Biglerville High School student officially names local creek

Biglerville High School senior Aidan Kissner spent the past two years working to officially name the small creek located behind his school.

His hard work paid off this year when the United States Board of Geographic Names approved his proposal to name the creek after a Virginia slave who moved to Gettysburg after being granted her freedom. The creek is now officially called Kitty Payne Creek.

aidan kitty payne creek

Kissner has been exploring the creek since he was a child, and as he grew older he noticed how the frogs, crayfish, and fish in the creek were disappearing. Kissner said he hadn’t seen a fish in two years.

“It is mistreated. The erosion is very bad. The banks are constantly eroding and collapsing. Grass clippings from the high school maintenance crew are always entering the creek. These clippings seep the oxygen from the water so that very few things can live in it,” he said.

As a member of the school’s Chesapeake Bay Student Leadership Program, Kissner was tasked with instituting his own action plan within the community. Kissner, however, wanted to do something more lasting. “I wanted to try something a little different because teachers have been trying to protect the creek,” he said.

Kissner said the process of naming a creek is quite laborious, and that it took him two months to submit his proposal. “I went onto the Board of Geographic Names website and they have a portal for submitting a naming proposal. They encourage people to have local support and the Adams County Historical Society backed my vision,” he said.

The Biglerville Borough Council helped with encouragement and recognition.

Kissner said he named the creek, so “the community could take pride in it.” Catherine “Kitty” Payne was a former slave in Virginia who had been granted her freedom by her former master’s wife. Upon being granted her freedom, Kitty moved to Gettysburg. However, Kitty and her family were kidnapped by her former master’s son and returned to Virginia.

Following her kidnapping, Kitty Payne filed two complaints against her former master’s son for unlawful detainment. After a prolonged legal battle, Kitty and her family were granted their freedom and they went on to settle in Gettysburg.

In his free time, Kissner enjoys exploring the outdoors and photographing nature. He is also a member of Biglerville High School’s cross-country and track teams.

Kissner will attend York College with a major in civil engineering this fall, hoping to become an environmental engineer.

cate p 1
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Cate is a current senior Gettysburg College studying political science. She is from Kennebunk, Maine and has three Labrador retrievers, Maisy, Rosebud, and Sunflower Bee. In addition to her interest in writing and journalism Cate loves to travel, cook, watch movies, and listen to music.

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