Octoraro Creek - Main Branch Octoraro Creek

Main Branch Octoraro Creek

The dam that forms Octoraro Lake is on the main branch, just below the East and West Branch confluence, in Pine Grove. Below the dam is a filtration plant belonging to the Chester Water Authority. The main branch passes under Pine Grove Covered Bridge (Forge Road) before continuing generally southwestward. The creek passes under PA Route 272 at Kirks Bridge, less than three miles west of Nottingham. As the creek nears the Pennsylvania - Maryland border it goes through a series of alternating loops. The final horseshoe-like loop, where the creek first crosses the border, gives the name to the Boy Scouts of America's Horseshoe Scout Reservation and the Chester County Council's Order of the Arrow Lodge. The west-bound portion of that loop passes over Grays Hollow Ford, now replaced by an Army Corps of Engineers bridge. At this point the contrast of the BSA wilderness camp on the left bank with the active gravel mine on the right is apparent. The horseshoe loops back to the east, then briefly north up into Pennsylvania, all within the Reservation, before it swings back south into Maryland for good. The Scout Reservation contains the original Mason-Dixon Line mile-19 stone monument, along with the remains of a former grist mill along the old camp road.