The "Lancaster County: History and Fun All Tied Into One!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Pulled up an old story from a few years ago that listed the names of towns in Lancaster County that had rather unusual or perhaps repugnant names given to them years ago.  Towns with names such as Bareville, Blue Ball, Bird-In-Hand and even Intercourse have been part of Lancaster's heritage for hundreds of years and aren't going to change any time soon.  It's what draws attention to some of Lancaster's cities as well as draws tourists to the towns.  But, there are also quite a few names of towns or locations in Lancaster County that possess Native American names and carry Native American backgrounds to them. All the major streams in Lancaster County have Native American names.  It isn't quite clear whether the Susquehanna River has a Native American name since the origin of Susquehanna varies according to different sources.  In one case Susquehanna comes from the Lenapi (or Delaware Indian) term Sisa'we'hak'hanna, which means "Oyster River."  The Lenapi tribe were known for farming oysters from the river.  They also were known to have lived in Washington Boro, also called Ka'ot;sch'ie'ra.  

Map of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania showing the
NativeAmerican names associated with towns
and rivers.  Click on the image to enlarge.

The entire area of Southern Lancaster County was called Sisa'we'- hak'hanna'- unk by the Lenape tribe.  Yet again, in another case, the origin of Susque- hanna, from earlier Sasquesa- hanough, was the name of an Iroquoian people in an unidentified Eastern Algonquian language.  The entire area of southern Lancaster's Conestoga river is derived from Kanastoge which means "place of the immersed pole."  The Conestogians were Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans who lived in the area adjacent to the Susquehanna river and its tributaries.  Running through the center of Lancaster County is the Pequea Creek which was named for the Piqua tribe of the Shawnees.  In the town of Columbia there was a Shawnee Run and to the north of Lancaster County is the Cocalico Creek which means "place where the snakes gather in dens to pass the winter."   The Conewago Creek divides Lancaster from Dauphin County and gains its name from the Ganowungo tribe, meaning "at the rapids."   To the northeast of the county runs the Conoy Creek which is the name for the Conoy tribe which was permitted to settle in Western Lancaster County.  The Chikiswalungo Creek eventually became known by the Native Americans as "the place of the crawfish."  In 1817 a war with the Seminoles in the southeastern United States led to the name of a small village in the north-center of Lancaster County called the Village of Seminole even though there was never a single Seminole Indian in the place.   So, as you can see, Lancaster County is rich in Native American history, but still draws many visitors and tourists due to the rather unusual names given to the small towns spread throughout its 984 square miles.  Change the names and they may not take the time to visit.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.