Old Moon Township Historical Society to Air History Programs

Moon Community Access Television is releasing the first episode of a four-part series of history programs in celebration of Moon’s 225th anniversary.

“Travel Journals” premieres on today, July 5, at 11 a.m., 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Comcast channel 14 and Verizon FiOs channel 35 in Moon, Coraopolis, Crescent, Findlay, North Fayette and Neville.

The programs were created by the Old Moon Township Historical Society and one is being created by Sharon Community Presbyterian Church.

All four in the series are being produced by MCA-TV volunteer and community producer, Earl Edwards.

The four-part history series begins with very old history of the township and its surrounding areas then progresses to more recent times. 

“Travel Journals” starts with the earliest records of human occupation of this area then moves to the adventures of five individuals who penned travel journals when they passed through Moon prior to 1760.

The earliest “journals” are written by archaeologists as no writing survives. Edwards’ program begins with the archaeology of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter located in Avella, PA.

A farmer noticed artifacts associated with rockfalls along a creek and correctly guessed it had been a rockshelter that was now covered by fallen rocks. The University of Pittsburgh became interested and hired a young archeologist, James Adovasio, to supervise the excavation.

Results showed sporadic occupation for over 16,000 years making it, at that time, the oldest evidence of human occupation in North America. Humans in Avella, 35 miles away, would also have travelled here long before the pyramids of Egypt.  

The next segment of “Travel Journals” covers the Mckees Rocks Mound, within the boundaries of Old Moon Township in 1788, 225 years ago. The 15-foot high, 85-foot long mound was built by the Adena people between 200 BC and 100 AD.

The mound was later used by the Hopewell and Monongahela people and sometimes served as a burial site. Seven hundred years later Andrew Carnegie hired someone to excavate the mound.

Today the mound is completely destroyed. Excavations in the late 19th century revealed 33 skeletons and numerous artifacts made of copper and shells.

“Travel Journals” then moves on to the Monongahela culture of the Native American Woodland people who lived in western Pennsylvania, western Maryland, eastern Ohio and West Virginia from 1050 to 1635 AD.

The Monongahela culture was gone before the Europeans arrived.

The program concludes with the written journals of five individuals:

• Conrad Weiser, a negotiator for Pennsylvania and Virginia travelled through Moon to make Indian alliances against the French;
  
• Father Bonnecamps, a Jesuit from Montreal who was part of a French expedition;
  
• George Washington, then a major in the militia who came representing the Governor of Virginia in an attempt to kick out the French;
  
• the final journal is the tales of two young girls who were taken captive by the Delaware Indians and drug back and forth across western Pennsylvania and Ohio until their escape three years later.