Arthur P. Miller, Jr., and Marjorie L. Miller, Guide to the Homes of Famous Pennsylvanians: Houses, Museums, and Landmarks. Mechanicsburg PA: Stackpole Books, 2003. Photos, 224pp., $18.95.
Conrad Richter, The Waters of Kronos. University Park PA: Penn State University Press, 2003. Pp. 176, $16.95
Dan Cupper, Rockville Bridge: Rails Across The Susquehanna (Halifax, Pa.: Withers Publishing, 2002) 112pp., illustrated (some col.), maps, plans, $29.95.
Allen Cohen and Ronald L. Filippelli, Times Of Sorrow And Hope. State College, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003. Photos, 265 pp., $45.00.
Art Michaels, Pennsylvania Overlooks-A Guide For Sightseers And Outdoor People. State College, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003. Maps, photos, 240 pp., $15.95.
Wayne Bodle, The Valley Forge Winter: Civilians and Soldiers in War. University Park PA: Penn State University Press, 2002. Map. Notes. Index. Pp. xlll, 325. $35.
As time passes there is an increasing nostalgia for the one-room school which so many persons attended and which passed from the countryside in the 1950s. Nationwide, in the early 1900s, an astonishing one-half of the children attended 212,000 one-room schools.
Jacob Fought, blacksmith and tavern keeper of Cumberland County in the first third of the nineteenth century, became well-known in and around Carlisle at about the time of the War of 1812. He rose in prominence in the late 1810s through the 1820s and into the 1830s. He had business, legal, and social dealings with many professionals, businessmen, farmers, tradesmen, common folk, and even criminals.
In 1734 the land on the west shore of the Susquehanna River was opened for homesteading, and the first settlers were permitted to cross the river to legally obtain land. Trappers and Indian traders had been traveling through the valley to the west and the south for years, but they were not permitted to reside or claim land. The Penn's had previously purchased this land from the Indians, but some claims remained, and it had not been opened to the public.
Thomas Penn, a son of William Penn and a Proprietor of the lands remaining from his father's original grant, was actively involved in plans related to the design of Carlisle. The town, as originally developed, incorporated sixteen square blocks centered on a Square bounded by the cardinal streets: North, South, East and West.