Orefield is a small 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...

 in Lehigh County

Lehigh County, Pennsylvania

-Climate:Most of the county's climate is considered to fall in the humid continental climate zone. Summers are typically hot and muggy, fall and spring are generally mild, and winter is cold. Precipitation is almost uniformly distributed throughout the year....

, 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...

, United States

United States

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

, split between North Whitehall and South Whitehall township. Located along Pennsylvania Route 309

Pennsylvania Route 309

Pennsylvania Route 309 is a major highway which runs for 134 miles through Pennsylvania in the United States. It connects Philadelphia and its northern suburbs to Allentown, Hazleton, and Wilkes-Barre. A limited-access highway portion of PA 309 in the Wilkes-Barre area is known as the North...

, Orefield has the zip code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 of 18069. Its name is derived from the extensive deposits of limonite

Limonite

Limonite is an ore consisting in a mixture of hydrated iron oxide-hydroxide of varying composition. The generic formula is frequently written as FeO·nH2O, although this is not entirely accurate as limonite often contains a varying amount of oxide compared to hydroxide.Together with hematite, it has...

 (iron ore) once mined here. It was once the terminus of the Siegersville Branch of the Ironton Railroad

Ironton Railroad

The Ironton Railroad was a shortline railroad in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. Originally built in 1861 to haul iron ore and limestone to blast furnaces along the Lehigh River, traffic later shifted to carrying Portland cement when local iron mining declined in the early 20th century...

, which was extended here to haul the ore.

Orefield is the former home to Parkland High School

Parkland High School (Allentown, Pennsylvania)

Parkland High School, located near Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States, is a public high school serving students in grades 9 to 12. It is the only high school for the Parkland School District....

. It is a part of the Lehigh Valley

Lehigh Valley

The Lehigh Valley, known officially by the United States Census Bureau as the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metropolitan area and referred to locally as The Valley and A-B-E, is a metropolitan region consisting of Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, and Carbon counties in eastern Pennsylvania and...

 and is only a few miles outside of Allentown

Allentown, Pennsylvania

Allentown is a city located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is Pennsylvania's third most populous city, after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the 215th largest city in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 118,032 and is currently...

. It is surrounded by many suburban housing developments many of which were former farms operated by the Pennsylvania Dutch

Pennsylvania Dutch

Pennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...

 whose influence in the community is waning. There are many covered bridges nearby which cross the Jordan Creek.

Located near Orefield is a large factory for Alpo

Alpo (pet food)

Alpo is an American brand of dog food marketed and manufactured by the Nestlé Purina Petcare subsidiary of Nestlé. The brand is offered as a canned or packaged soft food, as well as in dry kibbles.-History:...

 Dog Food, which has been owned by the Ralston Purina Company

Ralston Purina Company

Nestlé Purina PetCare Company is the pet food division of Swiss-based Nestlé S.A., following its acquisition of the American Ralston Purina Company on December 12, 2001 and subsequent merger with Nestlé's Friskies PetCare Company. As a wholly owned subsidiary, it is headquartered at the General...

 since the 1990s. Also located nearby are the Jaindl turkey farms, which provide the turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 for the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 on many Thanksgivings

Thanksgiving (United States)

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...

. Located in Orefield is Shankweiler's Drive-In, the second drive-in ever built (1934) and America's oldest operating drive-in theater

Drive-in theater

A drive-in theater is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor screen, a projection booth, a concession stand and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movies from the privacy and comfort of their cars.The screen can be as simple as a...

.

Orefield is served by the Parkland School District

Parkland School District

Parkland School District is a public school district located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, USA. It serves North Whitehall, South Whitehall, and Upper Macungie Townships, as well as the Trexler Park neighborhood in West Allentown.-High school:...

, which has Orefield Middle School

Orefield Middle School

Renovated in 2001, Orefield Middle School has a half-century serving the students in the Parkland School District in Pennsylvania. Built as the Parkland Junior Senior High School in 1953, the school opened in 1954 for 1,157 students in grades seven through twelve. As enrollment grew, seventh and...

 in the village. The district's high school was located in Orefield until 1999, when it moved to Cedar Crest Boulevard to the east. Kernsville Elementary School is located just west of the village.

Notable residents

• Brant Weidner
  Brant Weidner
  Brant Clifford Weidner is a retired American professional basketball player from the NBA. He played for one season in the league....
  
  , former professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs
  San Antonio Spurs
  The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
  
  .