Sullivan County
Laporte, Sullivan County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Formed March 15, 1847 from Lycoming County. Named for State Senator Charles C. Sullivan, who was active in securing its creation. Laporte, the county seat, was incorporated 1853. County is home of Eagles Mere (long a noted resort) and Worlds End State Park.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Sullivan County was created in 1847 out of Lycoming County, taking its name from state senator Charles C. Sullivan, who pushed for its formation. Laporte became the county seat in 1853. In the wooded highlands here, Eagles Mere grew into a celebrated mountain resort and Worlds End became a beloved state park.
Why it matters
One of Pennsylvania's smallest and most rugged counties, Sullivan reflects how the Appalachian highlands drew both frontier settlers and, later, city-dwellers seeking mountain retreats.
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Related people
- ¡ Charles C. Sullivan
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Celestia
Laporte Township, PA ¡ est. 1999
In 1850 Peter E. Armstrong founded Celestia on this remote mountaintop, envisioning his followers as 'wilderness exiles' preparing a 'City of Heaven' for the millennium. In 1864 he took the extraordinary step of deeding the land to Almighty God 'and to His heirs in Jesus Messiah' â a title the county could not tax, leading it to sell the property in 1876 to Armstrong's own son. Peter struggled to sustain his religious utopia until his death in 1887, and the settlement faded into the woods.
Pennsdale Meeting
Muncy Township, PA ¡ est. 1947
By 1799 enough members of the Society of Friends had settled this stretch of the West Branch valley to build a proper meeting house for worship. Quakers were among the earliest organized communities to plant themselves on the central Pennsylvania frontier, and their plain meeting house anchored a growing settlement in the decades after the Revolution.
Muncy
Muncy Creek Township, PA ¡ est. 1952
Laid out in 1799 by Benjamin McCarty, Muncy took its name from the Munsee, a band of the Delaware (Lenape) who inhabited the West Branch Susquehanna valley before European settlement. The place had long been a hub of movement: four important Indian paths â the Shamokin, Wyalusing, Wyoming, and Towanda â met near here. The new town simply formalized a junction that Native travelers had used for generations.
Muncy
Muncy, PA ¡ est. 1952
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