Pike county, named after Continental Army General Zebulon Pike, was created on March 26, 1824, from parts of Wayne County. As with many other places in Pennsylvania, the original inhabitants of Pike County were the Leni Lenape. In 1694 Benjamin Fletcher, Governor of the colony of New York, sent a contingent of settlers from Ulster County, New York, to Pike County, to serve as an English bulwark against French encroachment. It was the first time New Yorkers created a bedroom community in Pike County. Early settlers lived in peace with the Leni Lenape, but with increased settlement came land disputes. In 1737, the Walking Purchase, a treaty brokered by the Penn family with the Leni Lenape, enabled the Penn family and their associates to claim an area of 1,200,000 acres, including what would become Pike County. In what would later be viewed as a land swindle of immense proportions, the Lenape were driven out. In the early 1800’s, coal was discovered in Pike County. Following the War of 1812, the British restricted coal shipments from Britain to New York, and New York was starved for fuel. This need was the impetus for the building of the Delaware and Hudson Canal in 1825. Coal barges crossed the Delaware River by means of rope ferries; these proved tremendously inefficient. In 1848, to alleviate bottlenecking, John Roebling designed a suspension aqueduct to carry canal traffic over the Delaware River and ease traffic. The Roebling Aqueduct still stands. In the 1850’s the New York and Erie Railroad supplanted the canal, and in 1898 the canal ceased operations. In 1926, the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company began work on a dam on the Wallenpaupack Creek at Wilsonville, and its accompanying electric plant. Completed in 1928, the project resulted in the creation of Lake Wallenpaupack, Pennsylvania’s largest artificial lake. Now, thanks to the efforts of Gifford Pinchot, almost half of Pike County is preserved as forest, parks, or gamelands. Pike County’s close proximity to New York City has spurred massive population growth over the past twenty years, but it is its natural beauty that has made it a prime destination for all people, residents and visitors alike.