Manor of Maske
Straban Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Surveyed in 1766. Named for an estate in England. The Manor was about 6 miles wide and 12 miles long with the southern boundary at present Mason-Dixon Line. It was the second largest reserved estate of the Penns in Pennsylvania. The eastern boundary line of the Manor was near this point.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
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.
Why it matters
The manor system reveals how proprietary families controlled land and settlement in colonial America, shaping who could own the ground that later towns and farms were built upon.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association0.7 mi away
- Ticket to the Past - Unforgettable Journeys0.8 mi away · 35 Carlisle Street, Gettysburg, PA
- The David Wills House Museum0.8 mi away · 8 Lincoln Square, Gettysburg, PA
- Adams County Historical Society0.8 mi away · 625 Biglerville Road, Gettysburg, PA
- Beyond the Battle Museum0.8 mi away · 625 Biglerville Road, Gettysburg, PA
- Gettysburg Museum of History0.9 mi away · 219 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, PA
Attractions
- John Eisenhower Bridge3.8 mi away · Waterworks Road
- Sachs Covered Bridge4.1 mi away
- Sachs Covered Bridge4.1 mi away · Waterworks Road, Gettysburg, PA
Food & drink
- Mason Dixon Distillery0.5 mi away · 331 East Water Street, Gettysburg, PA
- Li's Buffet0.6 mi away · 165 York Street, Gettysburg, PA
- Chinatown Kitchen0.8 mi away · 25 York Street, Gettysburg, PA
- CJ's Takeout & Late Nite Bites0.8 mi away · 150 Carlisle Street, Gettysburg, PA
- Upper Crust Pizza0.8 mi away · 19 York Street, Gettysburg, PA
- Starbucks0.8 mi away · 1 Lincoln Square, Gettysburg, PA
Places to stay
- Remembrance Inn0.3 mi away · 871 York Road, Gettysburg, PA
- Days Inn0.3 mi away · 865 York Road, Gettysburg, PA
- Super 80.3 mi away · 869 York Road, Gettysburg, PA
- Americas Best Value Inn0.5 mi away · 983 York Road, Gettysburg, PA
- Hilton Garden Inn0.6 mi away · 1061 York Road, Gettysburg, PA
- The Brafferton Inn0.7 mi away · 44 York Street, Gettysburg, PA
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old Courthouse
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.
Manor of Maske
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.
Rock Chapel
Huntington Township, PA · est. 1947
Methodism spread across the American backcountry in the 1700s through humble meeting houses like this one, first raised in 1773 as the region's earliest Methodist house of worship. The congregation rebuilt in 1849, and that second structure still stands about a mile up the side road. It endures as a quiet monument to the plain, itinerant faith that took root on the colonial frontier.
John Hanson "Hance" Steelman (1655-1749) - PLAQUE
Liberty Township, PA · est. 1977
John "Hance" Steelman, born to Swedish parents along the Delaware in 1655, spent a long life as an Indian trader and interpreter across Maryland and Pennsylvania. Fluent in the languages of commerce and diplomacy on a shifting frontier, he became the first European settler in this Adams County valley. The tablet marking his memory was first placed in 1924 and renewed for the nation's bicentennial.