Uncharted Lancaster

Adam Zurn
  • 4.4 (9)
  • HISTORY

Uncharted Lancaster reveals the county’s most fascinating stories—local history with odd twists, forgotten places, and the occasional brush with the supernatural. Each episode explores the hidden histories and long-buried secrets of Lancaster County, where legend, landscape, and local lore collide.

  1. John Sutter's Brutal Empire of Lies

    1D AGO

    John Sutter's Brutal Empire of Lies

    This episode revisits the controversial life and long shadow of John Sutter, the Swiss immigrant whose settlement would become Sacramento and whose sawmill sparked the California Gold Rush. Long portrayed as a pioneer success story, Sutter’s life instead unfolded as a study in contradiction—marked by financial ruin, mismanagement, and the brutal exploitation and enslavement of Indigenous people whose labor sustained his empire. After the collapse of his California holdings, Sutter spent his final years far from the West, living in Lititz, Pennsylvania, where he repeatedly petitioned the federal government for compensation for his losses, never receiving restitution. The episode examines how modern historical reassessment has transformed Sutter’s public image, prompting the removal of monuments and the renaming of landmarks tied to his legacy of violence and coercion. It also touches on the lingering folklore surrounding his final years in Pennsylvania, where memory, myth, and reckoning intersect—revealing how one man’s story continues to evolve long after his death. To learn more, visit UnchartedLancaster.com. Read more stories like this in Uncharted Lancaster’s Ghosts, Monsters, and Tales of Adventure book. This 283-page book is packed with 64 unforgettable stories, all set right here in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Order your copy here.

    32 min
  2. The Hard Coal Navy: Dredging the Susquehanna for Black Gold

    4D AGO

    The Hard Coal Navy: Dredging the Susquehanna for Black Gold

    For nearly a century, the Susquehanna River functioned as an unlikely fuel source, collecting vast amounts of anthracite coal waste washed downstream from Pennsylvania’s mining regions. This episode explores the little-known river coal industry, where engineers and local “river navy” crews used suction dredges and barges to harvest usable fuel directly from the riverbed—providing an inexpensive energy supply for regional power generation. This story centers on the operations at Holtwood Dam and Safe Harbor Dam, where sophisticated washing and flotation systems separated coal from sand and silt. These facilities uniquely combined hydroelectric generation with coal-fired steam power, maximizing efficiency and lowering costs. The industry’s end came swiftly in the wake of stricter environmental regulations and the devastation caused by Hurricane Agnes. Today, the dredges are gone, and the Susquehanna’s role has shifted from industrial fuel basin to a river defined by cleanup, recovery, and ecological restoration. To learn more, visit UnchartedLancaster.com. Learn about other unique people and places like this when you step off the beaten path with Uncharted Lancaster: Field Guide to the Strange, Storied, and Hidden Places of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania by Adam Zurn. This one-of-a-kind 239-page guidebook uncovers 56 fascinating sites, from the county’s very own fountain of youth to the oldest continuously operating short-line railroad in the western hemisphere. Order your copy here.

    30 min
  3. Subterranean Bootlegging and the Lancaster Sewer Beer Hose

    FEB 19

    Subterranean Bootlegging and the Lancaster Sewer Beer Hose

    In 1932, authorities in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, uncovered an ingenious clandestine pipeline used to transport illegal alcohol during Prohibition. This operation involved a three-inch rubber hose stretching 3,000 feet through the city's sewer system, connecting the Rieker Star Brewery to a remote warehouse. The scheme was orchestrated by Max Hassel, a notorious beer baron who employed specialized workers to navigate the narrow, dangerous underground passages. The discovery occurred after a city inspector spotted the line, leading to a major investigation into organized crime and the eventual closure of the brewery. Today, the story remains a legendary example of bootlegging creativity, with fragments of the original hose surviving as historical curiosities. To learn more, visit UnchartedLancaster.com. Learn about other unique people and places like this when you step off the beaten path with Uncharted Lancaster: Field Guide to the Strange, Storied, and Hidden Places of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania by Adam Zurn. This one-of-a-kind 239-page guidebook uncovers 56 fascinating sites, from the county’s very own fountain of youth to the oldest continuously operating short-line railroad in the western hemisphere. Order your copy here.

    28 min
  4. Derailments, Champagne, and the River Below

    FEB 16

    Derailments, Champagne, and the River Below

    This episode explores three strange and memorable railway incidents that unfolded along the rugged banks of the Susquehanna River during the late 20th century—moments when heavy industry collided with unpredictable terrain and left lasting marks on both the landscape and local lore. The first story centers on a dramatic 1981 derailment near Safe Harbor, where a massive boulder tumbled onto the tracks and sent a Conrail freight train off the rails. Much of the wreckage still lies scattered along the river, visible today to hikers who stumble upon the twisted remains. Another tale shifts downstream to Pequea, where a 1985 derailment spilled cases of sparkling wine into the water—an accident that quickly transformed into one of the Susquehanna’s most lighthearted pieces of folklore. The episode concludes with a lingering mystery from the mid-1970s: the unexplained loss of a grain hopper car that was ejected from a moving train and vanished into the river, where it remains submerged to this day. Together, these stories reveal how the Susquehanna’s wild geography has shaped not only rail operations, but also the strange, sometimes celebratory legends that linger long after the trains have passed. To learn more, visit UnchartedLancaster.com. Learn about other unique people and places like this when you step off the beaten path with Uncharted Lancaster: Field Guide to the Strange, Storied, and Hidden Places of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania by Adam Zurn. This one-of-a-kind 239-page guidebook uncovers 56 fascinating sites, from the county’s very own fountain of youth to the oldest continuously operating short-line railroad in the western hemisphere. Order your copy here.

    33 min
  5. Did Ancient Phoenicians Sail Up the Susquehanna?

    FEB 12

    Did Ancient Phoenicians Sail Up the Susquehanna?

    Did ancient sailors cross the Atlantic long before Columbus? This episode explores one of the most controversial questions in American archaeology—the claim that Phoenicians reached North America in antiquity. At the center of the debate are the Susquehanna Stones, hundreds of carved ironstones discovered in Pennsylvania that some researchers argue bear archaic Semitic inscriptions pointing to a pre-Columbian presence in the Mid-Atlantic. The episode examines why these claims persist—and why most archaeologists remain unconvinced. We look at competing interpretations that attribute the markings to natural geological processes or modern fabrication, as well as related evidence often cited by proponents, including megalithic stone structures in New Hampshire and ancient Mediterranean coins reportedly found on Corvo Island. Rather than offering easy answers, this episode traces the decades-long tension between fringe theories and established scholarship—revealing how extraordinary claims, ambiguous evidence, and the desire to rewrite the past continue to collide in the study of American prehistory. Learn about other unique people and places like this when you step off the beaten path with Uncharted Lancaster: Field Guide to the Strange, Storied, and Hidden Places of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania by Adam Zurn. This one-of-a-kind 239-page guidebook uncovers 56 fascinating sites, from the county’s very own fountain of youth to the oldest continuously operating short-line railroad in the western hemisphere. Order your copy here.

    42 min
  6. Greenwood Cemetery Mausoleum

    FEB 9

    Greenwood Cemetery Mausoleum

    Rising above the surrounding grounds at the highest point of Greenwood Cemetery, Lancaster’s Egyptian Revival mausoleum stands as one of the city’s most striking—and unexpected—architectural landmarks. Completed in 1915 by acclaimed architect C. Emlen Urban, the massive granite structure has earned the nickname “Lancaster’s Westminster Abbey,” reflecting both its scale and civic importance. This episode explores the symbolism and ambition behind the mausoleum’s design, from its stone sphinxes and bronze doors to stained glass that blends ancient Egyptian imagery with Christian themes of death and resurrection. Inside are hundreds of marble crypts, engineered with then-modern ventilation systems intended to create a permanent, sanitary resting place for the city’s most prominent citizens. Although the interior is currently closed to the public, the mausoleum continues to dominate the skyline above the Conestoga River, standing as a fusion of civic pride, funerary art, and early 20th-century fascination with the ancient world. To learn more, visit UnchartedLancaster.com. Learn about other unique people and places like this when you step off the beaten path with Uncharted Lancaster: Field Guide to the Strange, Storied, and Hidden Places of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania by Adam Zurn. This one-of-a-kind 239-page guidebook uncovers 56 fascinating sites, from the county’s very own fountain of youth to the oldest continuously operating short-line railroad in the western hemisphere. Order your copy here.

    30 min
  7. River Highway: The Era of Susquehanna Log Rafts

    FEB 5

    River Highway: The Era of Susquehanna Log Rafts

    From the late 18th through the early 20th century, the Susquehanna River functioned as one of America’s most important commercial highways. This episode explores the dangerous world of the river raftmen—skilled laborers who guided enormous, hand-built log rafts hundreds of miles downstream, supplying timber to growing cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia. The lumber they carried became ships, homes, mines, and the backbone of a rapidly expanding nation. The story doesn’t end at the river’s edge. After selling their rafts, many raftmen walked the long Raftmen’s Path back home to preserve their hard-earned wages, completing a cycle defined by endurance, danger, and grit. As canals, railroads, and deforestation reshaped transportation and industry, this river culture faded into history. Today, only scattered place names, faint landscape traces, and surviving records hint at a time when the Susquehanna was crowded with timber, labor, and lives balanced against the current. To learn more, visit UnchartedLancaster.com. Learn about other unique people and places like this when you step off the beaten path with Uncharted Lancaster: Field Guide to the Strange, Storied, and Hidden Places of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania by Adam Zurn. This one-of-a-kind 239-page guidebook uncovers 56 fascinating sites, from the county’s very own fountain of youth to the oldest continuously operating short-line railroad in the western hemisphere. Order your copy here.

    39 min
  8. Roslyn Mansion: A Husband's Gilded Age Birthday Gift

    FEB 2

    Roslyn Mansion: A Husband's Gilded Age Birthday Gift

    This episode explores Roslyn Mansion, one of Lancaster’s most striking Gilded Age homes and a masterpiece of late Victorian design. Built in 1896 and designed by renowned architect C. Emlen Urban, Roslyn was commissioned by Peter T. Watt, co-founder of the Watt & Shand department store, as a birthday gift for his wife, Laura Watt. With its limestone turrets, Scottish baronial styling, and richly detailed interiors, the mansion was meant to signal wealth, taste, and permanence at the height of Lancaster’s industrial prosperity. The episode traces the estate's architectural significance alongside the personal history of the Watt family, including memoirs that reveal the financial and emotional strain of maintaining such a grand estate in the early 20th century. It also examines how recent owners rescued Roslyn from decline and restored its historic fabric, ensuring that this historic landmark remains a living part of Lancaster’s architectural story rather than a forgotten relic. To learn more, visit UnchartedLancaster.com. Learn about other unique people and places like this when you step off the beaten path with Uncharted Lancaster: Field Guide to the Strange, Storied, and Hidden Places of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania by Adam Zurn. This one-of-a-kind 239-page guidebook uncovers 56 fascinating sites, from the county’s very own fountain of youth to the oldest continuously operating short-line railroad in the western hemisphere. Order your copy here.

    41 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.4
out of 5
9 Ratings

About

Uncharted Lancaster reveals the county’s most fascinating stories—local history with odd twists, forgotten places, and the occasional brush with the supernatural. Each episode explores the hidden histories and long-buried secrets of Lancaster County, where legend, landscape, and local lore collide.

Information

  • Creator
    Adam Zurn
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    23
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Uncharted Lancaster
  • Show Website
    Uncharted Lancaster

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