Coffee Run

WPC Ecologist Robert Coxe has put together a series exploring the life, history and future of watersheds in Lawrence County. Today, Robert pours over information on Coffee Run, which is the fifth in a series of six reports.

Coffee Run, located in north western Lawrence County, derived its name because coffee was the beverage of choice for its early settlers (Hazen 1908). The run drains 10.6 square miles through Pulaski and Mahoning Townships. Located in the headwaters of the run are two sites recognized in the Lawrence County Natural Heritage Inventory:

• Upper Coffee Run Biological Diverstity Area (BDA) - a state rare plant: stiff cowbane (Oxypolis rigidior)
• Maryvale Swamp BDA - a buttonbush wetland, and a bottomland oak-mixed hardwoods swamp

Both are found in Pulaski Township. From its headwaters, Coffee Run flows south to the Mahoning River just downstream of the Pennsylvania state line. Near its confluence, the run flows through the eastern part of Soap City Slopes BDA, another site recognized in the inventory as an important large forested area. Pictured today is Coffee Run about ½ mile upstream of where it blends with the Mahoning River.

Reference: Hazen, Hon. Aaron L. 1908. 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens . Chicago, Ill: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company.

Photo by Robert Coxe.

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