The Mahanoy Mountain, located about 12 miles south of Sunbury, has a history that reaches back to a time long before settlers reached this area. Mount Mahanoy is located at the junction of Line Mountain and Little Mountain, two long mountain ranges that fuse just east of the Susquehanna River’s shoreline.

From the air or a geological map, they resemble a giant hairpin. Line Mountain stretches to the east about 24 miles into Schuylkill County, where it joins with the Mahantongo Mountain and has just one gap at Dornsife, which allows the Mahanoy Creek to pass through it. Little Mountain extends about 30 miles northeast and ends near Ringtown, with two gaps through which the Shamokin and Roaring Creeks flow.

Towering impressively over the Susquehanna, at an elevation of more than 1,000 feet, the Mahanoy Mountain is visible from busy Routes 11-15 near Port Trevorton.

The mountain served as the northern boundary of the Province of Pennsylvania from 1749 to 1768, the time of the greatest struggle between the settlers and American Indians. Tulpehocken Road, the first surveyed road in Northumberland County, headed north from the old Indian trail located near the base of the mountain to Fort Augusta.

In lieu of cash for services rendered to the proprietaries, famous treaty negotiator Conrad Weiser had acquired nearly 3,000 acres of land in the area. Journal entries indicate that Frederick A.C. Muhlenberg, grandson of Conrad Weiser, traveled through the area in June 1771 to inspect the land. He wrote, “On the 28th in the afternoon, I went up a high mountain at Mahanoy. Here the Conestoga and Delaware Indians formerly had one of their strongholds. But they were vanquished by the Six Nations. More than two wagon-loads of bones are still lying here. I tried to fit together a skeleton, but the time was too short.”

Many travelers passed through the area once inhabited by various tribes over the years, including John Bartram and Lewis Evans in 1743, as well as Moravian missionaries Zinzendorf, Zeisberger and Spangenberg, to name a few.

Today, one can still enjoy a spectacular vista of the Susquehanna River, its islands and surrounding countryside from the mountain’s summit. It remains a popular climbing spot, and each year, Susquehanna University’s graduating seniors continue a long-standing tradition by hiking it during Senior Week.