Multi-generational residents live in the farming community of Greenwood
Greenwood offers houses on spacious lots and acres of farmland tucked between rolling hills and rocky creeks. Some properties in this Columbia County township are so big that homeowners can hunt and fly fish in their own backyard. “I know people who live on 1 acre and other people who own like 50 acres,” says Jena Pass, a lifelong Greenwood resident and the township’s treasurer. Greenwood's own shopping and dining scene may be limited to one restaurant and a handful of farmstands, but this quiet environment has kept many of the community’s 1,900 residents around for generations. Pass, for example, lives in a home that’s been in her family since 1940. “Not a lot of people move here because we are fairly secluded,” she says. “When we do get someone new, the whole town knows about them.”
Greenwood has forested lots and farmland
Homes built between the early 1900s and the 2000s dot Greenwood’s winding roads. Colonial Revivals, ranch styles and New Traditional houses are common. Dense oak and pine forests shade some lots, while others are working farms with corn and vegetable crops. Though only eight homes have been sold here within the past five years, the median single-family home price is around $312,000, which is less than the national median. Older fixer-uppers can start at $165,000, while newer homes may reach $670,000.
There’s a go-kart track and a summer camp in Greenwood
Though homeowners often have plenty of land to explore, Greenwood also has a few recreation spaces. Dirt bikers and go-kart drivers loop around the Greenwood Valley Action Track, which hosts amateur races every Saturday between March and October. Camp Victory is a 130-acre property for kids with disabilities and health issues. Several designated hunting grounds are nearby, including the State Game Lands Number 226, about 7 miles west. Deer, wild turkey, and cottontail rabbits live in this 4,335-acre plot of hardwood forest. Locals can also snowmobile, cross-country ski and hike through the area. Ricketts Glen State Park, 20 miles north, has Appalachian Mountain hiking trails leading to waterfalls, lakes and campgrounds. Greenwood’s houses of worship include Emmanuel Baptist Church and Mill-Green United Methodist Church.
The township sometimes deals with heavy rainfall and icy roads
Greenwood experiences a few weather-related issues. Heavy rainfall can cause the area’s creeks to overflow, and homes closest to these waterways may be in flood zones. The community receives 38 inches of snow annually, but does not deice the roads with salt because Greenwood is an Agricultural Security Area, a designation that aims to protect farmland from environmental damage. “All that sodium chloride is bad for our soil and groundwater, so we can’t use it,” Pass says. “We typically just deal with the slick roads, or some people put down sand instead.”
Kids go to school in the Millville Area School District
The Millville Area School District serves Greenwood. Kids can attend Millville Elementary, which Niche gives a B-minus. They may continue to C-plus-rated Millville Junior-Senior High School, located in the same building. The high school offers Career & Technical Education pathways like agriculture, engineering and business. The unrated Greenwood Friends School is a private Quaker institution for prekindergarten through eighth-grade students.
Locals can get produce from farm stands and veggie fairies
Farm stands here typically sell fresh eggs, milk and produce. The community also has “veggie fairies” who randomly drop off onions, carrots and other produce items on people’s doorsteps. “Nobody knows exactly who they are,” Pass says. “But it’s so fun to come home from work and see a huge basket of vegetables outside your house.” Locals can order breakfast staples and subs at The Full Bull Table and Market, the only restaurant in town. A Dollar General and a few coffee shops are in Millville, 3 miles west. Bloomsburg, about 10 miles south, is home to the Geisinger Bloomsburg Hospital and big-box grocery stores like Aldi and Walmart Supercenter.
Drivers may get stuck behind a horse-and-buggy
Greenwood is a car-dependent community with asphalt and gravel roads. The community has a small Amish population, and people traveling by horse-and-buggy often affect traffic. “If you can’t pass the buggies on a narrow road, then a 10-minute drive can take like 20 minutes,” Pass says. State Route 254, locally called Rohrsburg Road, stretches east-west through Columbia County. The highway connects with other state routes and Interstate 81 to reach the Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport, 50 miles east.
