This large studio work was commissioned in 1864 by Milton Courtright (1810–1883), who was born and raised on his family's farm in the heart of the Wyoming Valley. In his account book, Cropsey recorded a payment of $125 from Courtright on August 4, 1864, and three additional payments in January, March, and May 1865, totaling $3,500. On August 8, Cropsey made at least two preparatory drawings of the site (now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). One of these served as the basis for the oil sketch for this painting. This large picture was shown at the National Academy of Design in New York in 1865. It retains the original frame and plaque with a poem written in 1809 by the Scottish Thomas Campbell.

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