Bald Eagle Valley

Bald Eagle Valley is a low-lying area in Pennsylvania that drains into Bald Eagle Creek between the Allegheny Front and Bald Eagle Mountain, south of the West Branch Susquehanna River, in the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians. The valley is located southwest of West Branch Susquehanna Valley and includes Williamsport, Nittany Valley, and State College in the central portion of Centre County and southern portion of Clinton County.

The valley runs from Port Matilda down to Lock Haven, and it includes most of the Bald Eagle Area School District and Bald Eagle Township. Bald Eagle State Park is in the valley; the park includes the Joseph Foster Sayers Reservoir around Howard, a prominent topographic feature formed by damming Bald Eagle Creek.

The Bald Eagle Valley borders the Nittany Valley to the south, Moshannon Valley and Allegheny Plateau to the northwest, and the West Branch Susquehanna Valley to the northeast.

The valley is named for Chief Woapalanne, also known as Chief Bald Eagle, of the Munsee subtribe of the Lenape.

From southwest to northeast, downstream along Bald Eagle Creek:

In the upper valley, Bald Eagle Creek runs at the foot of the ridge in a narrow floodplain. Long narrow farm fields lie along the river, and along the perpendicular side valleys of the creek's tributaries. Smaller irregular sloped fields also lie on the small hills near the floodplain. Further downstream, the floodplain becomes wider, and larger farm fields are found there. Between the floodplain and the Allegheny Plateau, there are two distinct regions. Nearer the floodplain, there are steeper wooded hills, generally not suitable for farming. Closer to the plateau, there are more gently rolling hills, with fields and pastures mixed with woodlots. Corn, hay, alfalfa, and winter wheat are crops commonly grown in the valley.

U.S. Route 220 Alternate, the main route along the valley, ran along the floodplain, but the main route designation has been relocated to the Nittany Valley north of Port Matilda in conjunction with the ongoing extension of Interstate 99 to Interstate 80. The road north of there is now known as U.S. 220 Alternate. I-80 runs east-west across the valley between Snow Shoe and Bellefonte. U.S. Route 322, Skytop Mountain Road, also crosses the valley through Port Matilda, and across the ridge in a cut at "Skytop". I-99 runs through the upper valley mostly along the ridge, then wraps around Port Matilda to pick up U.S. 322 in a tandem alignment, before crossing the ridge in the now expanded Skytop cut.

The Bald Eagle and Spring Creek Navigation Company began building up the Bald Eagle Valley from Lock Haven in 1834. It reached Howard in 1837, but construction stalled, and it only reached Milesburg in 1847 and Bellefonte in 1848. Initially successful, the canal began to face railroad competition during the Civil War, and was not rebuilt after its destruction by flooding in 1865.