The area now occupied by Wooster originally served as the hunting ground for the Eriehronon, more simply known as the Erie. It is estimated that, by 1656, the Iroquois League had come to the area and scattered the Erie tribes from the area.¹  While fleeing west from European settlement, they encountered nations of the League, pushing them even farther west into the land once occupied by the Eriehronon.²  When settlers arrived they encountered a hunting land shared by the Deleware, Shawnee, and Wyandot.³

For more on the indigenous populations of Ohio, see the Ohio Historical Society’s online exhibit, Virtual First Ohioans.

(Right) This memorial was built by the City of Wooster to recognize the crossing of three major indigenous trails that intersected in what is not Wooster. While it stands a few hundred feet from where they intersected upon the Larwills’ arrival, it pays homage to the huge role pre-settler, indigenous infrastructure played in Wooster’s success.

In 1808, surveyors of the New Purchase arrived near what is now the Wooster Cemetery where they came upon a small encampment of Delaware Indians settled within an apple orchard.⁶ The encampment’s leader, Chief Pappellelond, referred to the area as “Apple Chauquecake,” or “Apple Orchard,” and some believe that the orchard was one of the many planted by Johnny Appleseed.⁷ The area covered by Pappellelond’s Chauquecake, located at the intersections of the Cuyahoga War Trail, the Great Trail, and the Killbuck path (now Routes 585, 3, and 83 respectively), served as an important commercial center throughout the westward expansion of the United States.⁸ The area grew into a town and later came to be known by the English name that was given to Pappellelond: Beaver Hat Town.

(Right) Oak Hill (Wooster) Cemetery

Beaver Hat Town, now covered by the area from Schellin Park to the Wooster Cemetery, is said to be the sight of one of the grisliest events in Wooster’s history. As local historians tell it, a band of sixteen Sandusky Indians approached the Raccoon Creek settlement, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and befriended its residents.⁹ Overnight, for an unknown reason, they attacked the town from within, burning several houses and killing five settlers.¹⁰ In response, Captain George Wilkes led a group of thirty white men to pursue them. The legend goes that Wilkes, having been kidnapped by Native Americans at a young age, knew the language of the area. Using this to call a lone native who was fishing back to the encampment, the group succeeded in getting its revenge against the alleged Sandusky perpetrators. Upon reaching the indigenous settlement in the apple chauquecake (apple orchard), the men massacred the natives in the area.

(Right) A view from the intersections memorial, this is potentially a part of the area that was once occupied by Chief Pallelelond’s apple orchard. It is now covered by routes 30, 83, and 3.