Carlisle

Carlisle Barracks

Landmark · 122 Forbes Ave, Carlisle, PA 17013

Established 1757, Carlisle Barracks is the oldest continuously active U.S. Army installation. During the Revolution it served as a critical supply depot and arms manufacturing center for the Continental Army, producing muskets and artillery for forces in the western Pennsylvania frontier. The barracks housed Hessian prisoners of war after Trenton and Saratoga, and was used as a staging area for General Sullivan's 1779 expedition against the Iroquois Confederacy. Today it houses the U.S. Army War College.

Dickinson College

Landmark · 28 N College St, Carlisle, PA 17013

Founded 1783 — the year the Revolution ended — by Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, with support from John Dickinson, for whom it is named. Rush intended it as an institution to educate citizens for the new republic, emphasizing science and practical learning over classical curriculum. Dickinson College is among the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States and the first college chartered in the new nation after independence.

Hessian Guardhouse Site

Landmark · Carlisle Barracks, Carlisle, PA 17013

Site of the guardhouse and prisoner compound used to hold Hessian soldiers captured at Trenton (December 1776) and after Saratoga (October 1777). Carlisle held several hundred Hessian prisoners at various points, and many settled permanently in the Cumberland Valley after the war rather than return to Germany, contributing to the region's German-speaking population. A historical marker identifies the site on the Carlisle Barracks grounds.

Molly Pitcher Well and Home Site

Landmark · W High St, Carlisle, PA 17013

Marker at the site traditionally associated with Mary Ludwig Hays, the Carlisle-born woman who became famous as "Molly Pitcher" at the Battle of Monmouth (June 1778), where she carried water to artillerymen and, by tradition, took her husband's place at a cannon after he was wounded. Mary Ludwig Hays was a real Carlisle resident who received a Pennsylvania pension in 1822 for her Revolutionary War service. The well site and a bronze marker on West High Street commemorate her.

Cumberland County Historical Society

Museum · 21 N Pitt St, Carlisle, PA 17013

Museum and archive documenting Cumberland County's role in the Revolutionary War, including the Carlisle Barracks supply depot operations, Hessian prisoner of war records, frontier defense militia muster rolls, and Mary Ludwig Hays's pension records. Collections include period artifacts from the barracks, surveying maps of the western Pennsylvania frontier, and documentary evidence of Carlisle's role as the logistical gateway to the western settlements.

Old Graveyard (First Presbyterian Church Cemetery)

Cemetery · E South St, Carlisle, PA 17013

Colonial-era cemetery adjacent to the First Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, containing graves of Revolutionary War veterans, militia officers, and local civic leaders. Mary Ludwig Hays (Molly Pitcher) is buried here. The graveyard reflects the Scots-Irish Presbyterian community that provided a significant portion of the Pennsylvania frontier militia. Her grave marker, erected in 1876, includes crossed cannons and a citation for Revolutionary War service.