Plum Tree Massacre

Long before the lumber barons made 4th street their home, the area played an important role in Williamsport's history.

On June 10, 1778 the rich area would become forever remembered. Not for large, luxurious estates, but for impetuous bloodshed. American Indians and British Tories occupied a common plum thicket which grew nearby. The two armies hid between the trees and planned their violent attack on the local frontiersmen. An eventual surprise attack led to the scalping and murdering of 12 settlers. Shockingly 6 of the victims were children and 2 were women.

Shortly after, most of the other settlers left town and retreated to other areas of the state. The surprise invasion was deemed to be a short lived victory, eventually the settlers returned and the area thrived immensely. That very same plum field where so much adversity occurred helped to feed the local citizens for another century after the massacre. Today the plum tree thicket is long gone, and has been ironically replaced with a church.