In Partnership with the Lancaster County Conservancy’s Water Week

Join the Lancaster County Conservancy on Tuesday, June 8, 2021 at 6pm EDT on Zoom for a presentation on the 18th and 19th century “improvements” made to the Conestoga River to establish mills, transportation, and power generating stations along the river. The successes and failures yielded unintended consequences, good and bad. For example, the dams necessary for mills resulted in mile-long step-pools for recreational purposes and provided a great amount of flooding control. However, the dams also trapped sediment, pollution, refuse, and debris. The impermanent construction and configuration doomed the dams from the beginning, exposing the negative side effects long after positive ones vanished. This resulted in decades long conservation and awareness efforts by various groups. Take a journey into the past of the Conestoga River and the consequences, both good and bad, of our many attempts to dam it with the evening’s speaker, Ben Webber, for History of the Conestoga, Part 2: Dammit!

Ben Webber serves Lancaster Township as its municipal engineer. He grew up and resides in Manheim Township along the Conestoga River. As a civil engineer for more than 35 years, he has always been fascinated with water. A few years ago, he asked the unfortunate question “Where does the name Bridgeport come from?” His thirst for local history has been unquenched ever since. He presented the first part of “History of the Conestoga” as part of 2020’s Water Week.

How to Register & Participate

This event is co-hosted by the Lancaster County Conservancy and LancasterHistory. Registration is required and facilitated on EventBrite by the Lancaster County Conservancy. Click here to register for free online. Registered attendees will receive an email with a link to access the presentation via Zoom on the day of the event. Conservancy staff will be available 10 minutes prior to the lecture to answer any attendee questions.