This cache is part of the 25 cache Pennsylvania State Parks America250PA GeoTrail. Have fun exploring and discovering Pennsylvania's history.
On September 19th, 1737, the infamous Walking Purchase started near Wrightstown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania with three young men placing their hand on a chestnut tree, simultaneously removing their hands and initiating what would be one of the most famous deceptive historical events in the history of our county, that eventually led to a violent uprising by Native American tribes.
After several meetings between native Forks Delawares and colonial leaders, the native tribes agreed to allow the sons of William Penn to purchase land that the colonists could walk in “a day and a half”, although many believe this distance agreement was not meant to be taken literally. In return for land, the natives would receive “500 pounds of powder, 600 pounds of lead, 45 guns, 100 blankets, 200 yards of cloth, 100 shirts, 40 hats, 40 pairs of shoes and buckles, 40 pairs of stockings, 100 hatchets, 500 knives, 100 hoes, 100 tobacco tongs, 100 scissors, 500 awls, 120 combs, 2000 needles, 100 flints, 20 looking glasses, 2 pounds of vermillion, 100 tin pots, 25 gallons of rum, 200 pounds of tobacco, 100 pipes, and 24 dozen garters.”
A trial walk was conducted to determine the most efficient and quickest route, over the least difficult terrain, determining the straightest path would be to the northwest, over existing Native American roads and then following along the Lehigh River and through the Lehigh Gap, into present day Carbon County. It was determined that the “day-and-a-half” walk would terminate somewhere along what is now the Blue Mountain, just several miles northwest of where Beltzville State Park is now located.
When the actual walk began on September 19th, the three young men conducting the walk were joined by a colonial observer on horseback, as well as three Native American observers. As the walkers began to pick up pace, making this anything but a walk, the Native American observers left the walk either due to the quickened pace, and/or because of the blatant cheating they were observing. After the first full day, the “walkers” had run so much of the route that they made it into what is now northwestern Northampton County. By the second morning, the “walkers” had made their way through Lehigh Gap, along the eastern bank of the Lehigh River, crossing what is now Aquashicola Creek, and making their way over the Pohopoco Creek, just a couple miles west of the present-day Sawmill Trail section of Beltzville State Park.
Although the exact termination point of the Walking Purchase is unknown to this day, it is believed to have been terminated a few miles northeast of Jim Thorpe, either along the base of the Blue Mountain, or just on top of the mountain near present-day Route 903. When the colonists terminated the walk, five chestnut oaks were marked by placing stones in the forks of the trees. As word of the cheating spread through Native American tribes in the region, this started a series of many savage wars between colonists and Native Americans, eventually displacing Native American tribes further west, and eventually out of Pennsylvania.
Photo Credit: Route of The Walking Purchase through Lehigh Gap, into Carbon County (page 49). Branch, J. (2024). The Indian Walk…a new view of the Walking Purchase.
For more information about this state park and its amenities, please visit the website: Beltzville State Park | Department of Conservation and Natural Resources| Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
