First Englishman in Harrisburg
January 18th, 2010
Thousands of year ago the area that is now the city of Harrisburg PA was once the home of a few Native American tribes. In the early 1600s life as the natives would know it was going to change forever. The Susquehanna tribe was living there when the English worked their way up the the Delaware and Ohio rivers along in exploration and trade possibilities. Captain John Smith was the first to arrive in the area. He came up the Susquehanna River from Virginia and made the first contact with the native tribe. It wouldn’t be until the the early 1700s that the English traders would come and trade furs with the natives.
Captain John Smith’s story has been told many times and even made into modern movies like the Disney film Pocahontas. Mel Gibson was the voice of John Smith. He wrote many books and maps of his adventures which encouraged other settlers to follow along the trail he left in order to find a place they liked and make it their home. He was the early explorer who envisioned his fellow countrymen living free on there own land making a new country that would grow rich.
Along with his travel memoirs Captain Smith wrote about the interaction with the native tribes he encountered in the areas he traveled into. The stories that made its way into the movies was about the daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Indians, Pocahontas. Historians have been debating the truth around his story for hundreds of years. When they have put all the stories together, even the one that states that John Smith was an exaggerator, it does add up to be consistent with some of the basic facts that exist. If you come stay in one of the elegant hotels available in Harrisburg makes sure you get out and see the rich history that would follow the initial contact of Captain John Smith.
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