For centuries, Native Americans resided and hunted in Locust Valley. When European immigrants discovered coal in the region in the mid-1800s, they flooded the valley, which in turn drove the Native American tribes out. Coal mining turned out to be a poor endeavor, and the miners turned to lumber and stripped the region. The once verdant forest was gone by the 20th century. In the early 1900s, two brothers purchased a majority of Locust Valley, PA with the intention of turning it into a resort spot. They planted thousands of trees, cleared out the dense underbrush and set about to create a lake. While digging, they found a dam with a water wheel under seven feet of dirt and leaves, evidence of a long-gone era.