The Cumberland County Historical Encyclopedia is an expanding publication on the history of the Cumberland County. Covering a wide range of topics and the entire Cumberland County geographic region, the Encyclopedia seeks to be an initial entry point to those interested in the County's history. Entries seek to provide a list of resources available as well as showcasing some of the Cumberland County Historical Society's own collections.
In 1818, Jacob Baughman of Carlisle drew a map of Carlisle noting the locations of churches, graveyards, public buildings, still houses, tanneries, and the names by which each of the borough’s street corners were known.1 His map shows “Black Rock” on the north west corner of Main and W
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.
Fronting on Church Avenue, adjoining St. John’s Episcopal Church on the Square, the eight brick houses that make up Carlisle’s Irvine Row are the rare survivors of an intact nineteenth-century streetscape. They stand on Lot #171 in the original plan of Carlisle.
While people are familiar with the Suffragist movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries that sought to gain equal rights for women, it is hard for us today to imagine that there were women who fought against this.
Andrew Carothers’ was a native of Cumberland County. He was born in 1778 in Silver Spring Township to John and Mary Carothers. His father, John Carothers, served as a County Lieutenant during the Revolutionary War.
In 1805, Thomas Carothers purchased the large stone house on the north west corner of Carlisle’s Square and opened the “Sign of Columbus” tavern.1 The house had belonged to merchant John Montgomery, and it was there that President George Washington hosted a dinner for Governor Thomas M
In 1818, Edward Cavenaugh, a weaver living in Allen Township, Cumberland County, applied for a pension before Jacob Hendel, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Cumberland County.
An item in the November 23, 1866 issue of the Carlisle Weekly Herald read “Luxury Has Its Great Staples. Phalon’s ‘Night Blooming Cereus’ is one of them. It is as salable as bread-as current as coin. Fashionable society endorses it. The people approve it.
Francis Cezeron an itinerant portrait artist was born in Virginia in 1747 and died in Kentucky in 1828. He passed through Western Pennsylvania painting portraits in the first decade of the nineteenth century. He appeared in Lancaster in 1806 as a teacher of dance and French. There he also painted profiles and knew painter, Jacob Eicholtz. In 1806 Cezeron placed ads in the Carlisle Herald stating that he was reopening his Schools for Dance and French. Ads appeared again in 1807 for the school.
The editor of the Carlisle Herald newspaper devoted several columns in the December 31 edition of the paper to describe some of the Christmas festivities in Carlisle.