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Bethel Township is located in the northwestern portion of Berks
County. The area contains about twenty seven thousand acres.
In 1723 the land lying west of the Swatara Creek and to the
South of the Blue Mountain was known by the name of Lebanon and to the east and south as
Tulpehocken Manor. In 1729 this area became part of Lancaster County. In 1739,
the court at Lancaster ordered the township of Lebanon to be divided, the southern
division to be called Lebanon and the northern section Bethel.
The township was named after a Moravian Meeting House which was
erected in that locality not far from the Swatara Creek. When Berks County was
erected in 1752, the county line extended through this township and divided it into two
nearly equal parts. The western half being a part of what is now Lebanon County and
the eastern section Berks County. In 1791 the northern boundary on top of the
mountain was established by a survey and Court Proceedings.
The topography of the land is mainly gently rolling hills and
valleys bounded on the north by the range of the Blue Mountains. The Mountain Round
Head, as it was known in the early days of our history or Round Top as it is now commonly
called by the local people, forms a beautiful backdrop for the village of Bethel and area
farms.
The early settlers referred to the mountain in German as
"Rund Koph" (Round Head). It was through this pass in the mountain that
the Indians slipped through during their frequent attacks on Bethel Township. It was
at the base of this mountain that Dietrick Six settled and later Fort Henry was built.
Fort Henry was begun in January of 1756 by Captain Busse under
the orders of Gov. Morris. Prior to this time the people of the area are believed to
have sought refuge at the Six residence and a "watch" had been established there
by Conrad Weiser and the local people.
While constructing the fort the men lived in an encampment and
on several occasions where attacked by Indians with some lives lost. According to
some sources the fort was not completed and occupied until March of 1756.
By about 1759 the outrages by the Indians ceased and there was
peace throughout the valley. The fort was allowed to fall into decay and the land
returned to the plow, so that today all that remains is a memory and a stone marking its
location.
Publication: History of Bethel and Tulpehocken Townships, Berks
County, Pennsylvania
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