Rico says he kept seeing signs for a local street named
Karakung, but didn't know what it meant. Turns out it was an old Native American name:
Cobbs Creek (photo) is a twelve-mile-long tributary of Darby Creek in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It forms an approximate border between Montgomery County and Delaware County. After Cobbs Creek passes underneath US Route 1, it forms the border between Philadelphia County and Delaware County. It later joins Darby Creek before flowing into the Delaware River.
Cobbs Creek used to be called Karakung by the local Native Americans. This was the site of the historic Old Swede's Mill on the Karakong Kill, which Governor Johan Printz, governor of New Sweden, had built during 1645. It was the first water mill built within the limits of Pennsylvania. Its site may still be seen at the rocks on the east bank of the stream near the Blue Bell Inn on the road from Philadelphia to Darby. There were a few mills established around the portion of the river located along Karakung Drive in Haverford Township. Nitre Hall Powder Mills were built in the early nineteenth century along Cobb’s Creek on Karakung Drive. It was a center for manufacture for almost two hundred years.
Rico says that '
Kill' was an Old Dutch word meaning 'stream', and had nothing to do with killing off the locals...
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