The Susquehanna Valley is a region of low-lying land that borders the Susquehanna River in the U.S. states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The valley consists of areas that lie along the main branch of the river, which flows from Upstate New York through Pennsylvania and Maryland into the Chesapeake Bay, as well as areas that lie along the shorter West Branch in Pennsylvania.

History and architectural features

As of 2014, seventeen of the oldest covered bridges in the United States were located in the Susquehanna Valley.

Geography

Historians and environmentalists at the Chesapeake Conservancy have described the Susquehanna River as the "lifeblood" of the Chesapeake Bay and also as "extension of the Susquehanna Valley that the Atlantic Ocean has steadily flooded over the last 15,000 years." Within Pennsylvania, the Susquehanna Valley is linked inextricably with the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which extends from Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland through Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York. Pennsylvania's connections to the watershed are "primarily in the counties along the Susquehanna River, the West Branch of the Susquehanna, and their tributaries," according to Shelby Splain. "Located in the middle of the commonwealth, about half of the land in Pennsylvania drains into it."

Communities in the valley

Main Branch

Cities

Counties

West Branch

Cities

Counties