Lancaster County, PA Summer Camps

About Lancaster County, PA

Lancaster County , sometimes nicknamed the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country , is a county located in the south central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , in the United States . The City of Lancaster is the county seat . As of 2010 the population of the county was 519,445. Lancaster County forms the Lancaster Metropolitan Statistical Area , the 99th largest of 361 MSAs in the U.S. The County of Lancaster, locally pronounced /?læ?k?st?r/ , is a popular tourist destination.

History of Lancaster County, PA

The area that became Lancaster County was part of William Penn 's 1681 charter, and John Kennerly received the first recorded deed from Penn in 1691. Although Matthias Kreider was said to have been in the area as early as 1691, there is no evidence that anyone actually settled in Lancaster County before 1710. Lancaster County was part of Chester County, Pennsylvania until May 10, 1729, when it became the fourth county in the state. Lancaster County was named after the city of Lancaster in the county of Lancashire in England, the native home of John Wright, one of the early settlers . Six other counties were subsequently formed from territory directly taken, in all or in part, from Lancaster County: Berks , Cumberland , Dauphin , Lebanon , Northumberland , and York . Many other counties were in turn formed from these six. Indigenous peoples Native tribes in the area included the Shawnee , Susquehannock , Gawanese , Lenape , and Nanticoke peoples . Among the earliest recorded inhabitants of the Susquehanna River valley were the Iroquoian -speaking Susquehannocks , whose name meant "people of the muddy river" in Algonquian . They were also known as the Conestoga , from their principal village , Kanestoge , known to the English as Indiantown. They were viewed by European settlers as a friendly tribe, converted to Christianity , who made brooms and baskets for sale, and named children after their favorite neighbors.

Lancaster County, PA Summer Camps