Brave Friesianemare

Charles II granted the land that eventually became Pottsville to William Penn. The grant comprised all lands west and south of the Delaware River and the Schuylkill; the site of Pottsville was originally in Chester County. When the legislative Council, on May 10, 1729, enacted the law erecting Lancaster County, which included all the lands of the Province lying westward of a straight line drawn northeasterly from the headwaters of Octorara Creek (near the southern borders) marked with blazed trees, to the Schuylkill River, then this placed Pottsville in Lancaster County. By enactment of the same Council, approved on March 11, 1752, Berks County was erected; this placed Pottsville within the limits of that county. Pottsville's anthracite coal history began in 1790 when a coal seam was discovered by hunter Necho Allen.