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Pequea Creek (pronounced ''PECK-way'') is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

that runs for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed August 8, 2011 from the eastern border of Lancaster County and

Chester County, Pennsylvania Chester County (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Tscheschter Kaundi''), colloquially known as Chesco, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the De ...

to the village of Pequea, about above the

hydroelectric dam Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

at Holtwood along the Susquehanna River in Lancaster County.

History and notable features

The name of the creek is

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

for "dust" or "ashes", referring to a clan that once dwelt at the mouth of the creek. The stream flows through a pastoral landscape farmed extensively by Pennsylvania German farmers, generally members of

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

Amish The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churc ...

, and German-speaking

Reformed churches Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calv ...

. The

Old Order Amish The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsace, Alsatian origins. They are close ...

in this watershed were historically called ''Peckwayers'' to distinguish them from other Amish who lived along the Conestoga River watershed. The course of the stream is generally flat, though the last flow through a steeper, wooded gorge, rapidly changing from a placid stream to a twisting flume until reaching the last mile, which is backwater from the Susquehanna.

References

External links

U.S. Geological Survey: PA stream gaging stationsOld postcard view of Pequea Creek along trolley line near Colemanville, PAPequea Creek rapidshistory of Conestoga, PA along the Pequea
{{authority control Rivers of Pennsylvania Tributaries of the Susquehanna River Rivers of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Chester County, Pennsylvania

History and notable features

See also

References

External links