Susquehannock Indian site gains national recognition

[Adsos Letter]

Source: CARL LINDQUIST The York Dispatch
Posted: 02/03/2009 10:48:23 AM EST

The last known village of the Susquehannock Indians is on the National Register of Historic Places more than two decades after an application for the listing was submitted.

The Byrd, or lower, Leibhart site along the Susquehanna River in Lower Windsor Township was formally listed on the register on Jan. 14, according to register records.

The site is important because it helps demonstrate how drastically the Susquehannocks' way of life was altered because of English settlement, said Paul Nevin, president of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology.

They lived on the Byrd Leibhart site in longhouses for a few years sometime around 1676 before the Seneca Indians drove them into Maryland. The site contains the remnants of the village and about 200 known burials, Nevin said.

The site is important because it helps document the impact of change in the Susquehannocks' culture brought on by contact with Europeans, Heinrich said. The burial site also can provide information about how they died.

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