Town · Carlisle, Cumberland County
Carlisle
A handsome Cumberland Valley county seat of limestone and brick, home to Dickinson College, the Army War College and its Army Heritage museum, and big classic-car shows at the fairgrounds.
Carlisle is a handsome county seat in the Cumberland Valley, with limestone and brick buildings around its central square and the campus of Dickinson College, chartered in 1783 and founded by Benjamin Rush. Carlisle Barracks, one of the oldest Army posts in the country and home of the Army War College, is at the edge of town. From 1879 to 1918 it held the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, where Native American children were sent to be made to give up their languages and ways of life; Jim Thorpe was among its students.
The U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center tells soldiers' stories, with an outdoor trail of buildings and vehicles. South of town the Appalachian Trail crosses the valley and climbs into Michaux State Forest, where Pine Grove Furnace marks roughly its halfway point, and Kings Gap looks out over the whole valley.
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In and around Carlisle
Military museum · Middlesex Township, Cumberland County
U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center
Army history from the Revolution to today, told in a Soldier Experience Gallery and along an outdoor trail lined with re-created trenches, barracks and fortifications.
Environmental education center · Dickinson Township, Cumberland County
Kings Gap Environmental Education Center
A stone mansion from the early 1900s crowns South Mountain and looks out across the Cumberland Valley, while miles of year-round trails wind down through the oak forest around it.
State park · Cooke Township, Cumberland County
Pine Grove Furnace State Park
Near the Appalachian Trail's halfway point, with an old iron furnace, the Appalachian Trail Museum, swimming in Fuller Lake, a flooded ore pit, and a second, larger lake with a beach and boating.
Photo: Zeete, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Trail museum · Cooke Township, Cumberland County
Appalachian Trail Museum
Set in an old stone mill at Pine Grove Furnace, close to the trail's halfway point, this small museum honors hikers such as Earl Shaffer, who made the first recorded thru-hike in 1948.
Photo: Zeete, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Also nearby
Nearby
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U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center
Army history from the Revolution to today, told in a Soldier Experience Gallery and along an outdoor trail lined with re-created trenches, barracks and fortifications.
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Kings Gap Environmental Education Center
A stone mansion from the early 1900s crowns South Mountain and looks out across the Cumberland Valley, while miles of year-round trails wind down through the oak forest around it.
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Colonel Denning State Park
Set in Doubling Gap, where Blue Mountain folds back on itself in an S-curve, with a small swimming lake and a steep trail up to Flat Rock's broad view over the Cumberland Valley.
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Pine Grove Furnace State Park
Near the Appalachian Trail's halfway point, with an old iron furnace, the Appalachian Trail Museum, swimming in Fuller Lake, a flooded ore pit, and a second, larger lake with a beach and boating.
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Appalachian Trail
The Maine-to-Georgia footpath crosses about 230 rocky miles of Pennsylvania; at Pine Grove Furnace, near its halfway point, an old gristmill houses the Appalachian Trail Museum.
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Appalachian Trail Museum
Set in an old stone mill at Pine Grove Furnace, close to the trail's halfway point, this small museum honors hikers such as Earl Shaffer, who made the first recorded thru-hike in 1948.