Sunday, December 30, 2007

Monaghan Township

The Monaghan Presbyterian Church was founded on the site of present day Dillsburg in 1737. Monaghan Township was formed in 1745 and included all the lands that today are Dillsburg and Franklintown, as well as Carroll and Franklin Townships. The early settlers were Scotch-Irish and farming was the predominant occupation. A considerable amount of whiskey was distilled from locally grown corn and rye in the township in the early 1800's. Monaghan Township developed as a great place to grow small fruit trees. The township web site describes stats from 1884 showing production of 73,000 quarts of strawberries, 39,900 quarts of raspberries, 3,000 quarts of blackberries and 7 tons of grapes. You can see some of this fruit farm activity in the Siddonsburg and Mount Pleasant area. Turn at Mount Pleasant and follow the signs toward Ski Roundtop.

Boiling Springs

Boiling Springs started as a settlement in the 1700's at a place in modern South Middleton township where approximately 30 natural springs bubbled up. There were iron ore deposits in this area around South Mountain, and by the 1750's the settlers had dammed the springs into a small lake to be used in the production of iron. By 1760 the Carlisle Iron Works had installed a large furnace for iron production. The ironmaster, Michael Ege, built a 16 room mansion on the hill overlooking the lake around 1780.

Warrington Friends Meeting House

The Warrington Meeting House is located on Route 74 between Wellsville and Rossville in York county. The Society of Friends (Quakers) began having meetings on the site in 1745. The current building was erected in 1769, although it was enlarged in 1782. The Quakers met there until 1861, but so many people were moving west as the country grew that there weren't enough members left to keep the doors open. The meeting house was reactivated in 1947 and is still in use today. This building could be the finest example of early Quaker meeting architecture in the country.

Gifford Pinchot State Park

Gifford Pinchot State Park is located in Warrington Township, York County. The park is on 2,238 acres of land with a 340 acre lake. The park is named after former Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot. Pinchot was governor from 1923-1927 and 1931-1935. The land was purchased in 1959 and the park was dedicated in 1961. The park attracts 600,000 visitors per year with 18 miles of trails, fishing, swimming and boating.

Michaux State Forest

This Pennsylvania State Forest is located in parts of Cumberland, Adams and Fayette counties. The land in this area was owned by iron companies from the mid 1700's until the early 1900's. When mining gave out, the state bought the properties, including the historic Pine Grove Furnace, which it turned into a State Park. The PA DCNR web site lists the Michaux State Forest as 85,000 acres.
Starting in 1931 the CCC built many of the roads and early buildings. During World War II the Intelligence Department of the Army operated a POW camp at Michaux which housed 1500 German and Japanese prisoners.

You can check the map of the Michaux State Forest on the PA DCNR web site. You'll see that it is quite a huge piece of property. It contains both Pine Grove Furnace State Park and Caledonia State Park.

Michaux borders the Kings Gap Environmental Center which is located in Penn, Dickinson and Cooke townships of Cumberland County Pennsylvania. Kings Gap is a 1,454 acre state park built on the South Mountain Ridge. The land is part of a 2,700 acre parcel that was owned by Pennsylvania businessman James Cameron. He built a large mansion at Kings Gap in 1908. After his death in 1949 the land was sold to the CH Masland Carpet Company, located in Carlisle. The state purchased the land for the park in 1973.

The view from the mansion at Kings Gap is spectacular, and even more so from a geological and geographical viewpoint. The mansion is built on the South Mountain which is an extension of the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia and Tennessee. Looking west from the patio of the mansion you look directly across the Cumberland Valley, part of the Great Valley that runs all the way to Alabama, and on the other side you can see the eastern ridge of the Appalachian mountains looming like a wall along the valleys west side. Not sure if this is the narrowest point, but it perfectly illustrates these two old mountain ranges, separated by an ancient valley. In fact, the Blue Ridge was originally the western face of the Appalachians, but the Great Valley formed and split them apart, all the way to Roanoke Virginia.

Pine Grove Furnace

Located on Route 233, just 8 miles from exit 37 of Route 81 is the Pine Grove Furnace State Park. The park is located on the location of the original iron furnace that operated from 1764 until 1895. There are two lakes, Laurel Lake is 27 acres, Fuller Lake is much smaller, about 1.7 acres. It was actually a quarry for the iron works until it suddenly flooded in the 1890's. The quarry equipment is supposedly still at the bottom of this 90 foot deep lake. The water in Fuller Lake is much colder than Laurel Lake, no doubt from the underground spring that feeds it. The state of Pennsylvania bought the iron works and surrounding lands, 17,000 acres in all, in 1913. Most of the land became Michaux State Forest, however 696 acres was set aside for the Pine Grove Furnace State Park.
Much of the original iron works and buildings can still be seen at the site. Many of the park facilities were built by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) during the great depression.

Camp Tuckahoe

Camp Tuckahoe is located in the South Mountain west of Dillsburg on the York - Cumberland county border. It is the largest of three boy scout camps operated by the York/Adams Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Formerly a hunting camp, the 1300 acre site was purchased by the council in March 1947. This is one of the areas that was heavily mined for magnetite, hematite and clay during the late 1800's As you drive up Tuckahoe road toward the camp the mountain on the right side of the road is full of old roads and ruins, although may be hard to get to now that homes have been built all along the road. I would guess that there is evidence of past mining on the camp property too. The top of the mountain on the right side of the road is the York-Cumberland county line.

Interestingly, there are actually two very large and somewhat mysterious camps in those woods. On the other side of the South Mountain ridge from Camp Tuckahoe is the Mount Holly side of the mountain at Whiskey Springs. Near where the Whiskey Springs road connects to the Mountain Road on the Mt Holly side, there is a state game land. That dirt road goes up onto South Mountain in the general direction of Dillsburg and Camp Tuckahoe. Far, far back that road is a camp that I think is operated by Tressler Luthern Services. I always heard it was a camp for bad kids, kind of a nature boot camp. Not sure how many acres. Anyway, these two large camps are located about a mile apart up on that mountain with Tuckahoe in York County and the Tressler camp in Cumberland county.

Mining and Geology

There is some interesting mining history here in the South Central PA area. We don't usually think of mining here, but in the late 1800's there were many. It seems that where the South Mountain pushed up through the earth it deposited various types or iron ores and clays. From Mount Holly around the end of South Mountain to the ironsworks at Boiling Springs, to Dillsburg, and on down into York county there are iron ore deposits.

The ironworks at Boiling Springs dates back to 1762.

In 1847 a Dillsburg farmer named Abraham Mumper discovered rocks which turned out to be a rich black magnetite ore. This led to series of mines opening in the area. Notably, one was at Mumper Lane and Ore Bank Road, at the top of a ridge just east of town. Other mines opened in the Dogwood run area on the west side of town, as well is in the area now known as Camp Tuckahoe. These mines operated until 1908. Thomas Edison visited the mines in 1906.

In Mount Holly there are large deposits of hematite ore which is still mined there east and south of town.

There are several large quarries in the area, including one near White Hill Correctional Institution, one at Locust Point and one off the Carlisle Pike near Wal-Mart.

There are a number of old quarries in the area too. One is located near White Rock Acres, a small one is located at Williams Grove.

Aside from the rock strata that is pushed from the surface near South Mountain the rest of the local Cumberland Valley is basically sitting on limestone which is very porous. The water from the entire valley drains into huge underground aquifers, which sometimes erode away at the surface causing a sinkhole. The underground river swells to the surface at Boiling Springs. The water is a constant 52 degrees and bubbles up from caverns that are estimated to be 2000 feet below the surface.

I wonder just what we are sitting on, something like swiss cheese? It's very surprising to me that we do not hear about the discovery of a cave more often.

Williams Grove

Williams Grove, located in Monroe Township, Cumberland County is a place that is very interesting to me. Geographically it is located in the rich Cumberland Valley just a short distance from the end of the Blue Ridge Mountains at Dillsburg. It is a natural travel hub. Lisburn Road connects the hill regions to the east with the farms of the Carlisle and Mechanicsburg areas. Residents on the west side of the Blue Ridge at Mount Holly and the east side of the Blue Ridge at Dillsburg could easily access Williams Grove. So could folks coming down from the Appalachians at places like Sterrets Gap and from the northern gap at Summerdale. Some of the most prime land in our area is located in the triangle formed by Williams Grove, Carlisle and Mechanicsburg.

The Williams family owned a farm at a bend in the Yellow Breeches Creek. In 1850 they began hosting picnics along the creek. The picnic area became locally popular and people began building cottages for summer visits. A Merry Go Round was installed for the kids.

The Dillsburg-Mechanicsburg Railroad was completed and many more local people had easy access to the park. Because of the popularity, nice facilities and a good rail link, the Grangers held a successful fair there in 1872. After that the picnic ground was developed into a Fairground. By 1887 there was a 2,000 seat auditorium, camping areas, cottages, exhibition halls and a hotel. The fairgrounds could attract as many as 30,000 people per day. The annual Grangers picnic seemed to be the biggest event. A state historical marker at the site indicates that as many as 90,000 people attended these picnics. The Grangers held their picnics here through the 1890's, but started to decline as an organization.

The fairgrounds went downhill through World War I and was sold several times, finally purchased by the Richwine family in 1924. They turned it into an amusement park which survived through the depression and did well until World War II. In 1939 they expanded the operation by building Williams Grove Speedway. After the war Hershey Park became a big competitor and the park declined. In the 1950's a group of steam engine enthusiasts started up the Grangers Picnic again, which revived the park until Morgan Hughes bought the park and the speedway for $1.3 million in 1971. The park was flooded by Hurricane Agnes in 1972 and hit by a tornado in the 1980's, but survived until closing in 2005. Also, in 2005 the Hughes family sold a large parcel of land to the Grangers Picnic organization that has been holding their picnic there since the 1950's. In 2006 the Grangers opened a large weekend flea market on the property and expanded their event schedule. Also in 2006 some of the rides from the park were auctioned off. Williams Grove Park continues to be open weekly as the Park Market flea market. They are located adjacent to the Grangers.

Williams Grove Speedway is a story in itself. I need to verify this story, but as I recall the Richwine family built the speedway on a farm adjacent to their amusement park in the late 1930's in anticipation of the legalization of horse racing in Pennsylvania. In the 1960's there were still rows of windows across the back of the grandstands. Some were used as ticket booths and offices, but the story is that they were all originally intended to be betting windows. The law failed to change, and in 1939 they opened as a race track for automobiles.

Link to Williams Grove history book:  http://amzn.to/2llWgYJ

Because of its half mile length, grandstands and superior location it quickly became the premier race track in the area. Small local tracks like the one at the Latimore Valley Fairgrounds in York Springs fell into disrepair as the all the racers went to Williams Grove. Indeed, Williams Grove began to draw some of the best racers of the time and their entry listings and record books are a Who's Who of automobile racing history.

Between 1949 and 1959 the track hosted local racers and the Championship Car Series, the same cars and drivers that raced at Indianapolis each May. Back then the Indy cars were basically dirt track cars and the same car was used in both situations. The AAA sanctioned the Indy 500 and their races until the Lemans Disaster in 1955 when they discontinued their racing division. The owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Tony Hulman, founded the United States Auto Club (USAC) in 1956 and took over the events. In what was known as auto racings darkest day for many years the Black Friday of racing happened when 3 different drivers were killed at three different tracks on the same day. William Grove Speedway was one of those tracks, they were hosting the Championship cars that day. I need to verify the date, but I believe it was in 1957.

The track still flourished into the sixties, with many Indy level drivers still competing at Williams Grove events, although the cars were more specialized now. The great race drivers still came from the dirt track ranks and large dirt tracks like Williams Grove were an industry standard. However technology changed things. In the mid sixties the Indy cars changed to a rear engine configuration while dirt track cars did not. By the 1970's more and more drivers broke into auto racings top events like the Indy 500 with little or no dirt track experience and the great dirt tracks, once talent pools for the big leagues, started to fade. But the racers wouldn't give up.

The racers were all independents, most had full time jobs or businesses, many dirt car shops were located in farmers barns and gas station garages. There was still a lot of prestige, at least locally, for racing at Williams Grove and other great tracks in our area, which include, Susquehanna Speedway, Port Royal Speedway, Selinsgrove Speedway and Lincoln Speedway in Hanover. By the mid 1980's these independent drivers, many of whom traveled from track to track looking to "take the purse" had inspired the founding of the World of Outlaws sprint car organization, which was an "official" group of traveling racers and Williams Grove was, of course, a premier place for them to race. Television and media picked up on the sport in the 1980's and have taken dirt track sprint car racing into the big leagues once again. Now one of a diminishing number of large dirt tracks, Williams Grove Speedway is host for the National Open for sprint cars. Many WIlliams Grove regulars compete with the World of Outlaws and other traveling racing shows. Also many aspiring racers move to this area to compete at the track weekly.

South Central PA Geography

South Central PA is geographically located at a very interesting junction. The area that consists of Cumberland, Dauphin, Perry, York and Adams counties is where several great geographic points neighbor and converge on each other.

The Great Valley, or Great Appalachian Valley extends from Canada to Alabama. It runs through Pennsylvania in the form of three great valleys, the Lehigh Valley near Allentown, the Lebanon Valley near Lebanon and the Cumberland Valley, which encompasses an area from Mechanicsburg south to the Maryland line. Once south of the Mason-Dixon line it is known as the Hagerstown Valley, and then farther south in Virginia it is called the Shenandoah Valley.

The western side of this valley is bounded by the Appalachian Mountains. The best example is to travel down Route 81 south from Harrisburg. Just south of the Susquehanna River the eastern face of the Appalachians are close to the interstate. As you travel south that front ridge is visible all along the way until the Newville and Plainfield areas, where the highway begins to run more centered in the valley, although the ridge can still be glimpsed to the west.

The eastern side of the Cumberland Valley is bounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. Now most of us have heard of these mountains but associate them with Virginia or Tennessee. They do however continue northward into Maryland and Pennsylvania. The northernmost section is called South Mountain and runs from Maryland up through Adams county and finally ends at Dillsburg. In Adams county the mountain is nearly 12 miles wide and you can experience this by driving from Gettysburg to Chambersburg on Route 30 west. In the Dillsburg area you can experience the end of the mountain chain in several places. By traveling out Mountain Road west from Dillsburg you can eventually reach Whiskey Springs Road which cuts across some of the final rocky hills to the Mount Holly area. The last stretch of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Dillsburg can be easily seen on the west side of Route 15 as you approach the town. If you take Route 74 north from Dillsburg about three miles to Brandtsville the mountain is on your left. Turn left onto Creek Road and follow the Yellow Breaches to White Rock acres, a housing development built at the very end of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

To the east of the Blue Ridge Mountains in our area is a very hilly region that runs north to the New Cumberland area. This hill region includes places like Fairview Township, Monaghan Township, Wellsville, Lewisberry, and Ski Roundtop.