The rolling fields and quiet towns of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, belie its dynamic history. From slaves who escaped to freedom through Underground Railroad stations in Shippensburg and Boiling Springs to a telephone-like invention created by Lower Allen's Daniel Drawbaugh a full decade before the patent of Alexander Graham Bell, the pages of Cumberland County's history conceal long-forgotten but true tales. There are numerous but often-overlooked contributions from county residents--from 1920 to 1923, Newville hosted the first state police academy in the nation, and during World War II, a humble bandage invented in Carlisle saved countless lives. With an engaging collection of vignettes, author Joseph David Cress explores these and other hidden tales from the history of Cumberland County.

In Pennsylvania and all states of this nation, there are places that were once vital but are now locally beloved by-ways that hold memories of ancestors and former days. Here is a general account of the early residents of the Big Spring area of Cumberland County, and how families lived there before the advent of gas-powered machinery. Beginning before Cumberland County was created, settlers claimed land for farming on both sides of the spring and around 1800, villages were established at each end of the six-mile spring. One village lives on as the fully-functioning, history-rich, well-documented town of Newville. This book pays particular attention to the other village, Springfield (alternately known as Big Spring), which was laid out on a hill near the head of the Big Spring. Springfield faded away over the course of 150 years, leaving only a few original houses, stone foundations and fences to mark the spot. It lives on in nostalgia, along with the drovers, artisans, wagons, horses, mills, taverns and the turnpike which sustained it during the age of the horse.

"Historic Events of Colonial Days" by Rupert Sargent Holland is a thrilling collection of stories about true events. The book reveals early American history, particularly the tumultuous, period of the nation. Excerpt: "The good ship Lyon had been sixty-seven days outward bound from the port of Bristol, in England, when she dropped anchor early in February, 1630, at Nantasket, near the entrance of Boston Harbor, in New England. The ship had met with many winter storms, and passengers and crew were glad to see the shores of Massachusetts. On the ninth of February the Lyon slipped through a field of drifting ice and came to anchor before the little settlement of Boston. On board the ship was a young man who was to play an exciting part in the story of the New World."