PA TOURISM Launches Search for Descendants
Gettysburg – The Pennsylvania Tourism Office is searching for the families of James Shirk of Shippensburg, Enoch Watson of Lancaster, and Robert Bridges Forten of Philadelphia, as well as the relatives of tens of thousands of other men who fought in the Civil War as members of the United States [...]
Press Releases
PA Tourism Office Invites Public to Help Tell the Stories of U.S. Colored Troops Members
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
Long Range Milestone Achieved By Capitol Theatre Center
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010On January 1, 2010, a long-range vision for Capitol Theatre Center to become independent was realized.
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Fall / Winter Lecture Series ~ Franklin County Historical Society
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010The Franklin County Historical Society – Kittochtinny invites the community to its 2010 Winter Meeting and Lecture Series held at the Grove Library Center, 101 Ragged Edge Road, Chambersburg, PA.
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50th Anniversary of Nellie Fox’s 1959 Baseball MVP Selection
Friday, November 20th, 2009Born in St. Thomas, Pennsylvania, Fox went on to play in the 1959 World Series for the Chicago White Sox. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in 1997.
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Nora Roberts Foundation Supports Renfrew Institute
Thursday, October 29th, 2009WAYNESBORO—The Nora Roberts Foundation has made a five-year pledge to support Renfrew Institute through the institute’s “Today’s Horizon Fund.” Renfrew Institute is a non-profit organization that provides cultural and environmental education programs to area school children, and also interprets an 1800s Pennsylvania German farmstead on the site of Renfrew Museum and Park in Waynesboro, Pa.
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Mercersburg Showcases Muster Rolls of U.S. Colored Troops from the Civil War
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009Mercersburg Showcases Muster Rolls of U.S. Colored Troops from the Civil War
Two U.S. Colored Troops muster rolls from the Civil War will be showcased as part of Mercersburg’s Live & Learn Weekend on November 7. The U.S. Colored Troops were African American soldiers who volunteered to serve in the U.S. armed forces beginning in 1863. Pennsylvania mustered more USCT troops (8,000 men) than any other state, including Massachusetts, a state most strongly identified with the USCT. Among the many names of Pennsylvania volunteers, two Mercersburg men are listed on the documents to be displayed: John Christy of 45th USCT Co. H, and Robert Stoner of the 22 USCT Co. H.
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Mount Vernon Cemetery Earns Network To Freedom Designation
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009Mount Vernon Cemetery in Chambersburg has been designated as a site in the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program, administered by the National Park Service/U.S. Department of the Interior.
A traditional burial ground for African Americans from the Chambersburg community, Mount Vernon Cemetery has been authenticated by the National Park Service and the Network to Freedom staff as a site associated with the history of the Underground Railroad by virtue of the cemetery’s status as the final resting place of Henry Watson (1813-1898). The Cemetery also holds the remains of twenty-six African American veterans of the Civil War.
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Franklin County Wins National Park Service Approval for Two Sites
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008In early September, the National Park Service (NPS) granted approval for two historic sites in Franklin County to be added to its Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program. This program provides the official designation of the federal government that a site, program or facility is authentic in its association with the history of the Underground Railroad.
The two Franklin County sites added to the Network to Freedom Program are the Mary Ritner/John Brown House and the Thaddeus Stevens Iron Furnace Complex at Caledonia State Park. John Brown stayed at Mary Ritner’s boarding house at 225 East King Street in Chambersburg between June and October 1859, as he prepared his unsuccessful raid on the Federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. The Thaddeus Stevens Iron Furnace at Caledonia was burned by Confederate troops helmed by General Jubal Early on June 26, 1863. The iron works purchased by Stevens in the 1830s, became the largest employer of African American workers during the period, as runaway slaves and free blacks in the area sought work and refuge there. An entrepreneur, educator, and politician, Stevens was one of the most outspoken abolitionists of his day.
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