This story originally appeared in the January 2026 issue of Town&Gown magazine.
For many folks, thoughts of Happy Valley conjure up images of university life at Penn State. For visiting illustrator Melissa Smith, Happy Valley is more than just the university; it’s a place filled with large mountains, rolling farms, and family memories that make Centre County feel like home.
Smith, a self-made illustrator of beloved places, first tested her map-making chops between 2010 and 2012, and soon after began creating maps of small historic towns, including private maps and wedding maps. Ever since the Lyons Share gallery in Fairhope, Alabama, asked her to redo one of their old nautical maps, Smith hasn’t looked back.
Smith’s map artwork has extended from her beloved Boca Grande region in Florida to the Happy Valley we all know and love. “I love doing little detailed drawings; it’s just so much fun,” Smith states. “The history came along with it, but I had no idea I’d get so in-depth into that.”
Smith travels around historic towns to soak in their historic splendor, connecting with locals to illustrate the small pockets of community that exist in these towns. Smith’s Happy Valley connections first came about from her mother’s first cousins — two 90-year-old Penn State alumni — and a friend who is a State College local.
“I grew up with my mother’s first cousins always painting the most romantic image of the area,” Smith reminisces, and her State College friend brought her even closer to the joys Happy Valley has to offer. “I was there four times, and each time [she] would want to do all the things that she never gets to do that she knows that I want to do.” After three years of journeying — from exploring Penn’s Cave to trying goat yoga at Nittany Meadow Farm — a return for a wedding pushed Smith to begin her Centre County research and get to work on an illustrated map for Happy Valley.
“I was immersed in the research for three months last summer,” Smith says. By asking for local feedback, Smith gained insights from the Bellefonte Historical Railroad Society, co-owner Lisa Harpster of Antifragile Brewing, Sue Smith of the Lemont Historical Society, and Happy Valley Adventure Bureau’s Josiah Jones, vice president of marketing and strategic partnerships. “I can’t do everything, but I try to pick things that are warm and fuzzy, maybe environmental, beloved to all, or historic.”
After collecting her research, Smith brings those details to life in her illustrations. “Each illustration is drawn with pencil first. Then, I perfect it with pen and ink, and finally watercolor. When I am satisfied, I take a photo of the individual rendering and pull it into Photoshop. Once there, I may still clean it up a bit. By working in layers, I can move things around and adjust the layout.” Completely self-funded, Smith then puts her vibrant maps up for sale. Framed illustrations and puzzles are sold through local businesses as well as her online Etsy store.
Happy Valley locals are already nabbing Smith’s artwork from the shelves, with a few reaching out to praise her illustrations. A Montana friend of Smith’s who once lived in State College shared her happiness over the fine details included in the Happy Valley map.
“She just wrote me a note yesterday, and she was so excited,” Smith says. “She goes, ‘I can’t believe you got a glider on there!’ and I thought she’s probably the only one who’s going to notice. I mean, I ran across this wonderful little fact that this female glider pilot in Julian [Doris Grove] made a world record, so I thought that was cool.” That’s just one of the many nuggets of Centre County that Smith fit into her artwork.
“This place … the soil’s just so rich. Then right in the middle of that, you’ve got Spring Creek and that famous fly fisherman guy there. When I started looking [Joe Humphreys] up, I saw him wearing a Richardson Chest Fly Box and I was captivated by it.” Some of Smith’s favorite travels with her State College friend easily snuck their way into her illustrations. “When we went into the Columbus Chapel, I was completely amazed at the level of things they had in there. A little museum that’s a little less traveled, and yet it was so cool and amazing to me. I was like, ‘Wow, this should be famous.’”
Smith takes her love of the area and creates a bold, bright rendition of what it means to be part of the Happy Valley community. “I definitely wanted to include more than specifically the university because I think there’s a lot more to it,” she says, adding that she hopes people see her map as a tribute to a “really interesting, fascinating place.”
“There’s power in that, just bringing light into all these little corners and places,” Smith adds. She planned to send her 90-year-old relatives a puzzle based on the map for Christmas. “They’ll be able to sit and do the puzzle or look at the print with their great-grandchildren and say, ‘Hey, this is where we used to go,’ when pointing out staples like Rothrock State Park and Whipple Dam.”
Limited-edition giclée prints (16×20 and 11×14 inches) and 500-piece puzzles were released in November. A limited number of puzzles are available at Wiscoy for Animals and online at custommapartmelissa.etsy.com, and framed or unframed prints are available at Old Main Frame Shop & Gallery and online. T&G
Angelique Redwood is a freelance writer based in State College.
