Ellie Sweet
Interview of Ellie Sweet for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library Memory Bank. Sweet talks about her life and the influence of St. Patricks Church.
Recent
Relics: Lost and Found
Relics are fragments or objects that have survived from the past, and in the case of relics found in Cumberland County, they are gold and silver coins, buttons, silver spoons, and cannonballs.
The Old Nail Factory on North Bedford Street, Carlisle, PA
In the 1780s, John Duncan and Lewis Foulk both operated nail factories in Carlisle. Cask nails and sprigs of any size, flooring brads, shingle nails, and Double Tens Lathing were all hand wrought at their factories. Duncan advertised that he sought "a few good nailors” and offered them "generous wages. Lewis Foulk also advertised that he wanted a number of nailors who would be paid “generous wages,” and he also wanted a “bred [sic] nailor.”
St. Patrick’s Day Celebrated at a Carlisle tavern in 1807
The old Eagle and Harp tavern, built in 1803 for Charles McManus, is still standing in Carlisle at 131 North East Street. It was there on Tuesday, March 17, 1807, that “a few of the sons of St. Patrick” met to celebrate the patron of Ireland.
Frycklund’s Miniature Golf Course
Miniature golf courses sprang up all over the United States in the late 1920s with the invention of a kind of artificial turf. Rumors spread during the spring and summer of 1930 that Carlisle was soon to have a miniature golf course.
The “Carlisle Coffee Car” 10 North Pitt Street
Although the Gulf Gas Station in this 1951 photo is the dominant feature of the picture, if you look to the right of the back of the station, you can see several cars parked by a restaurant. That restaurant, now called Pitt Street Station, is the latest eatery on that spot since the first one opened in 1929.
Greason, West Pennsboro Township: The Village Next to the Railroad 1860-1880
The village of Greason is unknown to most people traveling on Cumberland County's major roads. It sits between Newville Road in the north and Ritner Highway (Rt. 11) in the south. It is less than one mile south of Plainfield and grew up along the old Cumberland Valley Railroad line. Approaching the village today, the first thing you notice is the abandoned warehouse. Vines cover the gable end of the warehouse and cling to its board walls that show little of the paint that once covered them. The railroad tracks are gone, and their route is now part of the Rail Trail walking path. The Station Depot is gone, the Greason Academy building, with its many additions, is a private home, but many of the dozen or so houses remain and evoke an image of what the village was like in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sleighing Parties: February 1911
Young people eagerly anticipated sleighing parties. Once enough snow had fallen, and a destination was established, horses and sleighs were commandeered, and chaperones found to escort the parties hither and yon.
Patrick Murphy Part II
Interview of Patrick Murphy for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library Memory Bank. Murphy discusses some of his experiences in the European Theatre of World War II and his life following his discharge from the Army in including working at C. H. Maslands and Mount Holly Milk.
Woolworth’s Dime Store
The photo of the lunch counter at Woolworth’s, taken at the reopening in 1959, brings back fond memories. When you were growing up and shopping with your mother at Woolworth’s, a milk shake or maybe a dish of ice cream at the lunch counter was the hoped for reward for having to endure waiting with her as she looked through the notions and the housewares departments. At the lunch counter you could swivel back and forth on the stool, stare at the dispenser that kept the orangeade cold and watch the lady cooking hamburgers on the grill.