AREA HISTORY: Peach Bottom Village and Ferry, York County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/york/ _______________________________________________ History of York County, Pennsylvania. John Gibson, Historical Editor. Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886. _______________________________________________ PEACH BOTTOM VILLAGE AND FERRY – Page 764 The region about this ferry, on both sides of the stream, up and down its banks and on the alluvial islands in it, was a favorite resort for the Susquehannock Indians, noted for their size, prowess and endurance, according to the description of them by John Smith of Pocahontas fame, in the Jamestown colony, who ascended the Susquehanna to within a few miles of Peach Bottom in 1608, while exploring the Atlantic coast. Indian relics, such as mortars, pestles, battle-axes, darts, spear-points, etc., have often been found in this locality. Indian hieroglyphics are carved on the rocks and cliffs bordering the stream at different points. In the river opposite Safe harbor, a distance up the stream from Peach Bottom, are the interesting Sculptured Rocks. The Indian inscriptions on these rocks have been viewed by a number of archaeologists and reproductions of them were made. They have been greatly injured by time and weather, and ice floes, so that the aboriginal tracings are scarcely recognizable now. On Mount Johnson Island the relic-hunters find evident traces of the Indians. Susquehanna itself is an Indian name and one of its many meanings given is “River of Islands,” purely conjectural though. About one-half mile below the Maryland line are rocks called the “Bald Friars” which contain many curious inscriptions made by our aborigines. These have become famous, especially those on Mile’s Island and Barrow’s Island, where every large boulder contains some figures, which are, however, considerably defaced now. In the year 1725, Thomas Johnson (the father-in-law of Col. Thomas Cresap, who owned a ferry near the mouth of the river and was afterward noted in the history of York County as the leader of the Maryland intruders) obtained a Maryland title for the large island at Peach Bottom called “Mount Johnson” there being a mountain at the head of it. On the western shore of this island there is now a valuable shad fishery. Settlers under Maryland titles used this ferry as a crossing place as early as 1725. About this time Johnson named it Peach Bottom on account of the abundance of the American redwood or “Judas tree” which in spring time and early summer made the hillsides along the stream look as if they were covered with large peach orchards. June 20, 1752, Nathaniel Morgan, John Griffith, Alexander Wallace, Hugh Whiteford and Archibald White reported to the court at York that they had “laid out a road as directed, from Peach Bottom Ferry, so called, to the road leading to the town of York.” Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat, was born opposite Peach Bottom in Fulton Township, Lancaster County. Much of the land of this region was taken by John Cooper, and Episcopalian, who came from Kendall, England, about 1720. As early as 1725 he came to Peach Bottom. Some of his descendants reside here, and his remains are interred on the farm of Levi Cooper. John Cooper was married to Agnes Gill, whose father lived on the site of Baltimore before the city was built. They had five sons and two daughters. The names of the sons were John, Stephen, Alexander, Nicholas and Thomas. The last-named, the grandfather of Levi Cooper, in 1774 built the house now owned by his grandson. Thomas Cooper married Mary Abercrombie, by whom he had four children. He died in 1799. Stephen Thomas Cooper, his son, was married to Kezia Bell, of Washington County, Penn. He was a member of the Pennsylvania legislature in 1826, 1827 and 1828, and died in 1855. Levi Cooper, who owns the homestead property, is his son. John Kirk, and English Quaker, established a mercantile business, and conducted a grist-mill at Peach Bottom for many years. He began in 1798, and afterward Maj. McConkey became associated with him, and eventually succeeded him. (See biographical part of this work, page 165). A postoffice was established here in 1815. The first postmaster was John Kirk, who continued in the position until 1826. Since then there have been thirteen appointments, as follows: September 1, 1826, James McConkey; December 5, 1835, Andrew McConkey; December 11, 1839, James McConkey; January 8, 1855, Jerry Kirk; March 29, 1865, Isaac Parker; June 22, 1868, A. F. Wiley; June 15, 1869, Elmira Geiger; February 16, 1870, M. C. Geiger; November 18, 1870, Elias Fry; October 11, 1871, C. G. McGlaughlin; April 9, 1875, S. D. Fry; March 9, 1876, John Q. A. McConkey. Joseph Webb, and English surveyor, who once was an employe in the government land office, and who in 1810 started Palmyra Forge at Castle Fin, made a plan for a town at Peach Bottom Ferry in 1815, which he named “Sowego.” It proved only to be a paper city of 150 lots, a number of which were disposed of by lottery. The old McConkey mansion was the only house built on the site of the proposed town. Joseph Webb died in 1840, and willed sixty-nine acres of his land to the Pennsylvania Colonization Society. Slate Point is an interesting geological curiosity, located a short distance below Peach Bottom Ferry. It is the eastern terminus in York County of the valuable vein of slate. This point is a perpendicular bluff 320 feet from the Susquehanna, and is much visited by lovers of romantic scenery. From its summit there is a fine view up and down the river, the waters of which seem to pass almost underneath the observer. To the west of it a hill rises 150 feet higher. Near by a quarter of a century ago was opened a valuable slate quarry. Indian Hill, near by, is a romantic spot. Shad fishing was an important business. The fishing places are known as Independent Battery, Boyd’s Battery, Hawkin’s Battery, etc. As many as 3,000 shad were caught in a seine fifty yards long at Slate Tavern, near Cully’s Rapids in the Susquehanna. Gen. LaFayette, on his way to Yorktown, Va., in 1781, with his army, crossed the Susquehanna at Bald Friar Ferry, a few miles below Peach Bottom.