YorksPast

“The highest summit in York County should have a name,” was a remark I received several weeks ago while volunteering at the York County History Center. The comment was the result of a discovery of my post Pigeon Hills debunks Red Lion Myth.

In that post I provided a sorted list of York County summits over 1000-feet; as pulled off of topographic maps. This illustration includes the six summits with the highest elevations; only the highest summit, at 1412-feet elevation, is not named. Maybe it should be.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) defines a summit as a prominent elevation rising above the surrounding level of the Earth’s surface. Names in the United States that are printed on federal maps, such as USGS Topographic Maps, are determined, under Public Law 80-242, by the Domestic Names Committee of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. This is an agency within the U.S. Geological Survey of the Department of the Interior, and composed of at least one representative from each of the Departments of State, Defense, Post Office, Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce, and from the Government Printing Office, and the Library of Congress.

Here is a list of the top six York County summits. These were obtained by a review of the various USGS Topographic Maps covering York County, PA. The list is sorted by elevation and includes Township where located, [corresponding ADC Map page and Grid location] and Name of Summit.

• 1412-feet, Franklin Twp. [3339-G6] Not Named
• 1371-feet, Franklin Twp. [3339-F7] Stone Head
• 1355-feet, Warrington Twp. [3342-B4] Round Top
• 1330-feet, Warrington Twp. [3341-G4] Nells Hill
• 1227-feet, Warrington Twp. [3342-D2] Pinetown Hill
• 1220-feet, Heidelberg Twp. [3781-J3] Pulpit Rock

I’ve placed an arrow on the following 1984 USGS Topographic Map Section to show where “Not named Hill 1412” is located within Franklin Township. This approximately one-square-mile topographic map section is from the Dillsburg, PA, Quadrangle.

“Hill 1412” is located 3/4-mile northeast of Stone Head, the second highest elevation in York County. “Hill 1412” is located about one-mile southeast of the York County / Cumberland County line where Boy Scouts’ Camp Tuckahoe is situated.

Links to related posts include:

• Pigeon Hills debunks Red Lion Myth
• York County authorized to name summit Buzzards Roost
• Camp Ganoga and the Susquehanna Trail
• July 1970 Airplane Photo of Hallam and The Hellam Hills
• End of May, over Ten-Feet of Ice at Lockport along Susquehanna in York County; Connection to Apollo Moon Mission