A guide book of art, architecture, and historic interests in Pennsylvania
1808. Through GUTHSVILLE, Guth homestead still standing, built, 1745,
1867 words | Chapter 18
through SIEGERSVILLE, on left is Colonel H. C. Trexler’s game preserve
of 2000 acres, containing buffalo, elk, deer, and trout hatchery. To
SCHNECKSVILLE, former home of Professor Rudy, founder of the Rudy
School, Paris, in 1865, an International Association of Professors; he
was a Fellow of the French Academy. Here is Land Spring Park.
The next village, NEFFS, has an ancient graveyard, burial place of many
Revolutionary patriots. Then to SLATINGTON, heart of the slate region. A
chain bridge built over the Lehigh River in 1826 leads to LEHIGH GAP.
Another state road from Allentown goes through CATASAUQUA; here, in
1914, was celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of the successful
uniting of the state’s two chief resources, the use of ANTHRACITE COAL
in the IRON FURNACES, by David Thomas from Wales. Coke has since
replaced anthracite, but the furnaces and the general method are much
as Thomas left them; these were the mother furnaces of the Bethlehem
Steel Works, Cambria Iron Works, Thomas Iron Works at Hockendauqua, and
the stupendous development of the iron trade in this country. A private
art collection owned by D. G. Dery, Esq., comprises an important
collection of paintings, statuary, bronzes, ivories, Chinese porcelains,
and jades. Continue on state road through Mickley’s to EGYPT. Union
Church, Lutheran and Reformed, founded, 1734, in log church; present
brick building erected, 1785. Near by is Deshler’s Fort, built, 1760,
and the Troxell-Steckel House, stone, built, 1756. A mile north is
tablet, placed by Lehigh County Historical Society, marking place where
occurred the last Indian massacre in this county, of three families in
1763.
XLVII
LEBANON COUNTY
Formed February 16, 1813; Scriptural name, from the cedar trees covering
the range of mountains on northern boundary, “Cedars of Lebanon”;
settled by Germans in the east, by the Scotch-Irish in the west. Leading
industries, agriculture, iron, tobacco. Three solid hills of rich,
magnetic iron ore have been worked for over 170 years, and still seem
inexhaustible; they require no mining, simply to be quarried; down to
the present these mines have produced more iron ore than any other
single iron ore property in the United States. In 1737, Peter Grubb
became sole owner of these ore hills; he built Hopewell forge on Hammer
Creek, and the large blast furnace was named for Cornwall, his ancestral
home in England. The property was inherited by his two sons, who were
colonels in the Revolutionary War; cannon balls and stoves were cast
here for the Continental Army. In 1798, Robert Coleman purchased
five-sixths of these ore banks; they were near the old road between
Harris Ferry and Philadelphia, known as the Berks and Dauphin Road.
Later his grandsons, Robert and G. Dawson Coleman, built furnaces on the
Union Canal, then the great means of transportation; by that time
charcoal furnaces were going out.
The construction and operation of the Union Canal through this county,
connecting the Schuylkill River at Reading with the Susquehanna at
Middletown, was a
[Illustration: LEBANON COUNTY]
[Illustration: THE OLDEST CANAL TUNNEL IN THE UNITED STATES
North Lebanon]
momentous event, with its tunnel 767 feet long, first in the United
States. Extract: “Lebanon, June 15, 1827. Last Monday evening, June
11th, the citizens of this town and vicinity had the privilege of seeing
the first boat, the _Alpha_ from Tulpehocken, come up the Union Canal
and remain at North Lebanon for the night; the next morning it continued
its journey westward and passed through the tunnel; this was the first
boat to pass through a tract of ground upon which corn and potatoes were
being grown.”
County seat, LEBANON, population 24,643, on the William Penn Highway;
settled in 1750. Streets run north and south, east and west. Courthouse,
at the corner of Eighth and Cumberland Streets, colonial, brick. United
States post office, classic, with Doric columns. A historic inn, the St.
Eitz, built in 1752, was occupied by George Washington. Hill Church,
colonial, brick; in the yard is a monument to Rev. John Casper Stoever,
first Lutheran minister in Lebanon County, in 1733. St. Luke’s
Protestant Episcopal Church, Gothic, stone, built without a nail, has
three memorial windows, “The Nativity,” by Lamb; others made in England;
also fine collection of altar cloths, chasubles, and credence cloth made
abroad, in filet, of fifteenth century design. Soldiers and sailors’
monument in Monument Park; tall, fluted column with Ionic capital.
Lebanon Historical Society has collections of local interest. ANNVILLE
is seat of Lebanon Valley College, founded by the United Brethren in
1865; a school of high grade under supervision of that church.
MT. GRETNA, a camp ground of 1000 or more acres, 1000 feet above sea
level, was purchased by the state for mobilization of the state’s
National Guard. It will accommodate 20,000 men, and has been used for
this purpose since 1885. The War Department considers Mt. Gretna an
ideal military camp, sanitary and well drained. SCHAEFFERSTOWN, one of
the earliest and most historic places in this county, laid out in 1744,
had the first waterworks system in the United States, in 1753. Franklin
House built in 1750; in the cellar there is a remarkable series of
carved arches; it served as a place of refuge from Indians. Fountain
Hill Park is here. MYERSTOWN is the seat of Albright College.
FREDERICKSBURG has the Lick Monument, erected, in 1881, by James Lick,
in memory of his grandfather’s services at Valley Forge, and of John
Lick, founder of Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, California.
XLVIII
UNION COUNTY
Formed March 22, 1813, named for the Union; chiefly agricultural, is
divided by spurs of the Alleghenies, known as White Deer, Nittany,
Buffalo, Paddy’s, and Jack’s mountains, into three valleys; the center,
Buffalo Valley, is one of the garden spots in Pennsylvania, formerly
home of many Amish and Dunkards, good farmers and citizens.
LEWISBURG, county seat, laid out in 1785; population 3204; named for
Ludwig (Lewis) Doerr, who purchased the land from Richard Peters of
Philadelphia. A rare specimen of conveyancing is deed, lot 51, in plan
of Lewisburg, tracing title from the Creator, down through Adam and Eve,
to one Flavel Roan, recorded at Sunbury, in deed book F, 1793. Finely
located at mouth of Buffalo Creek, West Branch of the Susquehanna, on
the great Indian path from Sunbury to Muncy, now main highway from
Harrisburg to Williamsport, and on line of turnpikes leading from Erie
through Waterford, Meadville, and Franklin to Susquehanna River. Seat of
Bucknell University, incorporated in 1846, co-ed, with courses in arts,
science, philosophy, and engineering; the Library and Museum have the
Jeremiah Gernerd collection of Indian relics, open to the public; from
the top of the astronomical observatory is a fine view. In Lewisburg
Cemetery is the grave of Colonel John Kelly, distinguished in Indian
warfare and the Revolution; he died in 1832; his
[Illustration: UNION COUNTY]
monument, with military emblems, was erected in 1835, sculptor, W.
Hubbard; also the grave of Mary, widow of Captain John Brady, the great
Indian fighter, who was massacred by Indians and buried near where he
fell, in Lycoming County.
One mile west of Lewisburg, from the top of Smoketown Hill, is a fine
view of Buffalo Valley across the Susquehanna to Muncy Hills and North
Mountain. Historic places, site of Shikellimy’s old town, a wooded crest
opposite Milton, four miles north of Lewisburg; he was chief of the
Oneidas, and father of Logan the Mingo chief, place now called Oak
Heights. DRIESBACH, five miles west of Lewisburg, German Reformed and
Lutheran Church, first log building built, 1788, on site of present
brick church; in burial ground is the grave and monument to Samuel
Maclay, born, 1741, brother of William Maclay; inscription, “Samuel
Maclay, United States Senator 1803-09, Surveyor, Farmer, Soldier,
Legislator, Statesman. Erected by State of Pennsylvania, 1908.” Buffalo
X Roads, Presbyterian Church, first built, 1775, present brick building
about 1846.
MIFFLINBURG, the neatest town you ever saw, with uniform curbing and
walks, population 1744, in heart of Buffalo Valley (named for Governor
Mifflin); ten miles west of Lewisburg, laid out 1792, by Elias Youngman.
NEW BERLIN, laid out, 1792, by George Long, delightfully situated on
north bank of Penn’s Creek; first county seat; at one time home of Union
Seminary, Central Pennsylvania College.
[Illustration: COLUMBIA COUNTY]
XLIX
COLUMBIA COUNTY
Formed March 22, 1813, name explains itself: is in Appalachian Mountain
belt; surface quite broken, with wonderfully beautiful drives. The
Catawissa Railroad, noted for its remarkable trestle bridges, first one
at Mainville, runs through this county, crossing the Susquehanna River
at Rupert. Arable land, mostly red shale and limestone, with deposits of
iron ore at Bloomsburg, and the anthracite coal basin at Centralia.
Chief industries, manufacturing; the carpet mill here is said to be the
second largest in the United States. Earliest historical bands of
Indians, in this county, were the Shawnees and Delawares, vassals to the
Six Nations; Wyoming Path, their route of travel for hunting or war,
left Muncy on the West Branch, ran up Glade Run, through a gap to
Fishing Creek and on to Luzerne County, through Nescopec Gap, and up
North Branch to Wyoming.
BLOOMSBURG, population 7819, laid out in 1802 by Ludwig Eyre, on a bluff
on Fishing Creek, became county seat in 1846. In 1772, the Shawnee
Indians had a village between the mouth of the creek and the town. James
McClure located his farm near the same point in 1781; a fort was erected
there, built by Major Moses VanCampen, now marked, from which he led
scouting parties. In 1779, VanCampen, as quartermaster, accompanied
General Sullivan’s expedition against Indian towns on the Genessee.
There is much discussion here about city planning. The town lies due
north and south, named streets; east and west numbered; Second Street
being the main street, and also forms part of state highway leading from
Harrisburg to Wilkes-Barre. Courthouse on Main Street, Renaissance;
contains, it is said, “a very beautiful piece of tapestry.” Jail, stone,
feudal architecture. Soldiers and Sailors’ Monument at the intersection
of Main and Market Streets, erected in 1908.
The Methodist Church, Gothic, stone, has a Tiffany window, “Christ
Blessing Little Children”; other churches that may be mentioned for
architecture are St. Paul’s Protestant Episcopal and First Presbyterian,
both Gothic; St. Matthew’s, Evangelical Lutheran, Trinity Reformed, and
St. Columba’s Roman Catholic, colonial. In 1869, this was made the
educational center of northeast Pennsylvania, with the State Normal
School, corner-stone laid by Governor Geary in 1868. Normal auditorium,
colonial; and other extensive buildings. CATAWISSA, originally a Quaker
settlement; scenery fine and picturesque; was laid out in 1787 by
William Hughes from Berks County; has an old Friends’ meeting house.
John Hanch was one of the first to build an iron furnace here on the
Catawissa in 1816; earlier the Piscatawese or Gangawese (Kenhawas) had
wigwams here. Fort Jenkins, near mouth of Briar Creek, on the
Susquehanna, was attacked and burned by Indians, 1779-80; a house is now
on the site of the fort. BERWICK was settled by Evan Owen in 1783. Here
in 1826 the steamboat _Susquehanna_ blew up while ascending the Nescopec
Falls. Also ground was broken here for the North Branch Canal.
L
PIKE COUNTY
Formed March 26, 1814, named for General Zebulon Pike, killed in Canada,
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