Susquehannock State Park

The 224-acre Susquehannock State Park is on a wooded plateau overlooking the Susquehanna River in southern Lancaster County. Besides the awesome view, the park offers a variety of recreational opportunities for year-round fun. While exploring the Chesapeake Bay in 1608, Captain John Smith first encountered the Susquehannocks. In his journal, Captain Smith described them as "seemed like Giants to the English" but archeological research shows the Susquehannocks to have been of average size. It is unknown what the Iroquoian-speaking Susquehannocks called themselves, but the name that graces the river, the people and the state park is derived from the name, Sasquesahanough, given to Captain Smith by his Algonquian-speaking American Indian interpreter. The word has been translated "people at the falls" or "roily water people" referring to the Susquehannock's home by the river. This small tribe had only one village by present-day Conestoga, but controlled the important trade routes along the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay. During the Beaver Wars, 1649 to 1656, the Susquehannocks formed an alliance with Maryland to acquire rifles and successfully fought the much larger Iroquois Confederacy. A brief peace followed then the Susquehannocks again waged war with the Iroquois until suffering a major defeat in 1675. The Susquehannocks moved to old Fort Piscataway, below present-day Washington DC. Problems on the frontiers led to the mobilization of the militias of Maryland and Virginia and in confusion, they surrounded the peaceful Susquehannock village. Five Susquehannock chiefs went to negotiate and were murdered. The Susquehannocks slipped out of the fort at night and harassed settlers in Virginia and Maryland, then eventually moved back to along the Susquehanna River. Around 1677, the Susquehannocks moved to New York and intermingled with their Iroquois relatives. In 1697, some Susquehannocks returned to the Conestoga area and built a new village. In the early 1700s, the Susquehannocks migrated to Ohio where they intermingled with other tribes and lost their identity as a distinct nation.