The Kishacoquillas Valley, known locally as both Kish Valley and Big Valley, is an enclosed anticlinal valley in the

Ridge-and-valley Appalachians The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands division. The physiographic province is divided into three se ...

of Central

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, and is located in Mifflin and

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...

counties.

History

John Armstrong named the Valley in 1759 after a friendly

Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

chief. This Shawnee name translates to "The snakes are already in their dens." Joseph Yoder portrayed the late nineteenth-century Valley in his semi-autobiographical novel, ''Rosanna of the Amish'' (1940).

Amish and Mennonites

The

Amish The Amish (, also or ; ; ), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, church fellowships with Swiss people, Swiss and Alsace, Alsatian origins. As they ...

settlement in the Kishacoquillas Valley was founded in 1791. It is the third-oldest Amish settlement still in existence. In 2013 there were 26 Amish church districts, indicating an estimated Amish population of more than 3,000 people. Twelve Amish and

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

groups live in the valley, "one of the most diverse expressions of Anabaptist-Mennonite culture anywhere in North America," according to John A. Hostetler, a renowned scholar of the Amish. The Kishacoquillas Valley is home to the Nebraska Amish, the most conservative Amish group, the Byler Amish and the Renno Amish.Jon Guss: ''Amish and Mennonite Groups in the Big Valley''
2007 Kishacoquillas Valley has many similarities to the Lancaster region in the state. Accents identical to those heard in the Lancaster region are frequently heard in the valley, and some of the population continue to speak a dialect of the

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

known as

Pennsylvania Dutch The Pennsylvania Dutch (), also referred to as Pennsylvania Germans, are an ethnic group in Pennsylvania in the United States, Ontario in Canada, and other regions of both nations. They largely originate from the Palatinate (region), Palatina ...

(from Deutsch, meaning German).

Geography

The valley lies between

Stone Mountain Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome Inselberg, monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park, east of Atlanta, Georgia. Outside the park is the city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state of Ge ...

ridge to the north and Jacks Mountain ridge to the south. It drains via the Kishacoquillas Creek through the Mann Narrows water gap in Jacks Mountain to the

Juniata River The Juniata River () is a tributary of the Susquehanna River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed August 8, 2011 in central Pennsylvania. The river is ...

U.S. Route 322 U.S. Route 322 (US 322) is a , east–west United States Highway, traversing Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The road is a spur route, spur of U.S. Route 22, US 22 and one of the original highways from 1926. A portion of it at one time was c ...

follows the creek through the gap, and is the main travel route across the valley, running east and west between

Harrisburg Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...

and State College. The Mifflin County Airport is also located in the valley.

Principal towns

* Belleville * Milroy * Reedsville * Barrville * Allensville * Airydale

References

{{Reflist

External links

Kishacoquillas Valley Historical SocietyKishacoquillas Valley R.R.
historical site Regions of Pennsylvania Valleys of Pennsylvania Landforms of Mifflin County, Pennsylvania