What to do: Record the correct answer after visiting each location as specified in the image below. Here’s a printer-friendly PDF version. Copies are also available at the Uncharted Lancaster booth located near the Safe Harbor Dam Powerhouse. Get three in a row in any direction (up, down, side-to-side, or diagonally) to win a prize—a Native American replica arrowhead. Answer all nine for a special treasure—an 18″x24″ replica of Lancaster County.
Return the completed form to the Uncharted Lancaster booth before noon on Saturday, October 1, 2022, to claim your prize(s).
Home | Agnes | Lock | Rolling Mill | St. Mary’s | Ice Jam | Mystery Stone | Cedar Street | Haunted Gold | Petroglyphs | Limited Bandwidth
1. Agnes
Location: On the Safe Harbor Dam fishing platform, find the high water level markers on the dam wall. 39°55’29.4″N 76°23’21.6″W.
History Brief: At full load, 30 million gallons of water per minute pass through the turbines at Safe Harbor. With its record-setting rainfall for Pennsylvania in 24 hours, Hurricane Agnes changed that to 931,000 cubic feet per second, about five times the flow over Niagara Falls.
Clue: Record the height of the Susquehanna River at Safe Harbor on June 24, 1972.
2. Lock
Location: Just north of the River Road bridge that crosses the Conestoga River in Conestoga River Park. 39°56’23.0″N 76°23’12.8″W.
History Brief: During the 1800s, the Conestoga Navigation Company attempted the bold venture of turning Lancaster into a port city via the Conestoga and Susquehanna Rivers. This plan involved building a slackwater canal that ran a winding 18-mile course through a series of locks and several dams between Lancaster and Safe Harbor. Lock 8 is still visible today.
Clue: Standing at the northern end of the lock ruins, count the number of stones stacked in the first column on the left while looking downstream. Record the number. (one-digit number)
3. Rolling Mill
Location: The tennis courts at Safe Harbor Park. 39°56’01.7 “N 76°23’05.6 “W.
History Brief: Safe Harbor Iron Works was built to produce iron for the thriving Pennsylvania Railroad. The rolling mill was the largest of all the structures. It covered over an acre of ground and stood on the present Safe Harbor Park’s tennis court site. Inside the building, hot slabs of metal were passed between rollers. This action squeezed the iron to a specific thickness in the production of rails for the railroad. In the mid-1800s, Safe Harbor produced one-eighth of all rolled iron in Pennsylvania.
Clue: Find a 3D-printed gray medallion with black lettering. It is attached to a tree between the road and tennis courts, hanging around eye level. Record what’s printed on it. (two letters)
4. St. Mary’s
Location: The former location of St. Mary’s Catholic Church and graveyard. 39°56’07.4″N 76°22’37.8″W.
History Brief: In 1854, the Irish Iron Puddlers of Safe Harbor Iron Works built the beautiful St. Mary’s Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. This 40 x 62 feet stone chapel was located near the eastern end of Safe Harbor Spring Street. Today the church is gone, but its graveyard remains.
Clue: Another section of the cemetery contains the unmarked graves of Italian immigrants who helped build the nearby Enola Low-Grade Line. Find the plaque that commemorates the site. How many family names are listed? (two-digit number)
5. Ice Jam
Location: On the Safe Harbor Dam fishing platform, find the high water level markers on the dam wall. 39°55’29.4″N 76°23’21.6″W.
History Brief: On January 29, 1978, a combination of ice and melting snow caused the highest level of flooding ever seen at Safe Harbor Dam. It knocked out the electrical generating system at Safe Harbor Dam and forced a shutdown at Holtwood Dam eight miles downstream.
Clue: Record the height of the Susquehanna River river at Safe Harbor on January 29, 1978.
6. Mystery Stone
Location: Approximately 4 Conestoga Boulevard across the street from Conestoga River Park on Lancaster Conservancy property. 39°56’25.7″N 76°23’09.7″W.
History Brief: Hidden in the forest near the Conestoga River lies a huge rock outcropping covered with mysterious carvings. Local historian Earl Rebman first identified the boulder 50 years ago in his Conestoga River Watershed book. Rebman wondered what the hand pointed to, suggesting possibly buried treasure or a hidden mine.
Clue: Locate the mystery stone and identify the symbol hidden beneath my thumb in the image below. (five-letter word)
7. Cedar Street
Location: A short distance east of the pavilion in Safe Harbor Park, find the stone monument and plaque to the original village of Safe Harbor (shown below). 39°56’02.6 “N 76°23’01.8 “W.
History Brief: In 1846, when construction for the Safe Harbor Iron Works began. Almost overnight, this quiet rural area along the Conestoga transformed into a bustling community with 250 workers and their 500 family members who needed somewhere to live. Reeves Abbot & Company solved the housing crisis by building over 70 duplex frame dwellings complete with a system of arrow-straight streets such as Walnut, Cedar, Spring, Griffin, Willow, and Race.
Clue: Find the stone monument and plaque to the original village of Safe Harbor. Record the month the plaque was installed.
8. Haunted Gold
Location: In Conestoga River Park, find a grove of trees between the baseball field and the canoe launch. 40°02’35.6 “N 76°18’16.5 “W.
History Brief: In the winter of 1870, treasure hunters descended on Safe Harbor. Each night their lantern lights could be seen on the surrounding hills searching for the $4 million in buried gold obtained during the chaos of the French & Indian War. Complicating the endeavor was the seven-foot-tall “Indian Spirit,” who guarded the cache by moving it nightly.
Clue: In a grove of trees, find a 3D-printed gray medallion with black lettering. It is attached to a tree and hanging around eye level. Record what’s printed on it. (two letters)
9. Petroglyphs
Location: On the wall before entering the Safe Harbor Dam fishing platform, find the symbols in the concrete inspired by the nearby petroglyphs of Big and Little Indian Rock. 39°55’31.1 “N 76°23’19.5 “W.
History Brief: One of the oldest human-made artifacts in the Susquehanna Valley and one of the most significant archeological sites in the northeastern United States sits a few hundred yards below Safe Harbor Dam. It is the petroglyphs of Little Indian Rock and Big Indian Rock. These stone carvings are believed to be between 800 and 1,000 years old.
Clue: Record one of the petroglyph-inspired images found on the wall.
Home | Agnes | Lock | Rolling Mill | St. Mary’s | Ice Jam | Mystery Stone | Cedar Street | Haunted Gold | Petroglyphs | Limited Bandwidth