Image: Dam on Mountain Creek by Jim Bradley
An initiative of the Cumberland County Historical Society the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library seeks to fulfill the Society's mission of collecting, engaging, and sharing the stories of Cumberland County.
Interview of Mary Ann Shughart by Carolyn Osborn for the Cumberland County Historical Society. Shughart discusses her life including her experiences during World War II while her husband, Dale F. Shughart, was serving in the military.
Interview of Betty Gardner for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library. Gardner discusses coming to Carlisle and her work with the Second Presbyterian Church in Carlisle.
Being the wife of a tavernkeeper meant that Elizabeth helped with the running of the tavern as well as taking care of her family. Washing, cleaning, cooking in a hot kitchen over a fire for hours as well as helping in the barroom was hard work.
In recollections of her life in Carlisle, Mary C. Dillon, author of the novel “In Old Bellaire,” wrote about the faculty circle of Dickinson College. She said that it included “the brilliant spinsters, Miss Sarah and Miss Phoebe Paine, who had a finishing school for young ladies on West Street
When Thomas Hamilton (c. 1767-1829) wrote this letter he had been in America for eight years. He was living in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania and was appointed the Prothonotary of the county that year. He would move to Kittanning, Pennsylvania in 1809 where he lived until his death in 1829. He was a very religious man and never married.
A coolness in the relations between Thomas Hamilton and his brother James has developed. In this letter that Thomas writes from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, he addresses circumstances that may have led to the rift and lays them out with the hope of restoring good relations.
This is the first of three letters from Thomas Hamilton, a nineteen-year-old young man from Belfast, Ireland who has come America to settle. He is writing to his sister in Ireland to tell her the news of her their brother, attorney James Hamilton of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, (1752-1819) and his new bride, as well as his experiences while surveying in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, etc.
Largent discusses his experiences growing up and his time working for a railroad company. Watch Story...
“The Dillsburg and Mechanicsburg Railroad was built with the backing of the Cumberland Valley Railroad primarily to haul iron ore from the vast reserves around Dillsburg to furnaces in the Harrisburg region. Read Article...
Reproduced below are a number of the photographs which were displayed at the Cumberland County Historical Society as an exhibit "Hey Ollie, Let's Go Railroading." Over 250 photographs were put on display as a tribute to all the railroaders, both here and gone, who worked in the Cumberland Valley. Read Story...