• ........THE LOCUST RIDGE HOUSE



     

       


    August 2005

    I have heard about this house and all its history from so many different people in our township. I gets quite the stir when you mention it.. Gen. Sullivan's March, Hungry Hill, The Battle of Locust Ridge.

    We did attempt to investigate this house one afternoon, traveled up a dirt road for a mile or so. The road was over grown with trees, since no cars have gone through for many years. We continued on foot till we reached the house.

    When we reached the house, it was so upsetting to see a piece of history in total disrepair. We were unable to enter due to structural problems, the house was in shambles. Teenagers obviously have been in the house because we found lots of empty beer cans, and graffiti all over saying "Keep out, I am the devil" "You will be sorry" We know this is the handy work of teens, and we were so disappointed and upset.

    There was nothing left to take pictures of except an empty shell, full of graffiti and broken doors, windows, stairs. Here is a picture of the house, in it's hay day. I did manage to get photos of the monument on Hungry Hill, and Sullivan Trail. named after General Sullivan after Sullivan's March.

    This is an actual interview with Ralph K. describing in detail the activity when he lived in this house. The photo is an actual post card dating back to 1769, it has been preserved by the K Family ever since!

    June 2007;

    The house is no longer there, Since our visit, it has been demolished. All that remains are memories of a past war, and the eerie details of the restless spirits that reside there..Have they moved on, or do they still linger and roam aimlessly?

    "Donna, We moved in there around 1966-67, my father moved us up here from Chester one night, most of the windows were broken, it was old then and the rent was real cheap but I cannot tell you how much. Oscar and Corte **** were the owners, they said that a Frenchman used to rent the home and one day they found him dead on the living room sofa with a look of fear on his face, of course being a Frenchman and dying would be scary enough, there are a couple of hundred US Military spirits waiting to kick his butt for being a weenie.

    Anyway, Oscar always said the house was haunted, just about every Friday night you could smell pies backing in the oven, in the kitchen, it was always different, but it did smell like pie. Oscar said that was his Aunt ? as she always did all the baking on Friday nights. There were always strange noises, things were always somewhere from where you set them, the front door would slowly open and when you got up to shut it, would slam shut.

    If you see Harold , he has a frame from the old Pocono Record, it was just called the Record then, it has a picture of the old house on it and the story is of the Battle of Locust Ridge, something they never taught us in school, anyway it tells of the battle that was fought on that hill and of some of they graves in the old grave yard and it says they marched from there to Hungry Hill, that is the monument on Sullivan Trail Road.

    Sam was at our home one night and the door opened as before, as he started to get up I said don't bother, the Frenchman will close it, about 10 seconds later the door slammed shut, his eyes almost bugged out. My mother was always afraid of the upstairs bedroom and only used it for storage, she also kept a dresser against the attic door, many days the dresser would be shoved away and she would blame it on one of us, one day it happened when she was the only one there, then she nailed the door shut."

    ~Ralph K~


    Submitted by Rick_CHIPS
    OK here is the real deal:

    Pennymite and Yankee War : Skirmish at Locust Ridge

    In the mid-1700’s the Wyoming Valley area along the Susquehanna River was purchased by Connecticut Susquehanna Company from the Iroquois Nation. The Company then petitioned the Connecticut colony to allow them to settle the area in the name of Connecticut. There is evidence that the settlers knew they were claiming lands lying within the Pennsylvania colony, however, they believed the title to the land granted to them by the Iroquois nation gave them the right to stretch the Connecticut colony into this area.

    The first Connecticut settlers arrived in the Wyoming Valley in 1762. They cleared the land, planted crops and then returned home. They came back the following year and continued to farm the area, built homes and also constructed a fort for protection. In mid-October of that year, the settlers were attacked by savages causing the loss of approximately twenty men. The remaining settlers were forced to flee into the woods for safety and eventually headed back to Connecticut.

    In 1768, the Connecticut Susquehanna Company decided to venture back to the Wyoming Valley, determined to settle the area once and for all. An advance party of forty men arrived in the spring of 1769 only to find their homes had been taken over by a contingent of Pennsylvanians. The Connecticut Yankees blockaded the Pennamites, as the Pennsylvanians were called, deprived them of food and fuel and demanded the surrender of the garrison. Captain Ogden, the leader of the Pennamite group sent a note to the Yankees asking for a friendly conference to settle their respective claims of the area. The Yankees arrived in good faith but were immediately taken into custody as prisoners of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. They were whisked off to prison in Easton, PA but upon arrival, were immediately set free. They returned to the Wyoming Valley and again took possession of the settlement.

    In the following years, the Wyoming Valley continued to be the subject of this land dispute and each side mustered an army to enforce their claims. Many skirmishes took place, mostly in the area that is now Wilkes-Barre and the surrounding towns. The settlements changed hands many times. The area now called Locust Ridge in Monroe County lies along the trail to Easton. All movement of militia to support the Pennsylvania effort came from Philadelphia through Easton and moved along the wagon trails to the Wyoming Valley. In August 1769, a group of forty Yankees accosted a Pennamite group led by Major Moore turning them back in the process. Although this skirmish was but one of many in the Pennamite and Yankee War, it did produce several causalities and those casualties were buried in the immediate area.

    Rick Smith

     

     

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