There are more than one site named the Shawnee Cabins located in Pennsylvania. Notable among these was the Shawonese Cabbins located in what is present-day Indiana County. That site, on the south branch of Two Lick Creek, was the one mentioned by Conrad Weiser in 1748. His journal entry for the 23rd of August noted that they had reached the Shawanese Cabbins after leaving the Clear Fields and before arriving at the Seneka village wherein Queen Allaquippa resided. This site west of the Alleghenies was shown on Scull's map of 1770. It is also mentioned in the journal of John Harris on a trip into the Ohio Valley in 1754.
George Donehoo suggested that the Shawnee Cabins west of Raystown was probably only a temporary stopping place for the Shawnee in their migrations from the Potomac to the Ohio. As noted at the beginning of this section, it was noted that Dr. Heberling had the same viewpoint of this south central Pennsylvania region ~ a place where Amerindians on the move, either for seasonal migrations or hunting forays, would stop and rest. Each year they, in the same way as travelers today will stay at the same motel on a vacation trip, would stay overnight at the same place each time they came this way. Those spots eventually would take on the appearance of a 'village' from the rough shed-like structures the migrating families would construct and use year after year.
The Shawnee Cabins which were located between Ray's trading post and the Allegheny Mountain were, in addition to the 'Shawana Cabbins' northeast of the Forks of the Ohio, noted by John Harris in his journal of 1754. After passing the Snake's Spring, Harris came to Ray's Town, four miles to the west. And then eight miles farther he came to the Shawana Cabbins. The Shawonese Cabbins were also mentioned in the report given by the traders, Patten and Montour, of their travels to the Ohio country. They noted that the 'Cabbins' were located eight miles west of Ray's Town and eight miles east of the Top of Allegheny Mountain.
According to the authors of A Traveler's Guide to Historical Western Pennsylvania, the records of the Pennsylvania Land Office claim that an Indian trader by the name of Joseph Nelson had settled in the vicinity of the Shawnee Cabins circa July 1758. There are no public documents to prove that assertion. There are no warrants recorded for anyone in this region of Cumberland County in 1758. The records actually show that a man by the name of Thomas Nelson warranted two hundred acres “"On Great Rd at Shawnee Cabin 6 mi fr Bedfd." on 01 July 1762. The tract was not patented by Thomas Nelson, though. It was not patented until John Reiley did so in 1841.
It should also be noted that according to the authors of the book mentioned above, the Shawnee Cabins was located along the Juniata River. It was apparently located in a fork formed by the merging of Burns Creek and Kegg Run. The Shawnee State Park currently covers that site.
