Northkill: March 2012

On Old US 22, just behind Roadside America, stands this memorial to the Northkill Amish settlement, which reads:

The first organized Amish Mennonite congregation in America. Established by 1740. Disbanded following Indian attack, September 29, 1757, in which a Provincial soldier and three members of the Jacob Hochstetler family were killed near this point.

The historical marker commemorates the Indian attack on the Jacob Hochstetler family, in which three members were killed and three were taken captive. Following this attack, the settlement steadily declined and eventually was abandoned.

Nearby flows Northkill Creek, which gave its name to the settlement. It descends from the Blue Mountains to the west. In the mid 1700s, this easternmost ridge of the Alleghenies formed the boundary between legal white settlement and Indian territory.

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