Susquehannock Village at Lemoyne
Lemoyne, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Archaeological excavations near here in the early 2000s uncovered a palisaded Susquehannock village dating from the early 1600s. Fragments of iron, brass, and glass beads indicated contact with Dutch traders and the English settlement of Jamestown, Va., between 1610 and 1624. Research at the site has led to an enhanced understanding of this Native American nation, including its settlement patterns and the internal organization of its villages.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Excavations near Lemoyne in the early 2000s revealed a palisaded Susquehannock village from the early 1600s, its ground scattered with iron, brass, and glass trade beads. Those artifacts trace early contact with Dutch traders and the fledgling English colony at Jamestown between 1610 and 1624, when goods moved along Native networks long before Europeans settled the region. The findings deepened understanding of how the Susquehannock organized their villages and their world on the eve of sustained colonial pressure.
Why it matters
The site captures a pivotal moment when a powerful Native nation was drawing European goods into its own trade world, decades before colonists reshaped the Susquehanna Valley.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Marcus A. Reno
New Cumberland, PA · est. 2001
Marcus A. Reno, whose farm lay near here, is remembered for one of the most scrutinized moments in American military history. As a major in the 7th U.S. Cavalry, he led a battalion at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876; while George Armstrong Custer and the men with him were annihilated, Reno and most of his command dug in and survived. Earlier, during the Civil War, he had helped defend this stretch of Pennsylvania against Confederate incursions.
George Croghan (c.1718-1782)
Hampden Township, PA · est. 2021
Around 1740 the Irish immigrant George Croghan set up a trading post on this ground and built it into one of the most far-reaching British trade networks in colonial America. Reaching west into the French-contested Ohio Country, he learned Native American languages and customs to secure the furs that Europe craved. For three decades he was among Britain's most important go-betweens at treaty conferences with Indian nations.
Simon Girty
Susquehanna Township, PA · est. 2001
Born near this spot, Simon Girty became one of the American frontier's most divisive figures. Captured by Native forces in 1756 as a boy, he spent years among the Senecas, mastering their language and ways, and later served the American army as an interpreter before deserting in 1778. Thereafter he led British and allied Native war parties against frontier settlements and remained hostile to the United States through the War of 1812, dying in exile in Canada.
Patton's Fort
Lower Paxton Township, PA · est. 1947
Somewhere near this spot stood Patton's Fort, a base for the Paxton Rangers who patrolled the gaps of the Blue Mountains during the French and Indian War. From the Susquehanna River to Swatara Creek, these frontier militiamen guarded farmsteads and mountain passes against raids between 1756 and 1763. Theirs was a grinding, dangerous vigil along an unsettled border.