The Earliest Settlements Along the Schuylkill
The history of Berks County begins with the daring enterprise of those European pioneers who, seeking civil and religious freedom under William Penn's benevolent charter, pushed their way along the winding course of the Schuylkill and founded prosperous settlements in the fertile valleys of Oley, Amity, and Tulpehocken. Before the county was erected into a distinct municipal body in 1752, it formed part of Philadelphia, Chester, and Lancaster counties; and its vast, unbroken wilderness was inhabited solely by the friendly tribes of the Lenni Lenape.
Among the first to enter the noble amphitheater of the Oley Valley were the French Huguenots and Swiss Palatines. Escaping persecution in Europe, men like Jean Bertolet, Isaac de Turck, and the Hoch brothers obtained warrants from the Proprietary land office and erected sturdy stone homesteads that still defy the ravages of time. In Exeter township, the English Friends established their homesteads, prominent among whom was George Boone, whose grandson Daniel Boone was born within the county in 1734.
Erection of the County and Revolutionary Heritage
As population multiplied and agriculture flourished, the inconvenience of traveling sixty miles over rough bridle paths to Philadelphia to attend courts or record deeds became intolerable. In 1752, by an Act of the General Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania, Berks County was formally established, named after Berkshire in England.
When the storm of the American Revolution gathered, the hardy farmers and ironmasters of Berks County were among the very first to respond. The Reading companies marched to Cambridge under Captain George Nagel within weeks of the battle of Bunker Hill, earning from General Washington the distinguished title of the “First Defenders.” Every family tracing its lineage back to these colonial rolls holds an enduring heritage in the freedom of our republic.