Fredericktown is a historic unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 at the confluence

Confluence

Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...

 of the north and middle forks of Little Beaver Creek

Little Beaver Creek

The Little Beaver Creek is a wild and scenic area in Ohio. The Little Beaver Creek watershed is located primarily in Columbiana County in northeast Ohio, and in portions of Carroll County, Mahoning County, and western Pennsylvania, draining approximately 605 mi² , of which 503 mi² are in Ohio...

 in northeastern St. Clair Township

St. Clair Township, Columbiana County, Ohio

St. Clair Township is one of the eighteen townships of Columbiana County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 7,961 people in the township.-Geography:Located in the southeastern part of the county, it borders the following townships and borough:...

, Columbiana County

Columbiana County, Ohio

Columbiana County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of 2010, the population was 107,841. It is named for Christopher Columbus and the county seat is Lisbon....

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It lies about six miles north of nearby East Liverpool

East Liverpool, Ohio

As of the census of 2000, there were 13,089 people, 5,261 households, and 3,424 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,010.3 people per square mile . There were 5,743 housing units at an average density of 1,320.8 per square mile...

 and about 50 miles west of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. It is known for its numerous historic buildings and its abundant natural beauty.

Beginnings

Given its physical location at the confluence of a river system, the area was looked on as a place of holy or mystical significance to Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 tribe

Tribe

A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...

s in the area. The Delaware

Lenape

The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...

, Wyandot and Seneca

Seneca nation

The Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America. They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League in New York before the American Revolution. While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to 25,000 Seneca live in...

 tribes all roamed the area at one time, and all variously claimed tribal ownership of the land.

The first known white settler was one Timothy Sheerer, who built a log cabin

Log cabin

A log cabin is a house built from logs. It is a fairly simple type of log house. A distinction should be drawn between the traditional meanings of "log cabin" and "log house." Historically most "Log cabins" were a simple one- or 1½-story structures, somewhat impermanent, and less finished or less...

 in the area sometime before 1795.

Pennsylvania native George Frederick (1775–1840) married Barbara Smith (1778–1866) and moved to Columbiana County in 1801. There they reared nine children. Frederick, interested in becoming a miller

Miller

A miller usually refers to a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a cereal crop to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents in other languages around the world...

, bought the former Jackman gristmill and sawmill alongside the banks of the north fork of Little Beaver Creek. The town is named for George Frederick.

Early families

In addition to George Frederick and his family, other families who have dwelt in the area for close to two centuries include the Culbertson, Dailey, Gaston, Green, Hambleton, Hamilton, Jackman, Stockdale and Vodrey families.

Historic buildings

Despite its tiny size, Fredericktown boasts a wealth of historic buildings. These include an unusual octagonal building which was used variously over the years as a general store

General store

A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...

, a school and the village post office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

; two churches (one of which was deconsecrated and is now privately owned); several private homes constructed of locally-quarried sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

; several log cabin

Log cabin

A log cabin is a house built from logs. It is a fairly simple type of log house. A distinction should be drawn between the traditional meanings of "log cabin" and "log house." Historically most "Log cabins" were a simple one- or 1½-story structures, somewhat impermanent, and less finished or less...

s; a one-room schoolhouse

One-room school

One-room schools were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In most rural and small town schools, all of the students met in a single room...

; a handful of barns; and the former Stagecoach Inn, which has been a private home for many years.

Little Beaver Creek

Little Beaver Creek is the only major river in Ohio to have been granted both State Wild and Scenic and National Scenic River designations. Just east of East Liverpool, the creek drains into the Ohio River

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

. The now-defunct Sandy and Beaver Canal

Sandy and Beaver Canal

The Sandy and Beaver Canal ran from the Ohio and Erie Canal at Bolivar, Ohio, to the Ohio River at Glasgow, Pennsylvania. It had 90 locks, was chartered in 1828 and completed in 1848. However, the middle section of the canal had many problems from the beginning and fell into disrepair...

 runs parallel to the creek.

According to a Department of the Interior

United States Department of the Interior

The United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native...

 study conducted in April 1975, Little Beaver Creek supports 63 species of fish, 49 mammal species, 140 types of birds and 46 species of reptiles and amphibians, including the rare and protected salamander known as the hellbender

Hellbender

The hellbender , also known as the hellbender salamander, is a species of giant salamander that is endemic to eastern North America...

. It is an exceptionally clean riparian corridor with a highly diverse ecosystem. The Little Beaver Creek corridor was long thought to be the only river valley in the entire United States to feature geologic evidence of all four Ice Age

Ice age

An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...

s, although this is now disputed.