General Topics
Three Bloody Days in July – The Battle of Buffalo Creek
In 1763 the area beyond Blue Mountain north of Carlisle, Pennsylvania was an unforgiving and hostile land. European settlers started inhabiting the land legally in the 1750s but Native Americans, mostly Iroquois, Delaware, and Shawnee tribes also called the area their home. The great Path Valley that stretches from the Carolinas to New York was a natural travel route for the Indians for hundreds of years. When the Europeans started inhabiting this valley the Indians considered it an invasion of their lands. In the 1750s and 1760s there were continual minor skirmishes between the Colonials and the Indians. However, in July 1763 the skirmishes turned into full scale war. This book is the story of the beginning of that war in the central Pennsylvania counties of Perry and Juniata.
Life Along the Shermans
Shermans Creek and all other waterways played major roles in the settling of Perry County. The creeks and streams not only provided fresh water and fish, but also provided power to run mills. Prior to 1750 the area was populated by Indians that traveled by ancient trails and lived off the natural bounty of the land. By 1850 the white settlers transformed dense forest into farmland and a network of roads and bridges that linked all the communities in the region. This is the historical record of that transformation from 1750 to 1850 in a four-mile stretch of the Shermans Creek in Carroll, Wheatfield and Penn Townships. From Indian attacks to an industrial complex, Life Along the Shermans explains how the life of the settlers changed and how a wilderness was forged into Perry County.
Memory Scraps – Volume 1
Joe G. Darlington spent his life telling people the stories about Perry County. It was estimated that during his lifetime, Joe touched the lives of over 25,000 with his humorous and informative stories – from Indian massacres to installing toilets at the Courthouse – he covers it all! On May 9, 1981 the people of Perry County recognized Joe for his service to the area by presenting him a beautiful plaque and proclaimed him “Mr. Perry County.” Now you can enjoy the wit and wisdom of this amazing historian. Over sixty years of stories from his personal scrapbook are preserved here giving us a unique view of Perry County, Pennsylvania.
Memory Scraps – Volume 2
Joe G. Darlington spent his life telling people the stories about Perry County. It was estimated that during his lifetime, Joe touched the lives of over 25,000 with his humorous and informative stories – from Indian massacres to installing toilets at the Courthouse – he covers it all! On May 9, 1981 the people of Perry County recognized Joe for his service to the area by presenting him a beautiful plaque and proclaimed him “Mr. Perry County.” Now you can enjoy the wit and wisdom of this amazing historian. Over sixty years of stories from his personal scrapbook are preserved here giving us a unique view of Perry County, Pennsylvania.
Ghost Towns of Perry County
Along our roads, buried in our fields, and hidden in the woods lie the remnants of once important villages of Perry County’s past .It is where our ancestors lived, loved, raised a family, earned a living, worshiped, and finally were laid to rest – places of great industrial enterprises, transportation centers, recreational areas or perhaps just an area where extended families built homes and farmed the land. It was where tens of thousands passed through Perry County on their way to their dreams of a better life or where thousands of young men restored the natural beauty of our mountains. Ghost Towns of Perry County is the story of some of these once important places that now lie forgotten but an important part of our great Perry Heritage.
Forgotten Skills of the Pioneers
In 1755 brave men and women flooded into the new land opened for settlement – now known as Perry County, Pennsylvania. They learned how to survive and live off a virgin land rich with natural resources. In addition to dealing with the challenges of mother nature, they had to fight off hostile Indians while clearing the land. The skills they needed to survive are largely forgotten in our modern society. I honor their ingenuity and resourcefulness by sharing some of those skills and tasks that were part of their daily life.
1880: A Lost History of Perry County
A history of Perry County Pennsylvania written as a series of newspaper articles in 1880.
