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70-592: Little Muddy Creek may refer to: Little Muddy Creek (Conestoga River) , in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Little Muddy Creek (Missouri River) , a tributary of the Missouri River in the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota Little Muddy Creek (New Zealand) [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with

140-624: A Not Guilty . Among the five defense lawyers, recruited by the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society , was U.S. Congressman Thaddeus Stevens , who had practiced law in Lancaster County since at least 1838. The oldest surviving dwelling of European settlers in the county is that of Mennonite Bishop Hans Herr , built in 1719. In 1989, Donald Kraybill counted 37 distinct religious bodies/organizations, with 289 congregations and 41,600 baptized members, among

210-683: A personal liberty law in 1847 that made it difficult for southerners to recover any enslaved persons who made their way into Pennsylvania. Lying just north of the Mason-Dixon line and bordered by the Susquehanna River , which had been a traditional route from the Chesapeake Bay watershed into the heart of what became Pennsylvania, Lancaster County was a significant destination of the Underground Railroad in

280-627: A province in the north of Ireland; Manheim was German, Lebanon came from the Bible, a basis of all the European cultures; and Earl was a translation of the German surname of Graf or Groff. Lancaster County's native son James Buchanan , a Democrat , was elected as the 15th President of the United States in 1856, the first Pennsylvania native to hold the presidency. His home Wheatland

350-494: A 3.3 magnitude earthquake was widely felt in the Susquehanna Valley but caused no damage to structures. The bog turtle was first discovered and identified in Lancaster County by botanist Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg , who discovered the turtle species while surveying the area's flora . The species was named Muhlenberg's tortoise in 1801, but renamed bog turtle, its present common name , in 1956. As of

420-546: A compromise in 1733, but Cresap ignored it and continued his raids. A deputy was sent to arrest him in 1734, and Cresap killed him at the door. The Pennsylvania governor demanded that Maryland arrest Cresap for murder; the Maryland governor instead commissioned him as a captain in the militia . In 1736, Cresap was finally arrested; he was jailed until 1737 when the King intervened. In 1750, a court decided that, by failing to develop

490-483: A further 4.97% of the population spoke Spanish. 39.8% were of German, 11.8% United States or American, 7.2% Irish and 5.7% English ancestry. Lancaster County Anabaptist community founded in c. 1760, has the world's largest Amish settlement, with 37,000 people in 220 church districts in 2017, or about 7% of the county's population. By 2021 the Amish population increased to almost 42,000. The Lancaster Amish affiliation

560-638: A house about a hundred yards from the edge of the Susquehanna River, in the area of South Second and Union Streets. This structure eventually became home to the Wright family, including sons John Jr. and James. One of his daughters, the poet and businesswoman Susanna , born in England in 1697, arrived in the area in 1718, and later moved to the family residence to help take care of her brothers and sisters after her mother died. Robert Barber constructed

630-472: A large room on either end connected by a passageway. When John Jr. married, he moved to York County’s western shore, in what became Wrightsville, and built a ferry house and tavern. The ferry itself consisted of two dugout canoes fastened together with carriage and wagon wheels. When numerous cattle were moved, the canoeist guided a lead animal with a rope so that the others would follow. If the lead animal became confused and started swimming in circles, however,

700-581: A rare ecosystem where toxic metals in the soil inhibit plant growth, resulting in the formation of natural grassland and savanna . These barrens include the New Texas Serpentine Barrens, privately owned land managed by The Nature Conservancy , and Rock Springs Nature Preserve, a publicly accessible preserve with hiking trails owned and managed by the Lancaster County Conservancy . Lancaster County leads

770-633: A saw mill in 1727 and years later built a home near the river, on the Washington Boro Pike, along what is now Route 441. The home still stands across from the Columbia Wastewater Treatment Plant and is the second oldest in the borough, after the Wright’s Ferry Mansion. Samuel Blunston constructed a mansion, which he named Bellmont, atop the hill next to North Second Street, near Chestnut Street, at

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840-409: A settlement along a creek known as Shawnee Creek, which is still called that today. Wright built a log cabin near there on part of a tract of land first granted to George Beale by William Penn in 1699, and stayed for more than a year. The area was known as Shawanatown. When Wright returned in 1726 with Robert Barber and Samuel Blunston, he and the others began developing the area, with Wright building

910-581: Is a small unnamed tributary of the West Branch of Brandywine Creek that rises in eastern Salisbury Township and is part of the Delaware River watershed). The major streams in the county (with percent area drained) are: Conestoga River and Little Conestoga Creek (31.42%); Pequea Creek (15.02%); Chiques Creek (or Chickies Creek , 12.07%); Cocalico Creek (11.25%); Octoraro Creek (10.74%); and Conowingo Creek (3.73%). Lancaster County

980-1114: Is home to Susquehannock State Park , located on 224 acres (91 ha) overlooking the Susquehanna River in Drumore Township . One of the three tracts comprising William Penn State Forest , the 10-acre (4.0 ha) Cornwall fire tower site, is located in northern Penn Township near the Lebanon County border. The site, with its 1923 fire tower, was acquired by the state in January 1935. There are six Pennsylvania State Game Lands for hunting , trapping , and fishing located in Lancaster County. They are numbers (with location and area): 46 (near Hopeland , 5,035 acres (2,038 ha)), 52 (near Morgantown, 1,447 acres (586 ha)), 136 (near Kirkwood, 91 acres (37 ha)), 156 (near Poplar Grove, 4,537 acres (1,836 ha)), 220 (near Reinholds, 96 acres (39 ha)), and 288 (near Martic Forge, 89 acres (36 ha)). The county's southern portion has some protected serpentine barrens ,

1050-679: Is now operated as a house museum in Lancaster. Thaddeus Stevens , the noted Radical Republican , represented Lancaster County in the United States House of Representatives from 1849 to 1853 and from 1859 until his death in 1868. Stevens left a $ 50,000 (~$ 1,000,000 in 2023) bequest to establish an orphanage. This property eventually was developed as the state-owned Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology . Stevens and Buchanan were both buried in Lancaster. Pennsylvania passed its gradual abolition law in 1780. The law, which freed

1120-850: Is one of the earliest educational institutions in continuous operation in the United States. In addition to the Ephrata Cloister , the United Brethren in Christ and the Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) trace their beginnings to a 1767 meeting at the Isaac Long barn, near the hamlet of Oregon, in West Lampeter Township . The EUB, a German Methodist church, merged in 1968 with the traditionally English Methodist Episcopal Church to become

1190-574: Is relatively liberal concerning the use of technologies compared to other Amish affiliations. Historically speaking, the Amish population in 1970 numbered only about 7,000; that climbed to about 12,400 by 1990 and 16,900 by 2000. It has doubled since then. Lancaster also hosts other Plain Anabaptist groups. As of 2000, there are about 3,000 Old Order Mennonites of the Groffdale Conference who drive black top buggies instead of

1260-547: Is the 104th most populous metropolitan statistical area as of the 2020 census and the 102nd most populous primary statistical area in the United States as of the 2010 census. Lancaster County was the home of the final pre- American Civil War U.S. President, James Buchanan, a Democrat. Since the Civil War, however, Lancaster County has been a Republican stronghold. The GOP controls the vast majority of county and municipal elected offices in Lancaster County. Specifically,

1330-413: Is water. Most of the county has a hot-summer humid continental climate ( Dfa ) and the hardiness zones are 6b and 7a. The most recent temperature averages show areas along the Susquehanna River and in the lower Conestoga Valley to have a humid subtropical climate ( Cfa .) Almost all of Lancaster County is in the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin , via the Susquehanna River watershed (the exception

1400-835: The Iroquoian -speaking Susquehannock , whose name was derived from the Lenape term for "Oyster River People". (The Lenape spoke an Algonquian language.) The English called them the Conestoga , after the name of their principal village, Gan'ochs'a'go'jat'ga ("Roof-place" or "town"), anglicized as "Conestoga." Other places occupied by the Susquehannock were Ka'ot'sch'ie'ra ("Place-crawfish"), where present-day Chickisalunga developed, and Gasch'guch'sa ("Great-fall-in-river"), now called Conewago Falls, Lancaster County. Other Native tribes, as well as early European settlers, considered

1470-791: The Lancaster, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area . With a population of 552,984 as of the 2020 U.S. census , the Lancaster, PA metropolitan area is the sixth most populous metropolitan area in Pennsylvania , after the Delaware Valley , Greater Pittsburgh , the Lehigh Valley , the Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan statistical area , and the Wyoming Valley . On a national level, the Lancaster, PA metropolitan area

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1540-740: The Reformed Mennonite Church who have retained the most conservative form of Plain dress of all Plain groups. There are 74 members of the Old German Baptist Brethren in Lancaster County. Some County residents speak with a Pennsylvania Dutch-influenced dialect. This is most common in the Lancaster, Lebanon, York, and Harrisburg areas, and incorporates influences from the Pennsylvania Dutch in dialect and in nomenclature. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget has designated Lancaster County as

1610-498: The Scotch-Irish in the colonies). The area that became Lancaster County was part of William Penn 's 1681 charter. John Kennerly received the first recorded deed from Penn in 1691. Although Matthias Kreider was said to have been in the area as early as 1691, there is no evidence that any Europeans settled in Lancaster County before 1710. Lancaster County was part of Chester County, Pennsylvania , until May 10, 1729, when it

1680-554: The United Methodist Church . The first Jewish resident was Isaac Miranda , from the Sephardic Jewish community of London, who owned property before the town and county were organized in 1730. Ten years later several Jewish families had settled in the town; on February 3, 1747, a deed to Isaac Nunus Ricus (Henriques) and Joseph Simon was recorded, conveying 0.5 acres (0.20 ha) of land "in trust for

1750-696: The plain sects who are descendants of the Anabaptist Mennonite immigrants to Lancaster County. The Mennonite Central Committee in Akron supports relief in disasters and provides manpower and material to local organizations in relief efforts. The town of Lititz was originally planned as a closed community, founded early in the 1740s by members of the Moravian Church . The town eventually grew and welcomed its neighbors. The Moravian Church established Linden Hall School for Girls in 1746; it

1820-499: The "Christiana Riot", "Christiana Resistance", the "Christiana Outrage", and the "Christiana Tragedy". The Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society helped provide defense for the suspects charged in the case. The event frightened slaveholders, as black men not only fought back but prevailed. Some feared this would inspire enslaved blacks and encourage rebelliousness. The case was prosecuted in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia under

1890-419: The 2010 census, there were 519,445 people. The population density was 561 people per square mile (217 people/km ). There were 193,602 households. Of that number 135,401 (69.9%) were families. Of those families, 120,112 (88.7%) had children under the age of 18. There were 202,952 housing units at an average density of 215 per square mile (83/km ). The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size

1960-614: The Chabad Jewish Enrichment Center, a branch of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, that focuses on serving the Jewish students of Franklin and Marshall College , as well serving the general community with specific religious services. The Lancaster Mikvah Association runs a mikveh on Degel Israel's property. Central PA Kosher Stand is operated at Dutch Wonderland , a seasonal amusement park. This area

2030-536: The English in Maryland and Virginia (and later, Pennsylvania). By the 1720s, the colonists considered the Conestoga Indians as a "civilized" or "friendly tribe," having been converted in large part to Christianity, speaking English as a second language, making brooms and baskets for sale, and naming children after their favorite neighbors. The outbreak of Pontiac's War in the summer of 1763, coupled with

2100-619: The Fugitive Slave Act, which required citizens to cooperate in the capture and return of fugitive slaves. The disturbance increased regional and racial tensions. In the North, it added to the push to abolish slavery. In September 1851, the grand jury returned a "true bill" (indictment) against 38 suspects, who were held at Moyamensing Prison in Philadelphia, awaiting trial. U.S. District Judge Robert Cooper Grier ruled that

2170-585: The Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country , is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , United States. As of the 2020 census , the population was 552,984, making it Pennsylvania's sixth-most populous county. Its county seat is also Lancaster . Lancaster County comprises the Lancaster metropolitan statistical area . The county is part of the South Central region of

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2240-532: The Susquehanna. In 1730, the Wright's Ferry services were licensed and officially begun. Starting in mid-1730, Thomas Cresap , acting as an agent of Lord Baltimore, began confiscating the newly settled farms near present-day Peach Bottom and Columbia, Pennsylvania , which at the time this was not named but was later called Wright's Ferry. Believing he controlled this land under his grant, Lord Baltimore wanted

2310-715: The Susquehannock a mighty nation, experts in war and trade. They were beaten only by the combined power of the Five Nation Iroquois Confederacy , after colonial Maryland withdrew its support. After 1675, the Susquehannock were totally absorbed by the Iroquois. A handful were settled at "New Conestoga," located along the south bank of the Conestoga River in Conestoga Township of the county. They helped staff an Iroquois consulate to

2380-469: The Veterans’ Memorial Bridge. In 1730, John Wright was granted a patent to operate a ferry across the Susquehanna River and subsequently established the ferry, known as Wright's Ferry , with Barber and Blunston. He also built a ferry house and a tavern on the eastern shore, north of Locust Street, on Front Street. The two-story log tavern, operated by John Wright, Jr. until 1834, consisted of

2450-494: The antebellum years. Many residents of German descent opposed slavery and cooperated in aiding fugitive slaves. Local Lancaster County resident Charles Spotts found 17 stations. They included hiding places with trap doors, hidden vaults, a cave, and one with a brick tunnel leading to Octoraro Creek , a tributary of the Susquehanna. As a wealthy Maryland wheat farmer, Edward Gorsuch had manumitted several slaves in their 20s. He allowed his slaves to work for cash elsewhere during

2520-474: The areas along the waterways for thousands of years, and established varying cultures. Historic Native American tribes in the area at the time of European encounter included the Shawnee , Susquehannock , Gawanese , Lenape (or Delaware), and Nanticoke peoples , who were from different language families and had distinct cultures. Among the earliest recorded inhabitants of the Susquehanna River valley were

2590-471: The canoeist guided a lead animal with a rope so that the others would follow. If the lead animal became confused and started swimming in circles, however, the other animals followed until they tired and eventually drowned. In 1724, John Wright, an English Quaker, traveled to the area (then a part of Chester County) to explore the land and proselytize to a Native American tribe, the Shawnee, who had established

2660-550: The children of duly registered enslaved women at the age of twenty-eight, was a compromise between anti-slavery conviction and respect for white property rights. By the time the U.S. Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 , Pennsylvania was effectively a free state, although it did not formally abolish slavery completely until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment . It did, however, pass

2730-438: The country. Wright and town citizens renamed the town “Columbia” in honor of Christopher Columbus in the hope of influencing the U.S. Congress to select it as the nation’s capital, a plan George Washington favored. A formal proposal to do so was made in 1789. Unfortunately for the town, when Congress voted in 1790, the final tally was one vote short. Later, Columbia narrowly missed becoming the capital of Pennsylvania. Harrisburg

2800-456: The county at the state or federal level hold state house seats anchored in Lancaster city and its closest-in suburbs. Lancaster County has only ever voted for a Democratic presidential nominee once since James Buchanan in 1856, a resident of the city of Lancaster. In 1964, Lyndon Johnson carried Lancaster County as part of his 44-state landslide, winning by 798 votes, less than a single percentage point. Franklin D. Roosevelt failed to carry

2870-433: The county during any of his four successful runs for president, coming within 4,000 votes of carrying it in his 46-state landslide of 1936. In 2008, Barack Obama became the first Democrat to garner 40 percent of the county's vote since Johnson, and the second since Franklin D. Roosevelt. Donald Trump earned 56 percent of the vote in both campaigns, with Joe Biden becoming the third Democrat in 80 years to win 40 percent of

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2940-467: The county's vote. John Wright (businessman) Wright was a Quaker who first came to the area in 1724 to explore the land and preach to the local Native Americans. In 1730, he was granted a patent to operate a ferry across the river and subsequently established the ferry with Robert Barber and Samuel Blunston. He also built a ferry house and a tavern on the eastern shore of the Susquehanna, north of Locust Street, on Front Street in Wright's Ferry, as

3010-477: The fugitive slaves who sought refuge in the area. Gorsuch obtained four warrants and organized four parties, which set out separately with federal marshals to recover his property—the four slaves. He was killed and others were wounded. While Gorsuch was legally entitled to recover his slaves under the Fugitive Slave Act , it is not clear who precipitated the violence. The incident was variously called

3080-636: The grey top buggies of the Amish in Lancaster County. Other buggy-using Old Order Mennonites in Lancaster County are subgroups of the Stauffer Mennonites with 283 baptized members and the Reidenbach Mennonites with 232. There are about 4,000 members of the car-driving Weaverland Old Order Mennonite Conference . A congregation of 83 members of the Old Order River Brethren lives there as well as 84 members of

3150-497: The income from the lands. He believed he had a defensible claim established on the west bank of the Susquehanna River since 1721, and that his demesne and grant extended to forty degrees north. If he allowed Pennsylvanians to settle his lands without reacting, he believed, their squatting would constitute a counter claim. Cresap established a second ferry in the upper Conejohela downriver from John Wright's , near Peach Bottom. He demanded that settlers either move out or pay Maryland for

3220-460: The ineffective policies of the provincial government, aroused widespread settler suspicion and hatred against all Indians in the frontier counties, without distinguishing among hostile and friendly peoples. On December 14, 1763, the Paxton Boys , led by Matthew Smith and Capt. Lazarus Stewart , attacked Conestoga, killing the six Indians present, and burning all the houses. Officials sheltered

3290-399: The land that are mutually agreed upon by the grantees and the property owner. After ceding their development rights, landowners continue to manage and own their properties and may receive significant tax breaks. The conservation easement ensures that the land will remain available for agricultural use forever. Lancaster Farmland Trust is a private, non-profit organization that works closely with

3360-689: The land with settlers, Lord Baltimore had forfeited his rights to a twenty-mile (32 km) swath of land. In 1767, a new Pennsylvania-Maryland border was officially established by the Mason-Dixon line . The names of the original Lancaster County townships reflect the diverse national origins of settlers in the new county: two had Welsh names ( Caernarvon and Lampeter ), three had Native American names ( Cocalico , Conestoga and Peshtank or Paxton), six were English ( Warwick , Lancaster , Martic , Sadsbury , Salisbury and Hempfield ); four were Irish ( Donegal , Drumore , Derry , and Leacock ), reflecting mostly Scots-Irish (or Ulster Scots ) from Ulster ,

3430-477: The location of the present-day Rotary Park Playground. Upon his death, Blunston willed the mansion to Susanna Wright, who had become a close friend. She lived there, occasionally visiting brother James, ministering to the Native Americans, and raising silkworms for the local silk industry, until her death in 1784 at the age of 87. The residence was demolished in the late 1920s to allow for construction of

3500-576: The men could be tried for treason . The only person actually tried was Castner Hanway, a European-American man. On November 15, 1851, he was tried for liberating slaves taken into custody by U.S. Marshal Kline, as well as for resisting arrest, conspiracy, and treason. Hanway's responsibility for the violent events was unclear. He was reported as one of the first on the scene where Gorsuch and others of his party were attacked, and he and his horse provided cover for Dickerson Gorsuch and Dr. Pearce, who were wounded. The jury deliberated 15 minutes before returning

3570-632: The nation in farmland preservation. Organizations such as the Lancaster Farmland Trust, the Lancaster County Agricultural Preservation Board, and multiple municipalities work in partnership with landowners to preserve their farms and way of life for future generations by placing a conservation easement on their property. A conservation easement restricts real estate development, commercial and industrial uses, and certain other activities on

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3640-413: The other animals followed until they tired and eventually drowned. Traffic heading west from Lancaster, Philadelphia, and other nearby towns regularly traveled through Columbia, using the ferry to cross the Susquehanna. As traffic flow increased, the ferry grew, to the point of including canoes, rafts, flatboats, and steamboats, and was capable of handling Conestoga Wagons and other large vehicles. Due to

3710-463: The ratio of Republicans to Democrats in Lancaster County now stands at 1.8 Republicans to 1 Democrat, down from a 3–1 advantage for the Republicans in the late 1990s. Even with these gains, the county is still powerfully Republican downballot; the only real pockets of Democratic influence are in the city of Lancaster. Reflecting this, the only elected Democrats representing a significant portion of

3780-473: The right-bank lands. Settlers believed they already had rights to these under Pennsylvania grants. Cresap drove off settlers by vandalizing farms and killing livestock; he pushed out settlers from southern York and Lancaster counties. He gave the abandoned lands to his followers. If a follower was arrested by Lancaster authorities, the Marylanders would break him out of the lockup. Lord Baltimore negotiated

3850-549: The row offices and all but one county commission seat are held by Republicans, and the GOP holds all but two state legislative seats covering the county. Republicans also hold a majority of registered voters in the county. In September 2008, the Democratic Party reached the benchmark of 100,000 registered voters for the first time in the county's history. The party had just 82,171 registered Democrats in 2004. As of 2008 ,

3920-602: The same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Little_Muddy_Creek&oldid=1085046682 " Category : Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Lancaster County ( / ˈ l æ ŋ k ɪ s t ər / ; Pennsylvania Dutch : Lengeschder Kaundi ), sometimes nicknamed

3990-677: The slow season. Upon finding some of his wheat missing, he thought his slaves had sold it to a local farmer. His slaves Noah Buley, Nelson Ford, George Ford, and Joshua Hammond, fearing his bad temper, fled across the Mason–Dixon line to the farm of William Parker , a mulatto free man and abolitionist who lived in Christiana, Pennsylvania . Parker, 29, was a member of the Lancaster Black Self-Protection Society and known to use violence to defend himself and

4060-631: The society of Jews settled in and about Lancaster," to be used as a place of burial. This cemetery is still used by Congregation Shaarai Shomayim; it is considered the nation's fourth-oldest Jewish cemetery. As of 2010, Lancaster County is home to three synagogues: the Orthodox Degel Israel; the Conservative Beth El; and the Reform Shaarai Shomayim. In 2003 Rabbi Elazar Green & Shira Green founded

4130-546: The southern border of the province and Lancaster County. Nine years of armed clashes accompanied the Maryland-Pennsylvania boundary dispute , which began soon after the 1730 establishment of Wright's Ferry across the Susquehanna River . Lord Baltimore believed that his grant to Maryland extended to the 40th parallel. This was about halfway between present-day Lancaster and the town of Willow Street, Pennsylvania . This line of demarcation would have resulted in Philadelphia being included in Maryland. New settlers began to cross

4200-512: The state. Lancaster County is a tourist destination with its Amish community being a major attraction. The ancestors of the Amish began to immigrate to colonial Pennsylvania in the early 18th century to take advantage of the religious freedom offered by William Penn , as well as the area's rich soil and mild climate. They were joined by French Huguenots fleeing the religious persecution of Louis XIV . There were also significant numbers of English, Welsh and Ulster Scots (also known as

4270-416: The town was called “Wright’s Ferry.” In 1738, James Wright built the Wright’s Ferry Mansion, the oldest existing house in Columbia, for his family. The structure can still be seen at Second and Cherry Streets. Samuel Wright, son of James and Rhoda Wright, was born on May 12, 1754. He eventually became the town proprietor and created a public grounds company to administer the land. Through his trusteeship,

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4340-455: The town was then known. The two-story log tavern, operated by John Wright, Jr. until 1834, consisted of a large room on either end connected by a passageway. When John Jr. married, he moved to York County’s western shore at Wright's Ferry West (later to be named Wrightsville), and built another ferry house and tavern. The ferry itself consisted of two dugout canoes fastened together with carriage and wagon wheels. When numerous cattle were moved,

4410-533: The town’s first water distribution system (later The Columbia Water Company) was established and created, as well as “The Washington Institute,” the town’s first school of higher learning, and the Locust Street Park, located next to what is now Locust Street and Route 462. In the spring of 1788 Samuel Wright had the area surveyed, and formally laid out the town into 160 building lots, which were chanced off by lottery at 15 shillings per ticket. "Adventurers" as purchasers were known, included speculators from many areas of

4480-406: The tribe's fourteen survivors in protective custody in the county jail, but the Paxton Boys returned on December 27, broke into the jail, and massacred the remaining natives. The lack of effective government control and widespread sympathy in the frontier counties for the murderers meant they were never discovered or brought to justice. Pennsylvania had a longstanding dispute with Maryland about

4550-532: The vast Amish and Plain-Sect communities of Lancaster County to ensure their farms will retain their agricultural value. Together with the Lancaster County Agricultural Preserve Board, the county has preserved more than 100,000 acres (40,000 ha) of preserved farmland in the county—a first in the nation. Lancaster County lies on the general track of the Appalachian Mountains . As a result, residual seismic activity from ancient faulting occasionally produces minor earthquakes of magnitude 3 to 4. On December 27, 2008,

4620-414: The volume of traffic, however, wagons, freight, supplies and people often became backed up, creating a waiting period of several days to cross the river. With 150 to 200 vehicles lined up on the Columbia side, ferrymen used chalk to number the wagons. Typical fares were as follows: Fares were reduced in 1787 due to competition from Anderson's Ferry, located further upstream, near Marietta. Wright’s Ferry

4690-410: Was 3.13. In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.8% under the age of 18 and 15.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.60 males. 5.58% of the population and 8.37% of the children aged 5–17 reported speaking Pennsylvania Dutch , German, or Dutch at home, while

4760-440: Was also settled by French Huguenots , who had fled to England and then the colonies in the late 1600s and early 1700s to escape Catholic persecution in France. Isaac LeFèvre and a group of other Huguenots settled in the Pequea Creek area. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 984 square miles (2,550 km ), of which 944 square miles (2,440 km ) is land and 40 square miles (100 km ) (4.1%)

4830-563: Was located immediately south of the Veterans Memorial Bridge along Route 462. In later years, Wright rented the ferry to others and eventually sold it. In 1729, after Wright had petitioned William Penn’s son to create a new county, the provincial government took land from Chester County to establish Lancaster County, the fourth county in Pennsylvania. County residents - Indians and colonists alike - regularly traveled to Wright’s home to file papers and claims, seek government assistance and redress of issues, and register land deeds. During this time,

4900-531: Was organized as the colony's fourth county. It was named after the city of Lancaster in the county of Lancashire in England, the native home of John Wright , an early settler. As settlement increased, six other counties were subsequently formed from territory directly taken, in all or in part, from Lancaster County: Berks (1752), Cumberland (1750), Dauphin (1785), Lebanon (1813), Northumberland (1772), and York (1749). Many other counties were in turn formed from these six. Indigenous peoples had occupied

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