The creek is in turn named for Colonel William Plunkett, a frontier doctor and militia officer during the pre-Revolution years in the Province of Pennsylvania.

Thousands of acres of old-growth forest were harvested and floated down Loyalsock Creek and its tributaries to one of the many sawmills that had sprung up throughout Lycoming County.

In the 19th century, Barbours had several blacksmiths, a temperance hotel, a post office, many sawmills, a school, store and wagon maker.

[7][8] These industries supported the inhabitants of two villages in Plunketts Creek Township by the latter half of the 19th century.

[4][9] Hemlock bark, used in the tanning process, was hauled to the tannery from up to 8 miles (13 km) away in both summer and winter, using wagons and sleds.

[12] Finished sole leather was hauled by horse-drawn wagon south about 8 miles (13 km) to Little Bear Creek, where it was exchanged for "green" hides and other supplies brought north from Montoursville.

By 1898, the old-growth hemlock was exhausted and the Proctor tannery, then owned by the Elk Tanning Company, was closed and dismantled.

[11][12] In the 1980s, the last store in Barbours closed, and the former hotel (which had become a hunting club) was torn down to make way for a new bridge across Loyalsock Creek.

[8] Plunketts Creek Township has been a place for both lumber and tourism since its villages were founded, and as industry declined, nature recovered.

[7][14] The main entrance to State Game Lands 134 is just north of the bridge site, on the east side of the creek.

[16] The Northcentral State Game Farm is chiefly in the Plunketts Creek valley, just south of Proctor and north of the bridge.

[7][15] The opening weekend of the trout season brings more people into the village of Barbours at the mouth of Plunketts Creek than any other time of the year.

[8] The Bridge in Plunketts Creek Township was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988, but delisted in 2002, after being washed out by a flood in 1996.

Pennsylvania Route 87 crosses the center of the township, following Loyalsock Creek and passing through the village of Barbours.

PA-87 leads northeastward 15 miles (24 km) to Forksville and southwestward the same distance to Montoursville in the valley of the West Branch Susquehanna River.

Allegheny Ridge, with summit elevations from 1,665 to 2,100 feet (507 to 640 m), runs from west to east just north of the southern border of the township.