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State Commission Lists 48 Historical Markers in Cumberland County

Recently published by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission is a 216-page, new edition of its popular Guide to the State Historical Ma1kers of Pennsylvania. The compiler is George R. Beyer, a Commission historian who manages the marker program. Another state historian, Harold Myers, has written introductions to the twelve sections of the book which correspond with the dozen geographical regions into which the Commonwealth is divided for the marker purposes.

A Tale of Two Towns: Divergent Views of Eighteenth-Century Carlisle

Founded in 1751 by Proprietor Thomas Penn, the town of Carlisle was erected to meet the mounting social, political, and economic needs of the ever-increasing number of people settling the rich agricultural hinterlands of Pennsylvania's Cumberland Valley. Once established, Carlisle served as both the official political and judicial seat of the newly-formed county of Cumberland and as one of the major social and economic focal points of backcountry  Pennsylvania—acting as a major transit point for many westward-bound travellers.

The Cow Pens

There is a rugged knot of mountains where Cumberland, Franklin, and Perry Counties come together, crossed now by roads with odd names such as "Cow Pen Road" or "Three Square Hollow Road". It is lovely in the Fall with the foliage in bright color and again in the late spring when the mountain laurel froths in sunlit openings.

The Topless Bathing Suit Revisited

In April 1968, syndicated columnist James J. Kilpatrick delivered the Detroit Historical Society's annual Lewis Cass Lecture.  The lectureship was then twenty years old, and Kilpatrick followed such distinguished historians as Bruce Carron and Sylvester K. Stevens. Unlike his predecessors, Kilpatrick was a journalist, and so he took his inspiration from Thomas Carlyle's belief that "Histories are a kind of distilled newspapers."

The Third Pennsylvania Colony to Kansas, 1878

Forty years after he emigrated from Pennsylvania to Kansas in 1872 Jacob Sackman wrote an historical and genealogical account of a later group of pioneers and their settlements, filled with several score names of settlers. Under the tide "The Third Pennsylvania Colony," it was printed in the Wilson World (Ellsworth County, Kansas) of September 24, 1914. With several editorial omissions and modern paragraphing, it is reprinted here from a copy provided by Clarke Garrett.{Editor's Note}.

Tobias Hendricks: A Family Tradition of Service

In 1734 the land on the west shore of the Susquehanna River was opened for homesteading, and the first settlers were permitted to cross the river to legally obtain land. Trappers and Indian traders had been traveling through the valley to the west and the south for years, but they were not permitted to reside or claim land. The Penn's had previously purchased this land from the Indians, but some claims remained, and it had not been opened to the public.

A Train Ride Through Carlisle in 1920: A Reminiscence and Description

Today we will board an N-gauge passenger train in Harrisburg and travel through Carlisle 20 miles west of Harrisburg. This trip will be illustrated by using this 3' by 7' model of 1920 Carlisle. In 1920 tracks for Cumberland Valley Railroad passenger trains ran in the center of Main Street, now called High Street. These tracks were laid in 1837 and were in continuous use until 1936. The passenger station was located on the northwest corner of Main and North Pitt Streets.

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