The subsequent history of the county will be continued in connection with its more important towns.
Table of Contents
Smoketown
About half a mile from Columbia, on the road leading to the Chicques, among the hills, was the place called Smoketown. Many now living may remember it. A little stream wound along among the hills; three or four little cabins were built near together, and a few acres of ground were sometimes cultivated by the inhabitants. It was the rendezvous for strolling beggars and such kind of people: many a midnight brawl has been witnessed here. All vestiges of this settlement are now gone, and the land belongs to the Hogendoblers.
The first proprietors being all related or connected with each other, the greatest harmony and friendship existed between them. In those days tea was looked upon as too effeminate for men. There were no stores nearer than Lancaster, and luxuries which all partake of now, were little known then. There was great difficulty in getting shoes, especially for children.
The defeat of Braddock’s army, in 1755, produced great excitement here. All the females and children of the place, to the number of about 30, went to Philadelphia and spent the winter. They occupied the house on Chestnut-street, which stood on a part of the ground where the Arcade now is. The men who remained fortified the storehouse of J. L. Wright.
Marietta
Marietta is situated on the left bank of the Susquehanna, 3 miles above Columbia. It was incorporated as a borough in 1812, and the adjoining villages of Waterford and New Haven were included in the borough. It contains about 100 dwellings, a Presbyterian church, a female seminary, and about 500 inhabitants. An act was passed for erecting a bridge here in 1814; but the rival project at Columbia obtained precedence, and defeated that of Marietta. Anderson’s ferry was originally the well-known name of this place. Anderson owned about one half of the town plot, which was then his farm. He was a man of great enterprise and public spirit. He cut the road through the hills towards York, and built extensive accommodations for his ferry on the opposite side; and when he had finished them all, the bridge was built at Columbia, and he found himself a ruined man. Maytown, a small village two miles in the interior from Marietta, and Elizabethtown, on the Harrisburg turnpike, were laid out many years before Marietta, and not long after the commencement of Lancaster. The township containing these villages is called Donegal, and was originally settled by Scotch-Irish. The venerable Presbyterian church of Donegal, about 100 years old, is still standing about four miles north of Marietta. Rev. James Anderson, who emigrated from Scotland in 1709, after preaching for some years at Newcastle, and then at New York, was called to the church of “New Donegal” in 1726. He died here in 1740. He is said to have been too rigidly Scotch in his Presbyterian notions for the people of New York, who then inclined towards Congregationalism, or towards the lax Presbyterianism of South Britain. The presbytery of Donegal was the parent of that of Carlisle and others west of it.
All this region was famous in early times, especially during the Revolution, for the convivial and sprightly spirit characteristic of the Irish. Fiddling, dancing, and carousing, or what were then known as hup-se-saws, were as common as eating and drinking.
Bainbridge
Bainbridge is an ancient village at the mouth of Conoy cr., 9 miles above Columbia. It was formerly the site of Dekanoagam, the village of the Conoy or Ganawese Indians. (See page 391.) In the early colonial records a number of flat-headed Indians are mentioned as having visited the Susquehanna Indians early in the last century, and they were allowed to remain by the provincial government.
We have received from Dr. David Watson, of Bainbridge, in this county, several curiosities discovered in the neighborhood of that place by the laborers employed on the Pennsylvania canal,—among which are a stone tobacco pipe, very neatly formed, a rude tomahawk, a small brass basin, two keys, a small globular bell, and some broken pieces of Indian pottery; but the greatest curiosity is the skull-bone of an Indian, which materially differs in form from any that we have ever seen belonging to the human species. The skull is remarkably large, and of an oblong or oval form; the bones themselves of which it is composed have been very thin, much more so than is usually the case. What is very remarkable, in the general outline of the skull, is the peculiar manner in which the frontal bone which forms the forehead recedes from the root of the nose, and the superciliary ridges on which the eyebrows rest, and rather lies on the top of the head than juts over the rest of the face, as is usual. Thus there is no forehead, properly so called; the cranium in this respect presenting rather the appearance of the skull of a dog than a human being. The Choctaw tribe of Indians were formerly in the habit of flattening their heads in this manner, by binding metallic plates on the foreheads of their male children. A chief having this singular appearance was in Philadelphia in the year 1796. Indians inhabiting the source of the Missouri are to this day in the habit of moulding their skulls into this form. The Incas or kings of Peru, and all those partaking of or being within a certain degree of consanguinity to them, (and they only,) were allowed to enjoy the imperial privilege of having their heads thus modelled. It may be worthy of observation, that this artificial conformation is not known in the slightest degree to impair the mental operation. The skull above mentioned is that of a male, probably about 45 or 50 years of age.—Lancaster Gazette, 1829.
John Haldeman, an early pioneer, first built a mill at Locust Grove, below Bainbridge. This was for a long time the principal mill in the whole region. Flour was then hauled in wagons to Chester, until the people learned to construct and navigate arks, when they found a more natural market at Baltimore. John Haldeman left a number of sons, one of whom lives at Harrisburg, and another has extensive mills and a splendid residence just under the shadow of the bold precipice of Chiques rock, above Columbia.
Mount Joy and Richland
Mount Joy and Richland form together a continuous and very thriving village on the Harrisburg railroad, 11 miles N. W. from Lancaster. Mount Joy was laid out by Jacob Rohrer in 1812, and disposed of by lottery; and Richland a year or two afterward, by several individuals. They have Presbyterian, Methodist, and other churches. Near the end of the splendid railroad bridge which here crosses Little Chiques Creek, is the flourishing and well-known Female Seminary of Rev. N. Dodge. It was commenced in 1837. In 1839 a large and commodious edifice was built, and appropriately dedicated, as its corner-stone indicates, “to God and our country.” Mount Joy Institute, designed exclusively for boys, under the charge of Mr. J. H. Brown, is situated in the village. It is also the result of individual enterprise.
Litiz
Litiz is a beautiful village belonging to the Moravians, 8 miles north of Lancaster. The houses are principally of stone, arranged along one street with a public square in the centre. The square and streets are shaded with trees, and the village has the air of neatness and order characteristic of the sect. The population may be about 400. There is but one tavern in the place; and a stranger is much better accommodated there than in towns where it is thought, by politicians, “necessary for the public convenience” to license half a dozen. All the lots are owned by the society, and leased under their regulations only to members of the society, except the tavern, which is kept by a stranger. Annexed is a view of the public square. In the centre is the church, with a cupola. Adjoining the church, on the left, is the minister’s dwelling. On the left of the view, at the end of the square, is the celebrated Female Seminary, now under the charge of Rev. Eugene A. Friauf. On the right is the Academy for boys, under the charge of Br. John Beck. In the rear of the church is the “dead house,” to which persons are carried immediately after their death, previous to interment. The Moravians are celebrated for their musical taste: there is a fine organ in the church; and the villagers have a band who are always ready, on proper occasions, to entertain strangers who desire to hear them.
The first place of worship erected by the United Brethren in Warwick township was of wood, and was opened for divine service Feb. 9th, 1749. Litiz was laid out in 1756, and the congregation dates its commencement from the 15th of June, of the same year. The present church, of stone, was consecrated Aug. 13th, 1787. The Young Ladies Seminary was opened as a boarding school on the 26th Oct., 1804. Rev. Mr. Friauf, who now has charge, is a native of Bethlehem, but was educated in Germany.
Manheim
Manheim, a village 5 miles west of Litiz, was laid out at an early day by Mr. Steigel, and was famous for its glass and iron works. It now contains about sixty or eighty dwellings.
Strasburg
Strasburg is an ancient village, 8 miles southeast of Lancaster, built along both sides of the road for a mile and a half. It was never regularly laid out as a town, but seems to have grown up by the attraction of cohesion among the earlier German emigrants. The ancient road from Lancaster to Philadelphia ran through it, and took its name of the Strasburg road from the place. It was first settled about the same time with Lancaster. Its growth was very gradual, not more than one or two houses being built in a year. The inhabitants were nearly all Germans. The father of Dr. Sample, who lives near Paradise, was the first and only Englishman in the place at the time of the revolution. The place was formerly known as Peddlehausie, a German name, signifying Beggarstown. Mr. George Hoffman’s grandfather hauled the logs for the first house. It was a place of considerable note until the construction of the turnpike and railroad, which have diverted the travel. A branch to connect it with the railroad was contemplated, but has not yet been constructed. It contains a Methodist, a Lutheran, and a Presbyterian church, and an academy. About four miles southeast of Strasburg is the Mine ridge, upon the top of which is an ancient copper mine, wrought, as is supposed, by Swiss miners from Maryland, about the time of William Penn. Attempts in modern days to reopen the mine have only resulted in loss.
Paradise
Two or three miles northeast of Strasburg, near the railroad, is the village of Paradise, famous for its pleasant name. It was first settled many years since by Mr. Abraham Witmer and his family, who built a mill there. When it was made a post-town in 1804, and needed a name, he remarked that to him it was a paradise, and it has been so called to this day. A new Episcopal church was erected here in 1843. The Witmers still abound in this region.
New Holland
New Holland is a neat village, 12 miles northeast from Lancaster, in a rich limestone region. It is built on one long street, well shaded with trees, and is distinguished by an appearance of thrift and comfort. The place was settled long before the revolution by German emigrants. Mr. Primmer was one of the first settlers. It contains Lutheran, German Reformed, and Methodist churches. The old Lutheran church bears the date of 1763, and is said to have been preceded by an older one of logs.
Ephrata
Ephrata is situated on the Cocalico creek, at the intersection of the Reading road with the Harrisburg and Downingtown turnpike, 13 miles N. E. from Lancaster, and 38 from Harrisburg. New Ephrata is a more modern village, half a mile south of Ephrata proper, though the name is applied to the whole neighborhood. Ephrata is one of the earliest settlements in the county. Its history is interesting on account of the peculiarity of the sect which founded it, and the associations connected with it. See: The Society of Ephrata.
The other more important villages of this county are Elizabethtown, Falmouth, Washington, Millerstown, Neffsville, Soudersburg, Intercourse, Reamstown, Adamstown, Hanstown, Warwick, Charleston, New Market, Petersburg, Fairfield, Little Britain, Ephrata, Safe Harbor, Hinkletown, and Swopestown. Some of these are villages of considerable population; others are merely clusters of houses and stores at the intersection of roads.
Source
Day, Sherman, Historical collections of the State of Pennsylvania : containing a copious selection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc., relating to its history and antiquities, both general and local, with topographical descriptions of every county and all the larger towns in the state, Philadelphia : George W. Gorton, 1843.
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