The 2014 edition of Cumberland County History includes articles on a wide variety of topics stretching from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century. The articles focus on individuals, caves, tugboats, schools, and flags — quite an unusual collection.
In recognition of the 200th anniversary of the composing of the poem, “The Star Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812, the staff has selected three items related to the theme, flags. Although in no way related to the iconic flag from Fort McHenry, the information about flags in our collections will hopefully be of interest and illustrate the uniqueness of our collections
Peiper Cave, Carnegie Cave, and Cleversburg Sink near Shippensburg have been popular caves for about 60 years. These are among the longest caves in the State. Stone (1932) and Smeltzer (1958) provide the most complete descriptions of these caves. This article presents additional history and geology about these Cumberland County caves formed over the past three million years.
In 1964, the Mechanicsburg Area School District was created by merging three existing school districts: the Mechanicsburg School District, the Upper Allen School District and the Shiremanstown School District. The school district is fortunate to have in its archives a collection of documents from the former Shiremanstown School District.
Alexandria, [District of Columbia], 25 February 1810. Thomas Cruse sat down, opened his desk, took out a clean sheet of paper, dipped his pen in the bottle of ink and wrote “Dear Sir.” He was writing to his brother-in-law, Judge James Hamilton of Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
The advancement of civilization demands a full development of the minds of our girls. The day when the boy is to be educated and the girl neglected has, like other relics of barbarism, passed into history.
Largely overlooked in local histories, Samuel Postlethwaite deserves a prominent place on a list of early Cumberland County notables. A frontier trader, he helped supply the Continental Army in the American Revolution and played an active role in Cumberland County’s government and social institutions during the early days of the American Republic. In the 1790’s, he served in the Pennsylvania legislature as the senator from Cumberland County.
Carlisle, the town, is widely known. Its place in history is secured by the accomplishments of many famous residents, institutions and events. It has earned many accolades over the centuries but there is one unique honor bestowed upon the community that is little known and that is the fact that the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad named one of their tugboats Carlisle.