In the first decades of the nineteenth century, it was no simple matter for professional performers to get to the Cumberland Valley, and local newspaper coverage of entertainment is so sketchy that we can only guess at how often theatrical companies, musical groups, or other entertainers included Carlisle, Shippensburg, Chambersburg, and other towns on their itineraries.
Ice skating parks were very popular in the United States from the 1860s to the 1890s. They were not just places to skate, but places to socialize during the dark days of winter. In 1870, Mrs.
“The Social Event of the Season: Dewitt Clinton Bosler Gives a German in the Armory” proclaimed the newspaper. The article described an event held in Carlisle on the evening of December 28, 1896. Dewitt Clinton Bosler, a wealthy bachelor, gave his third annual German.
Frederick A. Harris and Reverend Joseph Martin carried on a correspondence of reminiscences about Carlisle in the 1850s and 60s. Their letters were published in the American Volunteer newspaper in the 1890s.
Two very heavy falls of snow within the last week have made glorious sleighing and found everybody in the humor to enjoy it. Everything in the shape of a sleigh has been put in requisition, and the jingle of the merry bells is an unceasing sound from ‘tosy morn to dewey eve,’ and then as the evenings are splendidly moonlit, the merriment only fairly commences.