There are many theories about the origins of Valentine’s Day. The Romans celebrated a festival called Lupercalia in honor of the gods of love in mid-February. In 496 the Pope declared that the death of St. Valentine should be celebrated on February 14.
In 2015, the Cumberland County Historical Society purchased Christopher Vanlear’s tavern ledger.1 The entries in his ledger provide a new source of information about the Colonial and Revolutionary War eras in Carlisle, a town of major importance on the Pennsylvania frontier.2
Velocipedes were all the rage in Paris, and by November 1868 they had made their appearance on the streets of New York and were causing a sensation.
Who was this man with a most unusual name? In 1817, Charles B.T. Waggoner petitioned the court of Cumberland County to grant him a license to pedal. According to Pennsylvania law, a man would only be granted a license if he could not earn a livelihood because of a disability.
A former resident wrote reminiscences of his school days in Carlisle in the 1820s and of his teacher Henry Wales. He sent them to the editor of the Carlisle Herald for publication.
When the Septennial Census of Carlisle was taken in 1814, it included the names and occupations of all the borough’s taxables. Nineteen of them, including two women, were identified as weavers, and at least half of them were born in Ireland.
Miss Minerva White and her mother, Matilda Vickers, came to Mt. Holly from Virginia in 1859. Minerva worked for several years in the paper mills in Mt. Holly, but about 1870 she and her mother took charge of the toll gate and ran a small store.1 After her mother’s death in 1885, Minerva continued to operate the Mt. Holly toll gate for another 19 years.
In a series of letters between Robert White and his Philadelphia supplier, John Mitchell, we learn something about White’s family, the names of the waggoners who hauled his goods from Philadelphia to Carlisle, the kinds of food and liquors he ordered, and the way business was conducted.
"'Black Jack’ was a famous cook,” wrote Jeremiah Zeamer, editor of the American Volunteer newspaper. “He had a great reputation as a cook and caterer. Whenever in that part of the county there was a wedding, a dance, or a party of any kind for which a feast was to be prepared, ‘Black Jack’ was sent for to superintend the cooking and set the table, and so well did he do this that he was always in high favor with people who had appetites.”
Williams came to Carlisle in 1841 and opened a studio in Beetem's Hotel. The October 27, 1841 edition of the Carlisle Weekly Herald extolled his talent for representing faces on ivory and canvas and urged people to visit his studio. Painting portraits was not Williams' only talent.