The History of Point Township

A Legend of how "Tuckahoe" Received its Name

By: The Late Mrs. Florence Butler Hetrick, Great, great granddaughter of Peter Freese

At the close of the Revolutionary War, Peter Freese (whose name later was changed to Freeze) moved from his plantation in New Jersey named "Tuckahoe," to a platation three miles west of Northumberland Town. He called his new plantation "Tuckahoe" in memory of his former home.

The naming of the New Jersey Plantation came from a story which was handed down from one generation to the other. The story goes that Peter Freese was in his field cultivating with a hoe when he was called to his cabin and left his hoe in the field. An Indian boy came by, picked up the hoe, and walked off with it. Freese told the story and decided to call the farm "Took-a-Hoe" which finally became "Tuckahoe."

His Northumberland plantation consisted of the Molly (Bullion) Spring area (presently Mertz Brothers' Farm) on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, and cast through the countryside to the North Branch of the Susquehanna including the now called "Lithia Springs" area. The name of the valley has never been changed and is still called "Tuckahoe."

Until the Pennsylvania railroad yards were built, the log cabin still stood beside Molly Bullion Spring. [Back to Top]

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