The Cumberland County Historical Encyclopedia is an expanding publication on the history of the Cumberland County. Covering a wide range of topics and the entire Cumberland County geographic region, the Encyclopedia seeks to be an initial entry point to those interested in the County's history. Entries seek to provide a list of resources available as well as showcasing some of the Cumberland County Historical Society's own collections.
Born in Carlisle in 1810, this gifted artist trained in Philadelphia, traveled extensively, won awards for his paintings, and drank himself to an early death in San Francisco in 1859. In 1872, James Miller McKim wrote a series of reminiscences for the Carlisle Herald newspaper about the places and people of Carlisle in an earlier day. He wrote that “David Smith, a boot and shoemaker, had two sons…
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.”
Isabella Oliver, (July 16, 1771—June 7, 1843), once known as the “poetess of the Conodoguinet,” or more colorfully as that creek’s “muse,” was the second--and the first female--published Cumberland County poet in 1805 with Poems on Various Subjects, following the unknown writer of The Unequal Conflict in 1792.
In the late winter of January, 1910 Carlisle Indian School Athletic Director, Glen "Pop" Warner announced his intentions to replace the school's baseball program with lacrosse.
In recollections of her life in Carlisle, Mary C. Dillon, author of the novel “In Old Bellaire,” wrote about the faculty circle of Dickinson College. She said that it included “the brilliant spinsters, Miss Sarah and Miss Phoebe Paine, who had a finishing school for young ladies on West Street
For several years at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, a pottery was operated in Carlisle by Peter Pattaw.
The peanut cart was owned by Angelo "Charlie" Veto (1869 - 1949) a veteran ice cream and peanut vendor on Carlisle's Public Square. For 48 years his location on the square remained constant.[1]
“The first notable increase in U.S. peanut consumption came in 1860 with the outbreak of the Civil War. Northern soldiers, as well as Southern, used the peanut as a food.
Capt. Alexander Peebles Sr., was a blacksmith and farmer whose homestead of 1774 sits on what is now known as Cramer Rd., Southampton Township (formally Hopewell Twp.), Shippensburg. He was my paternal 4th great-grandfather through my great-grandmother Abbie (Highlands) Baker, whose dad, Wm. Isaac was a son of James Highlands & Mary Elizabeth Peeples (1797-1871), a daughter of Capt. Alexander.
Rosemarie C. Peiffer was born in an area of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, later known as Nesquehoning, in 1936. Raised on a farm in Schuylkill County, Rosemarie graduated from Reading Hospital and School of Medicine with her Registered Nurse degree in 1956. She married in that same year and moved to Baltimore with her husband, Howard, where they lived until 1964 before returning to Pennsylvania.