The Zimmerman center above is the launching point for summer boat rides on the river in the background, a colonial era museum, the trailhead through a Susquehannock tribal area, local HQ for the Captain John Smith Chesapeake NHT, and the HQ for the Susquehanna NHA. I’m glad I stopped here last month, since the staff cleared up some of my misconceptions.

The museum here does a good job in describing the contact between the colonial explorer John Smith and the natives. The staff also confirmed my suspicion that Captain Smith could not have traveled to all the points up river shown on his trail. Even his small exploring boat could not sail up waterfalls and over rocky shoals. So Smith’s historic trail map does not match the explorer’s actual historic trail. The NPS describes the trail as “a water-based trail following the coastline of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributary rivers”, which would be great, if this were a scenic trail, but it’s a historic trail, named for a real explorer. [No word yet from the NPS on fixing this.]

Amidst handling school groups with aplomb, the staff also nicely answered my questions about the broad heritage area. If you’re interested in the colonial era, you should visit the county history museum in York, which has several colonial buildings, including a tavern, where our revolutionary leaders, the Continental Congress, fled during the British occupation of Philadelphia from 1777 to 1778. While exploring, you will likely see both Mennonite and Amish community members, such as around Loganton in the scenic area up the west branch of the river.