Susquehanna National Heritage Area is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, Congressionally-designated National Heritage Area, and official PA Heritage Area connecting people to the Susquehanna River and its history as it flows through Lancaster and York Counties in Central Pennsylvania. The John & Kathryn Zimmerman Center for Heritage, an historic home on the riverfront south of Wrightsville. We
also manage the Columbia Crossing River Trails Center in Columbia, PA. Susquehanna National Heritage Area is part of the Alliance of National Heritage Areas and HeritagePA, Pennsylvania’s statewide network of state-designated Heritage Areas. We achieved designation as a National Heritage Area on March 12, 2019. History - Susquehanna National Heritage Area, originally known as the Lancaster-York Heritage Region, was designated as an official Pennsylvania Heritage Area by Governor Tom Ridge in August 2001. State designation resulted from an extensive, locally-driven community involvement process in the late 1990’s, with grant support from the Pennsylvania Heritage Areas Program. In early 2007 we established a new core focus on preserving and enhancing the cultural and natural resources of the Susquehanna River corridor through Lancaster and York Counties. This focus on the river led to a new name for the region in 2008 - Susquehanna Gateway Heritage Area - with the Susquehanna Heritage Corporation serving as the not-for-profit management entity. We simplified our name to Susquehanna Heritage in 2015 and updated it once more when designated by Congress as the Susquehanna National Heritage Area in 2019. We now have a 19+ year track record of successful heritage development activities across York and Lancaster Counties and along the Susquehanna River.
