Why Downtown Carlisle?

 

 

Carlisle is more than just eateries and shops.  Because Carlisle has been at the center of so many important historical moments in American history, it's difficult to imagine our town without such a varied and rich past.  From our beginnings as a town on the edge of the colonial frontier, we've been tightly woven into the narrative of America.  Ben Franklin came to Carlisle to speak to native tribes, the Forbes Expedition jumped off here, and indian captives were returned to their families on our Square after the French Indian War.  We were early supporters of the independence movement, supplying some of the first troops for what would become the Continental Army, and we have ties to many Revolutionary politicians, heroes, and heroines, such as the Armstrongs, Blaines, and Butlers, but the most celebrated of which in Carlisle is Molly Pitcher, who is buried in our Old Graveyard.  Even John Andre, the British official with whom Benedict Arnold conspired, was held prisoner here for some time during the war.   John Dickinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and one of the first justices on the Supreme Court, lived here, and Benjamin Rush, another signer of the Declaration, founded Dickinson College here in 1783 just days after the Treaty of Paris ended the war, making it the first college founded in the new nation. During the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794, George Washington assembled and reviewed troops not far from our town square before heading west to quell the rebellion.  

 

Other highlights include having stops on the Underground Railroad and the shelling of Carlisle during the Civil War, which many speculate caused the Confederacy to lose at Gettysburg because part of their calvary got delayed here  The Carlisle Indian Industrial School was at the Carlisle Barracks, and the illustrious WWI Gobin's Guard mustered from this area.  Artists, such as the Pulitzer Prize winning poet Marianne Moore, authors, such as Newberry award-winner, Lois Lowry, and the most celebrated athlete of the 20th century and Olympic gold medal winner, Jim Thorpe, have called the Carlisle area home at some point in their lives, as have MLB player Sid Bream, NBA player Billy Owens, and NFL player Lee Woodall.  We've also had visits from Frederick Douglass, Mark Twain, several United States Presidents and many other renowned figures that it's difficult to imagine what Carlisle would be like without its history.  One of the most interesting things about all this history is that many locals just take it in stride, as if it's normal for a smaller town such as Carlisle to have so many ties to history--it's not!

 

Carlisle also offers such a mixture of landscapes and ways of life.  We're 20 minutes from the state capital, and 2-4 hours from Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, DC, and New York.  Locals can jump off from Carlisle to so many other places for day trips or weekends while still living a small-town life.  As far as lifestyles, we have such an amazing mix of urban, suburban, rural, and wilderness right here in close proximity.  You can live in downtown Carlisle and walk to virtually anything you need or live in the mountains among nature in almost total seclusion and be no more than 10 minutes from the center of town.  While we have the conveniences of modern living, you can drive in any direction of our town square and be among rolling hills of farmland or deep in the wilds.