John Hanson "Hance" Steelman (1655-1749) - PLAQUE

Franklin Township, PA · est. 1954

Surveyed in 1766 and named for an estate in England, the Manor of Maske was a sprawling tract — some six by twelve miles — that the Penn family reserved for itself, its southern edge running along what became the Mason-Dixon Line. This marker stands near the manor's western boundary, one of two that trace the outline of the second largest reserved Penn estate in Pennsylvania. Together they map the reach of proprietary landholding on the eve of the Revolution.

Gettysburg, PA · est. 1954

From 1804 to 1859, the first courthouse of Adams County stood in Gettysburg's old Center Square, on land given by town founder James Gettys. A county's first courthouse was the heart of its civic life — where justice was administered, records kept, and the young community governed itself in the decades of the early republic. The building is long gone, but the square it anchored remains the center of the town Gettys laid out.

Straban Township, PA · est. 1954

Surveyed in 1766 and named for an English estate, the Manor of Maske was one of the great reserved tracts the Penn family set aside for themselves in colonial Pennsylvania — roughly six miles wide and twelve long, reaching south to what became the Mason-Dixon Line. This marker stands near its eastern boundary, a reminder of how the proprietors mapped and held vast blocks of land even as settlers pressed in around them. It was the second largest of the Penns' reserved estates in the colony.

Waynesboro, PA · est. 1955

In 1797 John Wallace Jr. platted the streets of a new town in the fertile Cumberland Valley and named it Waynesburg to honor General Anthony Wayne, the fiery Revolutionary War commander known as "Mad Anthony." The name was changed to Waynesboro in 1831 to avoid confusion with other Pennsylvania towns of similar name. The stone portion of Wallace's own house still stands nearby, a survivor of the founding era.