Learn Our History

Our people have relied on the great Susquehanna river since time immemorial.

Hear about the origins of our people, and how we came to be in what is now southern Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Learn about the earliest known contact between our ancestors and the colonists.

Learn about the early diaspora, and its relationship to Bacon’s rebellion.

Learn about the establishment of Conestoga town and its relationship with French Indian trader Martin Chartier.

While our people have long been stereotyped as war-like and savage, the community at Conestoga was without weapons, and in total commitment to their treaty with William Penn.

How our people came to be erroneously known as the vanquished tribe

Learn about our history immediately post-massacre and see the documents that show there remained stakeholders to the 1701 treaty.

Learn about the first legally documented efforts to return our land at Manor Township .

An act introduced into the US House of Representatives to recognize our surviving tribe, and return the land at Manor township

See records confirming the American Indian heritage of our core families.

Learn about this core family, who were recorded specifically as Conestoga people, and who advocated for the rights of Indigenous people throughout the region.

Learn about two family lines who descend from students at Carlisle Indian School and the Holy Providence school

This bill passed unopposed, and would have established a reservation for survivors in Dauphin county, Pennsyvlania.

Learn about the modern tribe and our future goals.