Elk Township sits on the southern edge of Chester County, just above the Maryland line, between East Nottingham and Franklin townships. It was created in 1857 from part of East Nottingham Township and takes its name from Big Elk Creek and Little Elk Creek, which run along and through it. Its land was once part of the Nottingham Lots, settled under a 1701 grant from William Penn, and its southern boundary is the Mason-Dixon Line surveyed in the 1760s. Students attend the Oxford Area School District. Today Elk is one of the county's smallest and most rural townships, about 10 square miles with 1,698 residents at the 2020 Census.

Population: 2020 Census: 1,698

Median home value: $501,000 median sale price in 2025 (all home types, Chester County Planning Commission)

School district: Oxford Area School District

Postal codes: 19352 (Lincoln University), 19363 (Oxford) and 19350 (Landenberg), plus the 19351 Lewisville post office

2025 property tax rate: 43.86 mills total: Chester County 5.164, Elk Township 0.257, Oxford Area School District 38.439 (Chester County 2025 millage chart)

Commute to Kennett Square: about 30 minutes

Commute to Wilmington, DE: about 40 minutes

Commute to West Chester: about 45 minutes

Market overview

The Chester County Planning Commission reported a 2025 median sale price of $501,000 in Elk Township, across all home types. That is below the countywide median of $550,000 from 5,960 sales. Elk is a very small market with only a limited number of sales in a typical year, so the median can swing from year to year and is best used as a general reference.

Homes here are almost entirely rural: farmhouses set back from the road, single-family homes on country lots and working farms growing corn, soybeans, hay and pasture. You can drive for miles on narrow country roads without passing a commercial strip, and the township has made open space preservation a long-running priority. In a 2005 township survey, 90 percent of respondents supported protecting open space and agriculture.

Schools and taxes

Elk is part of the Oxford Area School District, which covers about 90 square miles and serves Oxford Borough and Upper Oxford, Lower Oxford, East Nottingham, West Nottingham and Elk townships. The district's schools are Jordan Bank Elementary (kindergarten), Elk Ridge Elementary (grades 1 and 2), Nottingham Elementary (grades 3 and 4), Hopewell Elementary (grades 5 and 6), Penn's Grove School (grades 7 and 8) and Oxford Area High School (grades 9 to 12).

Chester County's 2025 millage chart puts the total rate at 43.86 mills: 5.164 for the county, 0.257 for Elk Township and 38.439 for the school district. The mills apply to the county's assessed value, which is usually well below a home's market price, so look up a property's assessment in the county's property records before you estimate taxes. In 2006, township voters also approved a 0.05% earned income tax dedicated to open space protection.

Pennsylvania charges a 1% state realty transfer tax on a sale, and the local share is usually another 1%, split between the township and the school district. Your title company will confirm the exact figures.

Neighborhoods and what's here

Elk's three covered bridges have each been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Linton Stephens Covered Bridge, built in 1886, crosses Big Elk Creek near the New London line. The Rudolph and Arthur Covered Bridge, which links Elk and New London over Big Elk Creek, was swept away by the remnants of Hurricane Ida in 2021, and Chester County rebuilt it to the original 1880 Burr arch truss design, celebrating its reopening in October 2025. The Glen Hope Covered Bridge, built in 1889, was burned by vandals in the late 1980s and restored by 1994.

The township's small villages carry its history. Lewisville, once known as the Head of Elk, sits where Routes 472 and 841 meet and is home to the township building and the Lewisville Inn, built around 1854. Hickory Hill, once called Nottinghamdale, has the stone Little Elk Friends Meeting from 1826. Elk Mills and Mount Rocky are older mill and church settlements, and part of the serpentine barrens reaches into the township.

Big Elk Creek State Park, about 1,800 acres of former farm and forest land open for hiking, horseback riding, fishing and birding, lies in Elk and Franklin townships. Elk borders East Nottingham, New London and Franklin townships and Cecil County, Maryland, near Fair Hill.

For buyers and sellers

Buyers should plan for country living. If a property relies on a private well and septic system, include a water test and septic inspection in your due diligence, and ask whether any part of the land is under a conservation easement, since that can limit future subdivision. Residents often commute to Oxford, West Grove and Newark, Delaware, so test your route at the times you would drive it.

Sellers should highlight acreage, privacy, outbuildings and the township's protected setting near Big Elk Creek State Park. With few sales each year, we price homes using comparable sales across Elk and the surrounding Oxford and Avon Grove area townships, and we market to buyers from Delaware, Maryland and the Kennett Square area who want land and quiet.

Common questions

What school district serves Elk Township?
Elk Township is in the Oxford Area School District.

Is Big Elk Creek State Park in Elk Township?
Yes, in part. The roughly 1,800-acre state park lies mainly in Elk and Franklin townships, with a small portion in New London Township.

How many covered bridges are in Elk Township?
Three: the Linton Stephens, Rudolph and Arthur, and Glen Hope covered bridges, each of which has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Rudolph and Arthur bridge was rebuilt after Hurricane Ida and celebrated its reopening in October 2025.