Directions:

From the intersection of U. S. Business Route 322 (S. Atherton St.) and State Route 26 in State College (Beaver Ave.) follow Route 322 East 1.5 miles to the intersection with Branch Road (State Legislative Route 14019). Turn left on Branch Road. Follow Branch Road approximately 0.75 miles to Country Club Road on your left. (This is the public road that leads past the driveway to the clubhouse.) Turn left and you will see Spring Creek Cemetery on your right.

Spring Creek Cemetery History:

The history of Spring Creek Cemetery is written hand in hand with the history of Spring Creek Presbyterian Church which is now located in the heart of Lemont. The church itself was organized in 1775 and the first pastor called was Reverend William Stuart. Originally the house of worship was located near the headwaters of Cedar Creek.

By 1789, David Whitehill had settled near the end of Nittany Mountain, soon afterward he donated a site for a presbyterian church and burial ground. A church was erected on that site in 1794 on the north side of the present cemetery. A fire destroyed the edifice, which had been expanded and remodeled in 1902 and 1832 on 18 April 1847. Efforts to rebuild the structure were snagged by a suggested change of location to a site near Boalsburg. Resolution of the controversy was reached when the decision was made to build two churches, one at Boalsburg and one at the original site.

The church at the new site in Boalsburg never materialized. All that remains of that proposed church are a few burials. That cemetery is known as the Old Stanford Cemetery. It is located in Harris Township on a farm owned by Galen Dreibebis in 1989.

From the site near the cemetery, the church moved its building when a new structure was erected in the 1870s, that is the present building in the town of Lemont.

A permanent endowment was established for maintaining the cemetery on 23 August 1923 by the cemetery trustees: Elmer C Ross, George Mitchell, and Samuel Glenn.

Of interest to many visitors to the area are the monuments to several prominent Centre Countians: Moses Thompson and his wife Mary Irvin Thompson and many of their descendants, like Boals, many Dales, John Henry Frizzell, chaplain at Penn State for many years, Glenns, Greggs, and Hartswicks.

If, perhaps, you are unfamiliar with the name given this cemetery it may be of some comfort that throughout its history several "nicknames" have been given to it. References have been found under the following names: Spring Creek, Slab Cabin, and Branch Cemetery.

Source:

The Cemeteries of College Township Vol. 1, Centre County, PA printed in 2003 and published by Centre County Genealogical Society. pages 38-39