Two Pennsylvania Department of Transportation signs on Crosstown Highway identify the community as the "Village of Poyntelle." In Pennsylvania, a village is an unincorporated community within a township, but PennDOT identifies most villages with roadside signs, a fact that might reasonably lead those unfamiliar with this practice to believe that these communities are incorporated municipalities administered separately from the townships in which they are located. Since Pennsylvania's villages, including Poyntelle, are, in fact, not municipalities in their own right, they do not have official boundaries, and the United States Census Bureau does not collect statistics for them. In spite of this, because of strong local consensus, as well as the fact that many features are named for the villages they are associated with, it is almost always possible to consistently determine whether a particular feature is in one village or another.
Natural features
Notable natural features located in Poyntelle include Bone Pond, Independent Lake, Lake Lorain, and Poyntelle Lake.In addition, the Equinunk, Riley, and Johnson Creeks run through Poyntelle, and some of the small, unnamed streams that are the source of the West Branch of the Lackawaxen River begin in the southern part of the village. Independent Lake, Bone Pond, and Lake Lorain are three of the four sources of the East Branch of the Lackawanna River. Lake Lorain has the highest elevation of any lake in Wayne County, hence the alternate name "Summit Lake." Poyntelle Lake feeds into the Equinunk. Like most of the lakes in Preston Township, all of Poyntelle's are fed by natural springs on their lake bottoms.
Roads and intersections
Poyntelle is located along Crosstown Highway, which is entirely concurrent with PA-370. Besides Crosstown, there are two other state routes in the village, Cribbs Road, which connects to Crosstown, and South Preston Road. All three of these are paved. There are also eight township roads in Poyntelle. Three of them are entirely located within the village: Czapnik Road, which connects to both Cribbs and South Preston; Poyntelle Road, which connects to Crosstown, Cribbs, and South Preston; and Lake Lorain Road, which connects to just Crosstown. The other five cross into other villages: Paluch Road, which connects to Cribbs; Clark Road, which connects to Crosstown; Dix Road, which connects to Paluch; Spruce Lake Road, which connects to Crosstown and Clark; and O & W Road, which connects to Cribbs and Poyntelle. Like many township roads in the state, Paluch, Czapnik, Clark, Dix, Spruce Lake, Poyntelle, O & W, and Lake Lorain are all unpaved. Finally, there are seven officially-named private roads in the community, all of which fall entirely within its boundaries. They are Bone Pond Lane, which connects to just Crosstown; Forest Road; Hemlock Lane, which connects to just Crosstown; Lake Drive, which connects to Forest; Lakehill Road, which connects to Clark, Forest, and Lake; Lakeside Drive, which connects to Spruce Lake, Forest, and Lake; and Spruce Road, which does not connect to any of the others. All of these are unpaved.
