The Haldeman Mansion Preservation Society recently announced the National Park Service (NPS) has recognized the Native American heritage of the Haldeman Mansion's property in Bainbridge and three other properties in its vicinity. On May 28, NPS placed these properties on the National Register of Historic Places under the designation the Locust Grove Archaeological District.
The district is an ensemble of archeological sites representing what is known as a "persistent place," that is, a location that attracts long-term, repeated uses. The factors that made this setting attractive were fertile and well-drained high river terraces near the mouth of Conoy Creek and the area's being a nexus of lines of communication and travel. It offered land routes in the cardinal directions and allowed movement by canoe up and down the river. This was a prime location for camps and hamlets of earlier periods, from the first settlers of the Late Pleistocene epoch through the Middle Woodland period, as well as the inhabitants of the local area in the post-European contact and modern eras. There are also sites near the district with Paleoindian components.
The district's known Native American settlements span the Late Prehistoric/Protohistoric/Early Historic periods (circa A.D. 1250-1750). Here there were repeated settlements by peoples of the Shenks Ferry, Luray, and Susquehannock traditions, as well as early historic refugee groups like the Conoy (Piscataway) who had migrated to the area under pressure from European settlement and related economic and political forces.
The Haldeman Mansion Preservation Society said the Locust Grove Archaeological District is notable in the National Register of Historic Places because it documents a broad time span, contributes resources in an archaeological district, and reflects a wide range of local and immigrant cultures. Two of the sites, Conoy Town and its cemetery, appear to be nationally significant relating to the theme of the European contact period's interactions in the northeast. The latter are recognized by a nearby Pennsylvania Historical Marker along Route 441.
The sequence of settlements documents the transition from Native American communities based on incipient agriculture and settled village life to the peoples who struggled to come to terms with the effects of disease, depopulation, conflict, and forced migrations in the 16th through 18th centuries. It illustrates the transition in settlement patterns from dispersed, undefended hamlets to larger, permanent fortified villages that occurred prior to European contact, as populations grew and resource competition led to conflict.
The district overlaps Haldeman Mansion proper, which was placed on the National Register in 1977 in recognition of its Colonial, Early American, and Scientific Heritages. The Scientific Heritage is recognized by a Pennsylvania Historical Marker along Route 441.
This achievement was made possible through the efforts of the Lancaster County Conservancy; the Lancaster County Community Foundation's Extraordinary Give Program; Tim Smedick, First Preservation Services, Lancaster; and Paul A. Raber, director of archaeological services, Heberling Associates Inc., Alexandria. For more information, readers may visit http://www.haldemanmansion.org.
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