Rabbit Rank Leak, named after one of his novels, receives a sign

Named after one of Berks County’s most famous native people, the little stream now has official signs.

This week, Kenhorst workers put up a rabbit sign in a stream starting in Sillington, the hometown of famous writer John Updike. The stream crosses Kamlou Township, crosses Kenhorst and empties into Angelica Creek.

This stream was named Rabbit Run a few years ago as part of the Earth Day contest. It is also the title of the novel that launched the career of Updike, who won the Pulitzer Prize twice. A person who worked as a copier Reading eagle..

Updike, a 20th-century novelist, poet, and essayist, lived in his hometown along Philadelphia Avenue from 1932 to 1945, when he and his family moved to Proville. Updike’s education in the reading suburbs influenced many of his writings, including the novel “Rabbit, Orchid” and its sequels.

The rabbit was the main character. Updike died in 2009.

Updike Society president James Plus said he thought the creek’s new name might be of interest to pilgrims on the Updike Trail.

Many are expected to visit Burkes next month when a historic panel is dedicated to his childhood home and the biennial Updike conference takes place. The two-day meeting was held at Alvernia University and Governor Mifflin High School.

The conference will also include a walking tour of the Syrington Updike site and a local bus tour. Stop at the Pagoda, Robeson Evangelical Lutheran Church and Cemetery, Weaver Orchard, and visit the farms of Proville.

“Updike wasn’t necessarily an environmental writer, but he loved Berks County so much that everyone could love the place,” Plus said in a press release.

Updike’s first four novels are set in Berks County, and all of the award-winning fictions feature Pennsylvania landscapes.

According to Mr. Plus, members of society far from Japan, Brazil, Serbia and France who come to Reading to dedicate the House of Updike will also want to see the Rabbit sign, Run.

“It’s a fun name for a serious project,” Plath said, adding that the company was prepared to pay for the sign as a sign of their support.

John Updike Childhood Home will host the Pennsylvania History Museum Committee Markers Dedication Ceremony at 1:00 p.m. on October 2. The site’s National Register of Historic Places plaque will also be unveiled at the house at 117 Philadelphia Avenue.

The Mifflin School District donated Updike related items that will be on display as people I will be visiting the house for the first time. Mifflin also offers meeting space for the morning academic sessions and afternoon panels of the October 2 meeting.

How did it happen

The idea for the creek’s name arose out of a conversation between a founding member of the new Angelica Creek Basin association and Jennifer Stinson, a biology teacher at Mifflin High School who was an educational advisor at the Student Environment Club. ..

After choosing the name Rabbit Run, the Basin Association had to obtain permits and letters of support from the three municipalities involved to officially name it.

The association also requested and received a similar letter of support from the Burks Planning Commission. All documents were submitted to the United States Board on Geographical Names, the office of the US Geographical Survey Institute, which approved the name in May 2018.

Berks Nature’s program, the Basin Association, removed more than 120 tires and a large amount of debris from the creek edge. The named streams can make a difference even in small tributaries such as the Rabbit Run, according to environmental experts.

“We are very excited about the sign on New Holland Road,” Zirkemp, president of the Basin Association, said in a press release. “Rabbit Run is a really special stream, and many don’t even know it’s there. But with these signs, it’s hard to miss.