Shikellamy's Old Town - PLAQUE
Kelly Township, Union County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
On the plain stretching southeast from this ridge was situated the Indian village of Shikellamy's old town which was visited by Conrad Weiser in 1737, when on his way to Onondaga. Shikellamy was appointed vice-regent of the Iroquois Confederacy in 1745 and made Shamokin (Sunbury) his headquarters.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
On the plain below this ridge once stood the town of Shikellamy, the seasoned Iroquois leader who served as the Confederacy's overseer of the tributary peoples along the Susquehanna. The Pennsylvania interpreter Conrad Weiser passed through here in 1737 on one of his diplomatic journeys to the Iroquois council at Onondaga. In 1745 Shikellamy was named vice-regent of the Confederacy and made his headquarters downriver at Shamokin, today's Sunbury.
Why it matters
It marks a key node in the diplomacy between the Iroquois and colonial Pennsylvania that kept an uneasy peace on the frontier for decades.
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Related people
- · Shikellamy
- · Conrad Weiser
Related events
- · Iroquois-Pennsylvania diplomacy
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Shikellamy's Town
West Chillisquaque Township, PA · est. 1947
Before making Shamokin his main seat, the Oneida leader Shikellamy kept an earlier residence near this spot. As the Six Nations' vice-regent over the Delaware and other refugee peoples, he spent most of the years 1728 to 1748 governing Native affairs along the Susquehanna until his death at Shamokin, now Sunbury.
Buffalo Church
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Presbyterian settlers pushing into the Buffalo Valley organized this congregation in 1773, only to see it scattered when frontier warfare swept the West Branch country during the Revolutionary years. The faithful regathered and installed their first settled pastor in 1787, and their humble log meetinghouse of about 1775 gave way to stone in 1816 and brick in 1846. Each rebuilding marked a community putting down deeper roots in a valley it had nearly abandoned.
Warrior Run Church
Delaware Township, PA · est. 1947
Warrior Run Church takes its name from the region's earlier Native presence and stands as a landmark of frontier Presbyterianism. A log meetinghouse rose here in 1789 as settlers returned to the upper Susquehanna after the Revolution, and the present stone building dates to 1835; the Daughters of the American Revolution restored it in 1947.
The Sullivan Expedition Against the Iroquois Indians - Fort Freeland - PLAQUE
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