On January 1, 1876, the Alexander’s of Bloserville gave a dinner to celebrate the beginning of America’s Centennial year. One of their guests was so impressed that he sent a letter describing it to the editor of the Carlisle Weekly Herald who published it.
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.
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.
In December 1875, O. L. Haddock, the editor of The Carlisle Herald, visited the homes of some of Carlisle’s residents who were known to have elaborate displays under their Christmas trees, and to describe them for the enjoyment of the newspaper’s readers.
Thomas Craighead’s slave Venus: Sister of the first published American Negro poet Phillis Wheatley. T.C. was Thomas Craighead (1789-1865) the son of John Craighead and his wife Jane Lamb. The “old Thomas Craighead” he refers to in his letter was his grandfather who died in 1807. In 1845, T.C. also contributed a history of incidents relating to his family that was published in I.D. Rupp’s History of Dauphin, Cumberland, Perry Counties…. p. 440-444.
The following notice was published in the March 7, 1806 issue of the Carlisle Herald. “125 Dollars REWARD.
The August 6, 1869 edition of the Carlisle Herald reported on the Grand Tournament held several days before to celebrate “the emancipation of the slaves of the Southern States” by a procession through the streets of Carlisle and a tournament at Graham’s Grove.
Carlisle Herald, July 11, 1872. “The colored citizens of Carlisle and vicinity, contemplate holding a grand National celebration, in commemoration of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln in this place on Thursday, August 1, 1872.
The village of West Hill is located one mile west of Plainfield on Route 641 in West Pennsboro Township. The 1872 Atlas of Cumberland County shows the village consisting of six houses, a Methodist Episcopal Church, two stores, and a blacksmith shop.
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.