The next destination on my Virtual Hike was Elk Lick Township, Pennsylvania.

The previous destination on my virtual hike was Oldtown, Maryland.

The virtual hike route to Elk Lick Township initially followed the path of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.

It turned north and headed up toward Cumberland, Maryland so that it could cross through the gaps in the Ridge and Valley section of the Allegheny Mountains. Many of the routes to the west go through this area including railroads and roads. They typically follow old Indian trails.

Here you can see an Allegheny Mountain pass that the Virtual Hike went through near Cumberland.

The route continued up to Elk Lick Township in Somerset County, Pennsylvania to a spot near Meyersdale.There was an Amish Settlement in this area that was founded in the 1770’s by some of the members of the Northkill Amish settlement that had disbanded after the massacre there.

When they first started the settlement there were Native Americans that were still living in the area. However, they moved away in the late 1790’s after the Native Americans were defeated at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in Ohio. This brought an end to the Northwest Indian Wars and the tribes moved further west.

There was a Leni Lenape settlement at Long Field where the families wintered or stayed when the men were out hunting. When the Leni Lenape headed west they left a young child with one of my ancestors in the Amish community. They must have known how difficult their lives would be in the coming years.

Family tradition is that this young Leni Lenape girl was my 4th Great Grandmother. The family later moved on to Sugarcreek, Ohio when the frontier opened up to settlement.

There is a lot of discussion about Sarah Hostetler or Indian Sallie as she is known, but for now I want to just share the family tradition that has come down to me.

The next destination on my Virtual Hike is to Washington County, Pennsylvania where some interesting family and religious history took place.

I have been setting shorter distances between destinations for better motivation for my daily walking and so far it has been working. I have been walking more each day and have made good progress on my Virtual Hike. I am still a few stops behind on my posts.

I am now heading west and have some interesting stops planned that are family or history related.

Steven

Images in this post are from Google Maps and Street View

WWRI – Written With Real Intelligence