Pennsylvania

Lore & Background

Pennsylvania's history of human habitation extends thousands of years before the colonial period. At the time of European colonization, the Lenape inhabited the eastern region, and the Susquehannock were based along the Susquehanna River; both tribes were weakened by European disease and warfare.

Reader's Guide

Pennsylvania's significance stems from its central role in the founding of the United States and its industrial might. It hosted the Continental Congress, which formed the Continental Army and adopted the Declaration of Independence. In the late 19th and 20th centuries, its steel production and manufacturing built much of the nation's early infrastructure and military hardware. In the 21st century, it has been called the 'Cellicon State' for its role in developing immunotherapies for cancer. Its geography is highly diverse, with the Appalachian Mountains, extensive forests, and waterfront along Lake Erie and the Delaware River.

Did You Know?

• Pennsylvania was named by King Charles II to honor Admiral William Penn, not at the proposal of William Penn himself.

Industrial Roots and Economic Rebirth

Pennsylvania's industrial story is perhaps best told through the Lehigh Valley, a region in the eastern part of the state named after the river that threads through its landscape. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Allentown—the valley's largest city and the state's third-most populous—served as a vital engine of the nation's heavy manufacturing output. Bethlehem and Easton, the region's other major urban centers, shared in that productive era, surrounded by sprawling suburban communities. Yet the late twentieth century brought a painful reckoning: the heavy manufacturing base that had defined the area for generations eroded, and the local economy contracted sharply. The early twenty-first century, however, marked a turning point. The valley's economy broadened into new sectors, and the region has since become one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the state. A parallel industrial legacy persists in the Coal Region of the central Appalachians, where the largest known anthracite coal deposits on Earth—estimated at roughly seven billion tons—shaped entire communities of mining cities, boroughs, and villages across six counties.

Population Scale and Urban Hierarchy

As the fifth-most populous state in the union, Pennsylvania houses a staggering concentration of people across its varied regions. The Delaware Valley, anchored by Philadelphia—the state's largest city and the sixth-largest in the entire country—stands as the most populous region by a wide margin. Named for the river that bisects it, the valley spans five counties and held a 2020 population of roughly 6.245 million. Far to the east, the Lehigh Valley, with its 2020 count of about 687,500 across Lehigh and Northampton counties, ranks as the state's third-largest metropolitan statistical area, trailing only the Philadelphia metro and Greater Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh region itself stretches across seven counties in the southwest, forming a distinct urban and suburban corridor. Together, these three anchors—Philadelphia, the Lehigh Valley, and Greater Pittsburgh—establish a clear hierarchy of population density that contrasts sharply with the more sparsely settled agricultural and mountainous counties scattered throughout the rest of the state.

Mountainous Terrain and Natural Wonders

Northeastern Pennsylvania is defined by its rugged topography, a landscape that includes the Pocono Mountains, the Endless Mountains, and the remnants of former anthracite coal mining communities. The Poconos, covering approximately 2,400 square miles roughly thirty miles north of Allentown, have become a nationally recognized recreational destination. In winter, visitors flock for skiing and snowboarding; in warmer months, the same terrain supports hiking, kayaking, and tubing. Geologically, the Endless Mountains present an interesting nuance: despite their name, they are not true mountains but rather a dissected plateau that forms part of the Allegheny Plateau, sharing that classification with the higher Catskill Mountains across the state line in New York. The Susquehanna River, at approximately 410 miles, is the longest waterway on the East Coast, threading through the central part of the state. To the northwest, the Allegheny National Forest blankets over 500,000 acres of land, while the Laurel Highlands in the southwest trace the Laurel and Chestnut ridges of the Allegheny Mountains. In central Pennsylvania, Happy Valley cradles the campus of Pennsylvania State University.

Cultural and Agricultural Heartland

A distinctive cultural identity runs through the central and southeastern parts of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Dutch Country, spanning eight counties including Lancaster, York, Berks, and Franklin, is home to a notably high concentration of Amish, Mennonite, and so-called Fancy Dutch residents. The Pennsylvania Dutch language, once widely spoken across the region, continues to be used today by many Amish communities in the state, preserving a linguistic heritage that stretches back centuries. Just to the north, the Pennsylvania Piedmont occupies a heavily agricultural section of the Piedmont Plateau, encompassing seven counties such as Dauphin, Cumberland, and Lebanon. The Cumberland Valley, nestled between South Mountain and the Blue Ridge Mountains, adds another layer to this agrarian landscape, stretching into western Maryland. South Central Pennsylvania, a broader grouping that can include as many as a dozen or more counties, further underscores how deeply farming and rural life are woven into the state's identity, standing in deliberate contrast to the urban corridors of the Delaware Valley and the industrial memory of the Lehigh Valley.

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