Walking Tours
Oddfellows Building Walking Tour
Date: September 23, 2023 11AM and 1PM
Meet at History on High – The Shop Led by Shawn Gladden. Please R.S.V.P. in advance as there is a 25 person maximum.
Cost: Members Free; Non-members $5
Camp Michaux Walking Tour
Date: Saturday, November 11, 2023 1PM
David Smith will lead the popular Camp Michaux walking tour of the old Bunker Hill Farm; Pine Grove Furnace CCC Camp; Pine Grove Furnace POW Interrogation Camp; and finally the United Church of Christ & United Presbyterian Church Camp. Meet at the furnace in Pine Grove State Park.
Cost: $10/member; $15/nonmember; $5/school-age-children
Underground Railroad Walking Tour
Date: Saturday, April 14, 2023 10 AM
Matthew March, Education Curator, will lead this walking tour that will focus on the role of abolitionists and freedom seekers in Boiling Springs. The historic village was the site of an Underground Railroad “station” operated by area resident, Daniel Kaufman. Meet in Boiling Springs at the parking lot at approximately 9 Bucher Hill RD near the stop sign.
Cost: $10/member; $15/nonmember; $5/school-age-children
Bus Tours
No Bus Tours are currently scheduled.
Bus Trip Regulations:
1. Early sign up for bus trips is important
2. No refunds will be made unless: the Historical Society cancels the trip
due to insufficient registration or the bus company cancels the trip.
3. Please be prompt for departure times.
4. There is no reserved seating for the bus.
Self Guided Camp Michaux Walking Tour
For over ten years, the Cumberland County Historical Society has supported the development of increased understanding of the history of a site in Cooke Township known as Camp Michaux. The site had been used as a farm associated with the iron industry from 1787-1912, and then as a farm leased by the state from 1913-1919. In 1933 the site became the first Civilian Conservation Corps Camp in Pennsylvania operated on State land and continued to function until 1942. In 1943, the U.S. Army converted the CCC facility for use as a secret interrogation camp for enemy German and Japanese prisoners of war, one of only three such sites in the country. After WWII, the facility was renovated and operated by Camp Michaux, Inc., a joint effort of the United Church of Christ and the United Presbyterian Church, as a youth summer camp.
CCHS has supported increasing accurate knowledge about the history of the site by offering twice annual tours of the site conducted by now retired librarian David L. Smith. The Society also published a book by John P. Bland entitled Secret War at Home: The Pine Grove Furnace POW Interrogation Camp. In 2010, the Society, in partnership with Michaux State Forest, received a grant from the Community Conservation Partnership Program, Environmental Stewardship Fund under the administration of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation to improve accessibility to the site and bring increased recognition regarding its history.
The grant project, entitled Camp Michaux Recognition and Development had three main goals. Under the leadership of David Smith, the project secured an official State Historical Marker for the site which was dedicated in July of 2011. Trails have been opened at the camp and individual sites cleared to make them more visible to the public. A self-guided walking tour book was been written and is now available in a fourth revised edition. The book is keyed to numbered 30 posts that have been erected throughout the former camp. The book is available for downloading below. The third goal of the project is to list the property on the National Register of Historic Places. The nomination process for this phase of the project is still in progress
Click here for a pdf of the Camp Michaux Self-Guided Walking Tour
Bunker Hill Farm
Pine Grove Furnace CCC Camp
Pine Grove Furnace POW Interrogation Camp
Church Camp Michaux
by David L. Smith, Director
Camp Michaux Recognition and Development Project
Cumberland County Historical Society
Statement developed by archeology students from Dickinson College.
As you explore the Dickinson College Camp Michaux website, please keep in mind that archaeology is a careful, precise process. We need your help to protect the history that is still in the ground at Camp Michaux; we can’t learn about it if it’s not there. A few discarded bottles or a broken spearpoint may not seem important but these artifacts tell the stories of past people who can no longer speak for themselves. Recovering this information is a careful process that archaeologists are trained to do. Disturbances such as digging, removing objects, and leaving graffiti are illegal and detrimental to the site.
We are all stewards of this important place; please respect it and help us protect it!