David Zeisberger - PLAQUE
Coudersport, Potter County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Erected as a memorial to David Zeisberger, who encamped near this place on the night of October 8, 1767, when on his way from Bethlehem to the mouth of Tionesta Creek to visit the Indians on the Allegheny River. He was accompained by two Delaware Indians, Anthony and Papunhank. This visit led to the establishment of the various Moravian missions among the Delaware in Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. David Zeisberger was, so far as all records show, the first white man to pass through the primeval forests of the upper Allegheny River.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
On an October night in 1767, the Moravian missionary David Zeisberger camped near this spot, guided by two Delaware companions, Anthony and Papunhank, as he journeyed from Bethlehem toward the Allegheny. The trip opened the way for the Moravian missions that would take root among the Delaware across western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. Tradition holds him the first European to travel the primeval forests of the upper Allegheny.
Why it matters
Zeisberger's work bound the histories of the Moravian church and the Delaware people together, a rare and fraught experiment in coexistence on the eve of the Revolution.
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Related people
- · David Zeisberger
- · Papunhank
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Allegheny River
Allegany Township, PA · est. 1947
High in Potter County rises the modest headwater of the Allegheny, a river whose importance far outstrips its quiet source. For centuries it carried Native travelers, and later French and British traders and westward-bound settlers, deep into the interior. Winding hundreds of miles to Pittsburgh, it joins the Monongahela to form the mighty Ohio, one of the great arteries of the American continent.
David Zeisberger
Allegany Township, PA · est. 1947
In October 1767, Moravian missionary David Zeisberger traveled through this remote stretch of forest, bound from Bethlehem toward the Delaware communities to the west. Renowned for living among Native peoples and mastering their languages, Zeisberger devoted his life to missions on the frontier. His route through this untouched country was among the earliest recorded European journeys across the region.
Allegheny Portage
Port Allegany, PA · est. 1949
Here the waters of two great river systems nearly meet, and travelers long exploited the gap. The roughly 23-mile Allegheny Portage carried canoes and cargo overland from the West Branch of the Susquehanna, up Portage Creek to a "canoe place" near this point, where boats could be relaunched down the Allegheny toward the Ohio country. Native people and, later, pioneers used this crossing to move between the eastern and western drainages of Pennsylvania.
Allegheny Portage
Shippen Township, PA · est. 1949
Long before roads crossed the mountains, travelers moving between the Susquehanna's West Branch and the Allegheny River faced a 23-mile overland carry that began at a "canoe place" near this point. Native peoples and later pioneers hauled their canoes north to Portage Creek, then took to the water again near present-day Port Alleghany. The route stitched two great watersheds together across the Pennsylvania wilderness.