Life Along the Big Spring

Book excerpt: 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.