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Welcome to Old Forge ...

Old Forge is located in Lackawanna County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Old Forge, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1850.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Old Forge has a population of 7,880 people<2> (see below for details).

Old Forge is 730 feet [223 m] above sea level.<3>.

Time Zone: Old Forge lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Old Forge: 570 & 272<4>

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Old Forge had an population of 7,880 people. This is a decrease of 5.21% since the 2010 Census (or a decrease of 10.43% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Old Forge had a population of 8,313 people. This makes Old Forge the county's 4th most populous community.

The population of Old Forge represents 0.07% of the population of Pennsylvania (which has 12,702,379 people), making it the state's 97th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 8,313 people, the population of Old Forge decreased 5.51% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 8,798 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Old Forge.

Communities Also Named Old Forge ...

While we believe that this Old Forge is located in Lackawanna County, we know of another 3 Pennsylvania communities named Old Forge. Those communities are located in the following counties: Delaware, Franklin and Luzerne County.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Old Forge.

Communities near Old Forge ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Old Forge.

  • Wilkes-Barre
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Dunmore
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunmore
    • Dunmore is located in Lackawanna County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,836 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dunmore <5>
  • Kingston
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Nanticoke
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Carbondale
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Archbald
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Archbald have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Archbald
    • Archbald is located in Lackawanna County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,055 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Archbald <5>
  • Blakely
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blakely have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blakely
    • Blakely is located in Lackawanna County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,174 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Blakely <5>
  • Plymouth
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Dickson City
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dickson City have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dickson City
    • Dickson City is located in Lackawanna County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,731 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dickson City <5>
  • Swoyersville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Old Forge. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Old Forge.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Old Forge. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Old Forge.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Old Forge. See our Newspapers Page for Old Forge.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Old Forge ...

Looking for more information about Old Forge? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Old Forge, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Old Forge.

Adding Old Forge to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Old Forge in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Old Forge was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<7>

X2X - From that list, the Old Forge post office opened in 1850.

We also found Old Forge in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Old Forge.

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Old Forge. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Lackawanna County: www.lackawannacounty.org/

The official website for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: https://www.pa.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Pennsylvania's counties, including Lackawanna, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Old Forge.
<3>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Old Forge - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<4>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 570 code has been Overlayed with the 272 area code. New phone numbers in the Old Forge area will be assigned with one of these codes: 570 or 272. As a result, placing a call in the Old Forge area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<5>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<6>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<7>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025