The Conestoga River meanders for sixty miles through the fertile farmlands of Lancaster County. From early Native American inhabitants to the European settlers who made the Conestoga Valley their home, the river has provided sustenance and transportation for generations. Victorian era resorts and hotels were built along...
Out on the eastern border of Lancaster County, spanning the Octoraro Creek between Sadsbury Township, Lancaster County and West Fallowfield Township, Chester County lies the Mercer’s Mills Covered Bridge. Thomas Kipphorn calls this “Captain John Mercer’s Mill Bridge”. Who was Captain John and where were the mills?
On February 3, 1899, a new piano teacher hung his shingle at 214 North Mulberry Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The teacher was Dr. William A. Wolf, and the date was the 90th anniversary of the birthday of German composer, Felix Mendelssohn. On this day, Dr. Wolf and...
Many of the covered bridges in Lancaster County utilize an architectural style called the “Burr Truss” or “Burr Arch-Truss”. It’s easy to see the arch, but what is the “Burr”? Does it refer to the rough edges of the woodwork? Or maybe it’s the sound that your...
This is the third installment on the topic of the early fur traders that operated in Lancaster County. The first article introduced Jacques LeTort, who with his wife, Anne, and son, James traded on the Schuylkill and later on the Susquehanna. The second article told the story...
This is the second installment on my series about the fur traders that had some connection to the area of Pennsylvania that would later become Lancaster County. These traders were the frontiersman that explored the territory and interacted with the native Americans that inhabited the area...
During the seventeenth century continuing into the eighteenth, the fur trade was big business among the Swedish, Dutch, French, and English traders. Many people wanted to get in on the action. There was intense competition between the governors of New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, each wanting...
