Easton
Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Key center of travel, trade and industry at the Forks of the Delaware since the days of the Indian. Laid out in 1752 by William Parsons. Site of several Indian peace councils. The home of Lafayette College.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Set where the Lehigh joins the Delaware, Easton grew at the ancient Forks of the Delaware, long a meeting ground before Europeans arrived. Surveyor William Parsons laid out the town in 1752 for the Penn family, and its councils drew colonial officials and Native delegations to negotiate the uneasy terms of frontier life. In the following century it became home to Lafayette College, cementing its place as a hub of travel, trade, and learning.
Why it matters
Easton's Forks of the Delaware were a crossroads where Native diplomacy, colonial expansion, and later American industry and education all converged, making it a microcosm of Pennsylvania's frontier story.
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Related people
- · William Parsons
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Heckewelder House
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This 1810 house recalls John Heckewelder, the Moravian missionary who spent decades among Native peoples on the frontier as a preacher, interpreter, and keen observer of their lives. His written works on American Indian languages and customs became important early sources, drawn on by scholars and even by novelists shaping the nation's image of the frontier. In an age of mounting conflict and displacement, Heckewelder tried to bridge two worlds through faith and the written word.
Gemein Haus - PLAQUE
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