Have you ever noticed people walking, jogging or biking on Creek Road, which intersects with Friedensville Road just west of Hellertown's Water Street Bridge? If you drive this narrow country lane regularly you probably have, and you've probably also worried about not seeing someone walking, jogging or biking as you round a bend--especially in the warmer months, when the shade of many large trees darkens the thoroughfare. There's no question that it's a scenic Saucon Valley byway (albeit in the City of Bethlehem), but Creek Road is far from pedestrian-friendly, and with the attractive, …

Detours are confusing enough without signs that point us in the wrong direction. Which is why, when it comes to this bright orange road construction sign, we're asking "Why is that?" Applebutter Road-bound motorists who exit I-78 at Route 412 in the City of Bethlehem could be misled by the sign, ostensibly installed to help detour them away from the closed entrance to Applebutter Road at Shimersville Road. The scheduled detour in place while the Shimersville Road bridge rehabilitation project is ongoing involves taking Route 412 to Cherry Lane to Easton Road to Lower Saucon Road to the …

Giants have invaded Hellertown. Or so it would seem, based upon the height of this directional sign mounted to a very tall wooden post on Main Street, across the street from Hellertown Borough Hall. Patch wasn't able to measure the height of the wooden post, but it's probably about 10 feet tall and the sign is attached to the very top of it. Perhaps it's been mounted so high to better help tractor-trailer drivers find their way to Seidersville and Center Valley, and out of Hellertown?

Maybe if this sign were in the right spot to begin with, it wouldn't seem so silly that it's upside down. Attached to a metal pole on Route 412, just north of the westbound onramp at the I-78 exit, this official "Borough of Hellertown" metal sign is actually well north of the true municipal boundary, which on the east side of the busy road is further south at Cherry Lane.  On the west side of Route 412 the Bethlehem-Hellertown border is just south of the I-78 overpass, but an identical sign on that side of the road--in front of the Turkey Hill Minit Mart at the corner of Silvex Road and 412--…

It's both a puzzlement and a predicament seemingly worthy of Sherlock Holmes' deductive mind. Well...that might be overstating the importance of this mystery just a tad. But as far as Saucon Valley riddles are concerned, it's significant. Here's the situation... On the east side of Main Street in Hellertown there's a narrow side street named Clark Street. Simple enough, right? Not so fast. On the west side of Main, the same street becomes Clarke Street. For some reason, once Main Street is traversed in a westerly direction, an 'e' is added to the name. To add to the general confusion, if one …