Tornadoes have undoubtedly formed as long as there've been thunderstorms, but there haven't always been observers to see the twisters. One of the first - if not THE first - observed and recorded tornado in this area occurred around this time in August way back in 1724.

That tornado apparently began somewhere near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. It then moved east, closely paralleling the present-day Pennsylvania turnpike through what is now Montgomery and Bucks counties. We have the following description from Philadelphia's American Weekly Mercury, the first newspaper published south of Boston:

"About the hour of 12 ... there began a most terrible and surprizing Whirl-wind ... where it went across the roades, it laid trees so thick that it is very difficult to travel".

It's obvious from the way the early settlers described tornadoes that they didn't quite know what to make of them - in fact, the word "tornado" hadn't come into popular use yet - as you saw from the quote, "whirlwind" was used instead.