-1911; Father Joseph Novak 1911-1921; Father John Palfy 1921-1962; Father William Kovach 1963-____. Father Novak oversaw the construction of the present rectory in 1912, and the church underwent many renovations between 1924 and 1959. Beginning in the late 1950s the sermons were preached in English rather than the native Slovak. However, they are still occasionally in Slovak for the "old timers." The cemetery was begun by St Michael's parishioners about 1900.

St Michael's Tombstone Inscriptions:
Many stones in this cemetery are in Slovak, Polish, Hungarian and Latin, with overtones of Czech and English. Some stones are a mixture of these languages. Where there was confusion on the meaning of the text on the marker, the cemetery committee asked for translations. Some markers were in the language of those. Mrs Spangler (1871-1964) local historian, did not inventory this cemetery as she did most of the other cemeteries in Centre County. This reading was done in October 2004.

Source:
"The Cemeteries of Burnside and Snow Shoe Townships Centre County, Pennsylvania" printed in 2007 by the Centre County Genealogy Society. pages 69-71