The Western one-third of Cumberland County contains a multitude of historic structures; approximately two thousand of these were surveyed from September 1984 to September 1985 as part of a project sponsored by the Cumberland County Historical Society and the Pennsylvania Bureau for Historic Preservation. As one would expect in an agricultural county first settled during the middle of the eighteenth century, the majority of these historic structures are nineteenth century farmhouses and nineteenth century town residences. Most of the non-residential structures related either to processing, transporting, or storing agricultural products.
Exceptions to agricultural-related structures or residences were structures which processed the natural resources of the area: sawmills, lime kilns, clay potteries, and iron ore furnaces. Sawmills had been plentiful along the North and South Mountain regions in western Cumberland County, while lime kilns flourished in the limestone soil of the area directly south of the Conodoguinet Creek. Quality clay in sections of the central region of the area encouraged the manufacture of brick and pottery. Because of the presence of iron ore lodes, furnaces and forges sprang up along the South Mountain. Only a few of these non-agricultural structures survive—fewer than ten lime kilns and one furnace stack.
In addition to residential and industrial structures, educational, social and religious buildings necessarily thrived throughout western Cumberland County. Numerous one room school houses and some larger nineteenth century school buildings remain, as well as two classically-styled public schools of the early twentieth century. Social buildings surveyed included two Odd Fellows Halls, many taverns, a roller rink, a log cabin camp, and two Grange halls. Many small churches dot the region; most are Lutheran, Methodist, or Presbyterian.
The central area of western Cumberland County (North Newton township and Upper Southampton township) contains the majority of historic stone structures, while most of the brick houses are found along the numerous small waterways of North Newton township, Newville borough, Newburg borough, southern Hopewell township, and the northern section of Southampton township. Frame houses appear most frequently in those areas which experienced development and growth during the last nineteenth century through the 1920s: the corridor along the Cumberland Valley Railroad. Log structures are fairly consistently spread throughout the region; the greatest percentage being in the least developed municipality, Upper Mifflin township.
VERNACULAR STRUCTURES
The majority of historic structures in western Cumberland County are simple in form; their major function was to shelter humans and animals, not to display their owner's wealth or esthetic taste. These types of buildings are frequently termed "vernacular". These very simple structures often appeal to the modern esthetic but would have been considered quite ugly during the nineteenth century.
One type of simple functional building with great esthetic appeal is the early stone and log barn. For example, the Samuel McCune stone barn (ca. 1775) in Southampton township exhibits beautiful proportions and elegant lines, yet it was constructed for purely utilitarian purposes. If one visually removes the late nineteenth century additions (the forebay and attached wagon shed) to the George Snider log barn (ca. 1795) in Lower Frankford township, it also exhibits classic proportions and certainly makes no attempt to recall a particular architectural style. This barn is also historically significant as one of only four log barns still extant in the western part of the county. Not only barns, but also houses which are vernacular in form often display a simple beauty. The farmhouse of Samuel McCune, erected at the same time as his stone barn, has extremely elegant lines, although no distinct architectural style. The original one-and-a-half-story structure measured 21 feet x 30 feet and consisted of two rooms below and a loft above; a floor plan commonly known as "hall-and-parlor." The successive owners built four additions to the house: three of stone during the early nineteenth century and one of frame during the late nineteenth century.
Penn Township was erected 23 October 1860 when the western half of Dickinson Township was made into a separate political and territorial body. Its creation was the result of a continuing effort lasting for at least twenty years. This subdivision was but one in a series of similar moves begun at the settlement of the Province and continued in Cumberland County until 1929.