I find it so amazing to look at these ruins and see the way they used stones of all sizes to make the buildings and walls. It was a time where they used what was available to build with. Really cool to see.
Such a gorgeous place...beautiful workmanship on the ruins and amazing furnace!!! Envy the bikeriders...Id love to ride here!!! Love your footage! One of my favorites!!!
I'm not from here...but moved to Marietta, PA first in 2006, and then have lived in Lancaster ever since. I love learning about the area. Its quite a beautiful, and lovely place. Especially having grown up in Southern Jersey where the terrain is mostly farm land, and wooded areas, but not so much forestry and woodlands as found in Eastern PA. Its breathtaking in Autumn. Thank you for recording your travels here.
Just up the road from Chickies Rock is Halderman's Mansion. They have Pow Wow's there and it is also haunted. Very old stone house right on the Susquehanna River.
I have been to Chickes Rock overlook and Northwest River Trail many times, but never knew any of these ruins were there. Thanks for taking us along on your explore!
I like the way you do the video. I have walked these Since I was young and I cannot much these days and I can tell where you are when you record your walk. Ignore those people. They definitely do not know what they are talking about
What a fun video WW! It's a place I've been to more than once over the years. Even did some ghost hunting there years back. So Thanks Kindly and Hike on Conrade! DaveyJO
So much history here. After the Revolutionary War a lot of the Lancaster settlers found themselves in hot water because being German they didn't support the war and perhaps fought for the British. The German's in Easton Pa chased out the Irish that fought in the Revolution. Two of my direct ancestor's where chased out.
I can't believe I have lived in Lancaster County for 2 years and haven't made the time to check this park out. It's definitely on my list for the spring or a warm winter day.
I live local and learned some new history, I walked past and even stood at the native American structure and had no idea what I was standing in. Even the iron history i know of some but i learned some new things. This is so cool thank you for aharing this.
In the early days of Columbia the area west of those railroad tracks the the tunnel, was a large lake. Unfortunately I no longer remember what happened to that lake. I'm surprised the signage in that area doesn't mention that lake and there are photos of that area that include the lake. I like it when you "give perspective."
Thanks Cliff this is one of my favorite locations you shared with us ,and I do remember watching the first one when you climbed down the side of that huge hill ... Allot has changed since then.. Great stuff
Lived in Marietta for years. Chickies hill is not fun to drive down in the winter and several people have died falling off of those rocks. Used to be a big party spot for the locals but I stayed clear of it just because it seemed everytime I went there I encountered a copperhead or two and one time there was a lot of them. Smelling freshly cut cucumber? Look down!
Never even knew they extended the trail until you did one of your other videos there. We still haven’t been back to check that out but hopefully soon. Thank you as always! Merry Christmas!
Chickies Rock use to connect to the York co. side and the river went thru Lancaster 1000 years ago.. Chickies Rock was formed by intense heat, that's why the stone has a curvature to it, Geologist have come from all over the world to study this.... Down river in Maryland Roberts Island was formed by the same event of intense heat..
I ve read that the chickies rock train tunnel was haunted. Also a county cop told me to be careful at the park(overlook) because of people looking for sexual encounters in the evenings. So be careful.
How about the true story of the Irish railroad workers that were killed building the railroad in Lancaster County? The truth was hushed up for years and it finally came out, well worth investigating.
You should check the swatara creek park on route 72 between pine Pine Grove and Lickdale you will find a lot of old structures, the government bought the places from the people to flood the area but they still have not flooded it to make the dam they were going to.
So enjoyed the rock, stonework, tunnel & furnace was awesome!! I do love your "B Roll" footage great perspective. Apple Snitch story was interesting. I would have to be a Snickers Snitch at your picnic. Lol Just beautiful explore!! thanks! :)
I live 2 minutes away from there go there as much as I can very cool, Columbia is not bad just alot of idiots fill with slum lord's messing up the town I try to take care of my place but others can't even paint there houses it's sad.... trash in there yards they'll let sit for years lately I been thinking of selling
"There is a tradition that the Indians who formerly inhabited this country used to punish their enemies by blindfolding them and leading them in that condition to the verge of Chicki's Rock, whence the unhappy victims were plunged headlong into an awful eternity." - From the diary of Thomas Pym Cope, September, 1800.
Nice find , in regards to the petrified wood known as cliffs and rocks. Maybe it could be possible that they used to wood and over time and perhaps floods, turned into what we call rocks. Keep an open mind and look at how trees grow and the process of deteriorating trees. There are countless examples I can show you as evidence to what I have stated. Take care.
Everywhere you go there are flat rocks made into walls. There must have been a lot of people who could build those and a big source for that type of rock.
I think it's more exciting risking your life by climbing down a steep hill to find something like that iron furnace, but no matter how you reach the site, it is definitely impressive.
How about what happened to the Conestoga Indians in Lancaster? Did you know they were buried along the edge of the local cemetery and when the railroad came through they dug up the bones? What happened to them from there only God knows.
How many times have they sent you back to the trail.? Sounds like could have been a real apple snitch, abandoned or run away child scared of adults stealing food.
Freight line that im pretty sure is Norfolk Southern still.As a child I used to play and fish a bit further south down the tracks.If your ever in the area again Cliff.A couple miles south of Columbia down river road/441 is a rail trail entrance at the bottom of Turkey Hill.I think you did a video there if i remember correctly.Paw paw fruit one maybe?Any how if you enter at Turkey Hill entrance to rail trail and head south a couple miles there are three old coal shoots that dump out into the river behind Safe Harbor dam.I've never seen anything like them and had to find a very old man that grew up in the area to find out what they were.Just seems like something that might interest you.They are pretty cool.
A bit late in finding this video, but I can fill in some holes. You can go out almost any weekend and find people climbing the rocks. It's used by both beginners and experts and you'll see people 20 feet off the ground and halfway up the rock formation. The train tracks are now NS, they use to belong to the Pennsylvania Railroad and they did run passenger service from Harrisburg to Baltimore along this line (presumably with GG1 engines, thus the reason for the catenary poles, even though they're not used anymore). The trail itself follows an old canal (and later a rail line) At the 16.40 mark, the fill that he's talking about actually came from Philly and the excavation of Independence Mall. It's a large area to study, but if anyone ever decided to do some excavation, I'd bet they'd find some colonial period artifacts from Philadelphia here at this spot, in western Lancaster County (a little info about that area can be found here: tinyurl.com/yc63v7hx)
