Newville’s Civil War Era Milliners
In 1860, women of almost all social classes purchased clothing from milliners and dressmakers: goods were made to order usually in a small shop with a female entrepreneur.
Schaumann, Merri Lou
A Year in the Life of a Village: Oakville 1910
It was a good day for Shippensburg photographer Clyde Laughlin to take photographs of Oakville because there were no leaves on the trees. Mr. Laughlin produces post cards from the photos he takes of the towns and villages of Cumberland County. His camera captures a horse and buggy traveling towards him on Main Street, and the two young boys who are peering over a fence watching what he is doing. The white-washed Rail Road Crossing sign post warns people to Stop, Look, Listen.
Thomas S. Officer: Miniature and Portrait Painter
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…
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.”
Phebe Paine: Educator (1802-1872)
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
Peter Pattaw 18th Century Carlisle Potter
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 Problem
“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.
A Year in the Life of a Village: Plainfield 1910
In 1812, tavernkeeper Michael Forner laid out lots on a piece of land on the road from Carlisle to Newville. He called the new town Plainfield. Plans were afoot for a Grand Turnpike from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, and Forney thought it "would more than probably go through his new town."It did not. Often referred to as Smokey Town, the name Plainfield was officially adopted with the opening of the Post Office. The map of Plainfield in the 1872 Atlas of Cumberland County shows the locations of the shops, two churches, the school, the hotel as well as the houses. Plainfield grew, and by 1910, the village had approximately 200 residents.
Dr. David A. Plank (1838-1902)
David A. Plank was born near Churchtown, Cumberland County on June 13, 1838, the son of Anna Maria and Jacob Plank, Sr.1 David spent his early years on his father’s farm and later worked in his wheel factory at Churchtown.
Poker Games in Carlisle’s Court House
Frederick A. Harris and Reverend Joseph Martin carried on a correspondence of reminiscences about Carlisle in the 1850s and 60s. Their letters were published in the American Volunteer newspaper in the 1890s.