The "A Sad Happening In Lancaster County" Story

It was an ordinary day. Just found Indian Marker Road in Conestoga Township.  Exactly where MapQuest said it would be.  Only problem I encountered was I turned right, just as my directions said to do, when I should have turned left.  A couple of hundred yards before I made my right turn I encountered the farm where the 50 or so Native Americans, Mennonites and natural gas pipeline protestors camped yesterday and last evening.  They were not at the farm to protest anything, but to mourn the desecration of an area known as "Chief's Hill" which can be seen off in the distance, across the road from the farm where they are encamped.  The pipeline that was supposed to go through this south-western part of Lancaster County will no longer pass through here, but the farmer who owns the land where "Chief's Hill" is located has now decided to farm the site on his farm that was covered with shrub trees for ages.  

Piles of wood can be seen if his photo I took of the land
known as "Chief's Hill" along Indian Marker Road.

Indian Chief Carlos Whitewolf believes that the farmer is doing it out of spite since he's no longer being offered money for the rocky land since the protesters have changed the minds of the natural gas company about proceeding with the pipeline through this part of Lancaster County.  The chief said that the gathering yesterday was not a protest and he believes the farmer has the right to do what he wants on his land ..... but the land that he just bulldozed to knock down all the trees was a Native American burial mound and therefore sacred ground to the Native Americans.  

At the end of the road is a historical site plaque telling
the history of this area of Lancaster County.

The group that met yesterday met to offer a sign of peace to the spirits of the dead.  The farmer and his family have farmed the land around the hill for generations and allegedly never heard that the hill was a burial ground.  He has never encountered any bones or other signs that the land contained human remains.  About a half-mile down Indian Marker Road was an actual Indian Marker that was erected by the State and Local Historical Societies.  

A larger view.  Click on it to enlarge.

On it it states that this area was given to Native Americans by none other than William Penn in 1701 and that the land, primarily to the west of the marker, was the home of the Conestoga Indians.  Happens to be exactly right were the mound of earth called "Chief's Hill" is located.  Many in Lancaster County believe the farmer is doing irreplaceable damage to history and heritage just to grow a small area of hay or even worst, to get even.  Historians claim there is pretty strong evidence that the hill was a burial mound, since records from 1714 show that Conestoga Indian Chief Togodhessah claimed that their Queen Conguegos was buried on "Chief's Hill." In 1972 archaeologists found 90 graves and the remains of three houses in the immediate area.  You would think that there must be someway to legally stop the farmer and his bulldozer, but the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act shows that  private land is not protected under the act.  Here's hoping the farmer will stop his childish tirade and stop the desecration of the Native American gravesite.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.