William Penn's First Walking Purchase
Upper Makefield Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
This site, Towissinck or Jerricho Creek, was the northern boundary of Penn's 1st purchase of Native American land on July 15, 1682. The land purchase was measured by the distance a man could walk in a day and a half, starting from the mouth of the Neshaminy Creek. It is believed Penn walked the distance himself, covering what is now Bristol, Falls, Middletown, Newtown, Lower and part of Upper Makefield Twps.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In the summer of 1682, only months after receiving his charter, William Penn began acquiring land from the region's Lenape inhabitants under a distinctive measure: the distance a man could cover on foot in a day and a half, walked out from the mouth of Neshaminy Creek. This spot along Towissinck (Jerricho) Creek marked the northern edge of that first purchase, which took in the ground that became Bristol, Falls, Middletown, Newtown, and the Makefield townships. Tradition holds that Penn made the walk himself, at an unhurried pace that reflected his early intent to deal fairly.
Why it matters
This first, comparatively honest transaction stands in sharp contrast to the notorious 1737 'Walking Purchase' that his heirs would later stretch to defraud the Lenape—making it a benchmark for how quickly good faith between colonists and Native nations could erode.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the summer of 1682, Pennsylvania was brand new — not yet a settled colony but a fresh idea backed by a royal charter. William Penn, its Quaker founder, envisioned a place shaped by his religious convictions, including a belief that the land's Native inhabitants deserved fair and honest dealing rather than conquest.
The region along creeks like Neshaminy and Towissinck was home to the Lenape people, whose relationship with the land was rooted in generations of use and understanding. Into this world came Penn's early efforts to acquire territory for his colony, only months after his charter was granted.
That timing matters. This was the very beginning of the great, centuries-long, and often tragic story of European settlement pressing westward — and, at this particular moment, it began with an attempt at good faith.
People & events
According to the marker, this site along Towissinck, or Jerricho, Creek marked the northern boundary of Penn's first purchase of Native American land, dated July 15, 1682. The method of measuring it was unusual and memorable: the distance a man could walk in a day and a half, starting from the mouth of Neshaminy Creek.
Tradition holds that Penn walked the distance himself. The land taken in stood over the ground that would become Bristol, Falls, Middletown, Newtown, and the Makefield townships — a substantial piece of what is now Bucks County.
The image of the colony's founder personally pacing out the boundary carries real symbolic weight. Whether or not every detail is certain, the story preserved here is one of a leader who at least intended to set a tone of fairness and restraint in his dealings with the Lenape.
Its place in the American story
This first purchase gains its deepest meaning from what came later. Decades afterward, in 1737, Penn's heirs invoked a similar 'walk' to acquire land — but stretched the measure ruthlessly, using trained fast walkers to seize far more territory than the Lenape had ever understood themselves to be granting. That notorious later episode became a lasting symbol of betrayal.
Against that backdrop, this 1682 boundary stands as a benchmark of an earlier, more honest moment. It marks the fragile beginning of relations between colonists and Native nations, before good faith gave way to the pressures of expansion and profit.
The contrast is the whole point. Together, the early purchase and the later one tell the larger American story in miniature: how quickly stated ideals of fairness could erode, and how the dispossession of Native peoples so often followed the language of agreement.
If you visit
A quiet creek makes an unlikely monument, but that is exactly what gives this spot its power. As you stand near the water that once marked the northern edge of Penn's first purchase, you are standing at a genuine origin point — the boundary of the ground that grew into much of Bucks County.
Let the ordinariness of the landscape work on you. There are no grand structures here, only the creek and the countryside, much as it might have looked when the boundaries of a brand-new colony were first being traced across it.
As part of a regional road trip, this site pairs powerfully with the wider history of Pennsylvania's founding. Come here to reflect not only on beginnings but on what was at stake in them — a moment when the relationship between newcomers and the Lenape still held the promise of fairness, before later generations let that promise slip away.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · William Penn
Related events
- · Walking Purchase of 1682
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Walking Purchase
Wrightstown Township, PA · est. 1949
At sunrise on September 19, 1737, three chosen walkers—Marshall, Yeates, and Jennings—set out from this spot to measure the land Pennsylvania claimed under the Walking Purchase. Over a day and a half, Edward Marshall pressed on past present-day Jim Thorpe, covering some 65 miles far to the north and west. The punishing pace stretched the purchase well beyond what the Lenape believed they had agreed to.
Playwicky Indian Town, 1682 - PLAQUE
Lower Southampton Township, PA · est. 1925
In the earliest years of Penn's colony, an Unami Lenape community known as Playwicky stood in the vale by the run and springs south of here. Their leader was Tammany, a chief of the Turtle clan who became famous for his dealings with William Penn and, later, as a folk symbol of American liberty. In 1683 he and his people sold Penn the land between the Neshaminy and Pennypack Creeks.
Katharine Drexel (1858-1955)
Bensalem Township, PA · est. 2004
Born to a wealthy Philadelphia banking family, Katharine Drexel turned her inheritance toward the people her era most neglected. After professing her vows in 1891 she founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and spent more than four decades building mission schools and churches for Native and African American communities, including Holy Providence School near this spot. In 2000 the Catholic Church recognized her as a saint.
Walking Purchase
Tinicum Township, PA · est. 1949
The 1737 Walking Purchase depended on three hired walkers, but the punishing pace took its toll. Near this point Solomon Jennings gave out after roughly 19 miles from the start at Wrightstown, leaving Edward Marshall to carry the walk to its grueling end. Jennings turned toward his home on the Lehigh River.