Images by Stanley Kemp.
It’s only a tiny stream that begins in Shillington, cuts through Cumru Township, then continues through adjacent Kenhorst. There it empties into the Angelica Creek. But that tiny stream now has a name and soon signs installed that local environmentalists hope will discourage people from dumping trash there: Rabbit Run.
If the name sounds familiar, it’s also the title of a novel that launched the career of John Updike, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and one of Berks County’s most famous former residents. The name was chosen from 20 submissions suggested as part of an Earth Day contest for students in Conrad Weiser School District, and the signs were erected with some fanfare on Wednesday, September 22 by Kenhorst Borough Public Works employees.
The original idea to name the tiny stream was born in 2016 through conversations between the newly formed Angelica Creek Watershed Association’s founding members and Governor Mifflin High School biology teacher Jennifer Stinson, who was faculty advisor to a student environmental club.
The ACWA is a program of Berks Nature, a non-profit organization devoted to land preservation, water protection, community gardens, education programs, and partnerships that connect people to nature and maintain the natural beauty of Berks County. The ACWA, which has removed over 120 tires and tons of trash from the creek’s edge, has found that naming creeks can make a difference—even with tiny watershed runs like this one that begins in Shillington Park, goes behind Governor Mifflin Intermediate School and Kenhorst Plaza, and crosses under New Holland Road to continue to join Angelica Creek at the Grill border.
“We are so excited about the signage being placed on New Holland Road,” Jill Kemp, president of the ACWA, proclaimed. “Rabbit Run is a really special stream, and many people don’t even know it’s there. But with these signs it’ll be hard to miss!” 
Once the name “Rabbit Run” was selected, to get it officially named by the U.S. Government the ACWA had to obtain permission and support letters from the three municipalities involved. The association also sought and received a similar letter of support from the Berks Planning Commission. All this documentation was submitted to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names, an office in the U.S. Geological Survey, which approved the naming in May 2018.
The erected signs come within just ten days of more Updike-related signage. The John Updike Childhood Home will host a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Marker Dedication Ceremony at 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 2. At that event, a National Registry of Historic Places plaque also will be unveiled at the house on 117 Philadelphia Ave. in Shillington.
Updike Society president James Plath said he thought the new creek name might even interest pilgrims on the Updike trail. “Updike wasn’t necessarily an environmental writer, but he loved Berks County as much as anyone can love a place,” he said. Updike’s first four novels were set in Berks County, and all his award-winning fiction has a Pennsylvania landscape. Plath said society members from as far away as Japan, Brazil, Serbia, and France who come to Reading for the Updike house dedication will want to see the Rabbit Run signage as well, and maybe pose by it for a photo. “It’s a fun name for a serious project,” Plath said, adding that the society is happy to pay for the signs as a show of its support.
