Image: Dam on Mountain Creek by Jim Bradley

The Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library Logo

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.

Highlighted Stories

Mary Ann Shughart

Mary Ann and Judge Dale Shughart

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.

 

Shirley I. Heishman

Interview of Shirley Heishman for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library. Heishman discusses her life growing up in Bloserville outside of Newville, Pennsylvania including her experiences working on her parents farm to meeting her husband Don Heishman and their many business ventures from hauling milk, water, and whey to building the Heishman Softball Complex.

Highlighted Entries

Mrs. Sarah A. Faber: From Carlisle to Constantinople

Print shows a bird's-eye view of many pedestrians and a horse-drawn carriage on the Galata Bridge, which spans the Golden Horn at Eminönü, Istanbul, Turkey, with minarets and mosques visible in the background

When Sarah Filey was growing up in rural Cumberland County in the 1830s and 1840s, she could not have imagined that ten years of her life would be spent more than 5,000 miles away in Constantinople, Turkey.

Miss Margaret MacDonald (1760-1844)

Margaret MacDonald was born on June 22, 1760, one of Duncan and Sarah MacDonald’s four children.1 Her father, described as “the old Scotch highland piper,”2 likely served in one of the British regiments sent to Carlisle during the French and Indian War.

Letter: Dr. Samuel Allen McCoskry to his brother, 1817

Dr. Samuel Allen McCoskry (1751-1818) was one of the first children born in Carlisle. He was a physician, Revolutionary War surgeon, member of the Society of the Society of Cincinnati, Trustee of Dickinson College, and son-in-law of its first president Charles Nisbet. He writes to his brother Dr. William McCoskry (1763-1831) that he and his wife are concerned about their son William’s debts and conduct as well as the impaired heath of the family.