Schoch Blockhouse
Middlecreek Township, Snyder County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
This pioneer refuge during the Revolutionary War era was located at a spring 100 yards south. Built on Matthias Schoch's tract about 1770 and in use until 1783.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
As the Revolutionary War reached the Pennsylvania backcountry, settlers along the Susquehanna's West Branch valley faced raids that made an isolated homestead perilous. Around 1770 a fortified refuge rose on Matthias Schoch's tract beside a reliable spring, a place where scattered farming families could gather behind timber walls when danger threatened. Such blockhouses served the frontier through 1783, until the fighting finally ebbed and the surrounding country grew safe enough to abandon them.
Why it matters
Frontier blockhouses like this one reveal how ordinary settler families defended themselves on the edges of the Revolution, far from the famous battlefields yet fully caught in the war.
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Related people
- · Matthias Schoch
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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