Camp Michaux Web Site
http://www.schaeffersite.com/michaux.htm
Several Histories of Camp Michaux

Rev. M.S. Reifsnyder - United Church of Christ - 1955

What follows in these pages is a brief history with facts and legend concerning a spot in the Michaux forest that has grown very dear to many of us.  Here we have played and studied and experienced deep convictions concerning our faith.  It is only a small tract of land that looms large in the life of the camper.
We hope that in this history you may find some interesting facts (and some fiction) concerning Camp Michaux.
The Original Farm
About 250 acres, including Camp Michaux, were originally a farm belonging to the Gardner family.  The deed to this property was destroyed when the Confederate Army marched through the North.  From natives we learn that the tract was known as the Bunker Hill Farm.
The thick stone wall still standing north of Trail Lodge was a part of the barn on the Gardner farm.  The buildings must have been very well constructed judging from this wall, because it is about three feet thick.
The last year this farm was cultivated was 1919.  At that time they were harvesting a thousand bushels of wheat from it.
The Baker family owned the first steam traction engine in the South Mountains.  They used it in their sawmill.
The Hunting Lodge
Prior to 1850 some businessmen from Carlisle, Mount Holly, and Mount Tabor built a hunting lodge on the farm.
Wooden pegs instead of nails were used in the construction of the lodge.  Even the lath were fastened with wooden pegs.
About 25 or 30 years ago Mr. Monk Wagner, a native of these mountains and a great friend of Michaux was a member of this club.  The organization was disbanded about 15 years ago.  At the time of disbanding this building was known as The Beam Hunting Lodge.
The CCC Camp
In 1931 the Civilian Conservation Corps took possession and cleared the land which had grown over with weeds and briars.  At first the corps lived in tents.  While tents were the only shelter lightning struck the camp, killing one boy and injuring another.  Money found’ in the slain boy’s pocket is still kept in the District Forester’s Office.  It is fused into one solid mass.  While the CCC boys were occupying the camp they built four log cabins, Honeymoon, Hutch, Tool Shed and Gasoline Storage (these names were given to them later.)  A part of the Mess Hall, Headquarters, and the lower Recreation Hall were also constructed at this time.  We believe that Calvin Barracks was originally a truck garage.  The barracks above the chapel were erected by CCC, also the Pumping House.  Two dams with log breasts were added.
There is a legend abroad that the boys would compete in a snake contest for their spending money.  They would form a long line at the foot of the mountain and search for snakes as they proceeded to climb to the top.  Black snakes, copperheads and rattlers fell before this onslaught.  A stone fence came down the mountain from the West and went through the Camp site.  It is said that thousands of snakes were killed when this fence was removed.

Camp Pine Grove 
A Prisoner of War Camp
The PW Camp was located at Michaux because it was close to the Carlisle Barracks and at the same time only a two-hour drive to Washington, D.C.  Perhaps more important was the fact that the site is isolated and could be kept a secret.
It was under supervision of the Intelligence Department of the Army.  The camp had a private telephone line from here to Washington, D.C.  It was originally intended to house German Naval Officers, but it was enlarged to include prisoners from Rommul’s African Corps.  Later Japanese Officers were also imprisoned here.
The camp was occupied by 1500 prisoners and 150 American personnel.  The inventor of the German Buzz Bomb was held here.
At one time during the war a German Naval Officer was quartered in Trail Lodge.  He was a very stubborn prisoner and for two weeks would not divulge any secrets.  Someone found out that this prisoner was very fond of American Whiskey.  So they brought him down to Michaux Lodge and put him in with another prisoner.  The Americans gave them two bottles of whiskey.  They became very drunk and the conversation which ensued was recorded by means of a Dictaphone hidden in the ceiling.  A few days later a submarine base in Germany was bombed for the first time.
The Michaux Prisoner of War Camp is mentioned by President Eisenhower in his book “Crusade in Europe.”
Camp Michaux 
A Religious Education Camp
Camp Michaux came about through the vision and untiring efforts of a few ministers and laymen who were faced with the great need for Christian Youth Training.  These men took over the Prisoner of War Camp and equipped the ground in a suitable manner for the adequate training of youth.
Camp Michaux was started July 1st, 1947, through the cooperation and work of many young people who enthusiastically accepted Michaux as their camp and conference grounds, and through the interest, approval, and giving of Christian people in the churches and through the foresight of the denominational bodies concerned.  Camp Michaux is today a living reality through the organization of a Board of Directors.  This camp is set up for continued and permanent operation.  The Board has acquired a ten-year lease from the state.  It has employed an all year around caretaker.  An efficient management system has been set up and operates on a budget of approximately $40,000 annually.
The present tract contains 65 acres of beautifully landscaped forest land.  Evergreen trees border the paths connecting the buildings which consist of staff lodges, campers lodges, sleeping quarters for 500 campers, recreation halls, chapel, headquarters and office, infirmary, camp store, craft shop, toilets and bath houses (with hot and cold running water).  All buildings are equipped with electric lights and heating facilities.
Out of doors are found Vesper Hill, a beautiful swimming pool, a fish pond, athletic field, hiking trails, campfire sites, picnic grounds, volley ball, and badminton courts.
The whole property in conservatively valued at a half million dollars.  During the past five years 150,000 dollars has been invested in Camp Michaux to make it an effective place for a church camping program.

The New Swimming Pool
(“Old” or “New”?)
For the health and safety of campers a new concrete swimming pool was constructed at a cost of $50,000.  It has been designed by competent engineers and is under Red Cross Life Saving supervision.  It affords a splendid opportunity for non-swimmers to learn to swim and provides splendid recreation for those who already know how to swim.  The water is tested weekly to assure sanitary conditions.
Land Marks About the Camp
As a prospective camper turns from route #233 and enters a road leading to Camp Michaux he passes over High Mountain.  When he arrives at camp he faces Jerry’s Flat which lies to the North.  Vesper Hill is situated at its foot.  To the west is Big Rocky Ridge.  This ridge is so named because of the huge rocks that lie poised on its crest, ready to be catapulted to the valley beneath.  Opposite the valley, to the south of camp, is Little Rocky Ridge.  The Appalachian Trail crosses this mountain about one mile south of camp.
The Appalachian Trail passes through the camp along the foot of Big Rocky Ridge Mountain and Jerry’s Flat.  The Sunset Trail passes to the south of camp along the foot of Little Rocky Ridge.  They meet about a mile northeast of camp and again about a mile to the southwest.  Between these two points lies the entire length of the rugged Sunset Trail, but the Appalachian Trail stretches from Maine to Georgia.
The only road through camp is a County Road.  This road is improved from route #233 to Camp Michaux.  From there it continues up to Jerry’s Flat, where it is known as the Ridge Road.  The Ridge Road eventually connects with the Centerville Road.
The stream that runs through Camp Michaux is called Tom’s Run.  It has its origin in springs that are located near the Appalachian Shelters about a mile south of camp.
In 1905 slate and bricks were manufactured in the village of Pine Grove Furnace.  The old slate and brick mines can still be seen.  The industry was managed by Col. J. C. Fuller.  In the boom days of 1912 to 1914 about 500 people were employed.  Some of the trades represented were charcoal burners, wagoneers, blacksmiths, woodsmen, carpenters and storekeepers.
Fuller Lake
Fuller Lake was once the ore hole from which the iron ore was mined for the Pine Grove Furnace.  Long ago it filled up with water.  It is now an ideal spot for vacationers.  It is reputed to be more than 90 feet deep.  The, mining of iron ore had to be stopped because the water came into the quarry so rapidly that the old type pumps could not pump fast enough.  Some of the machinery is still down at the bottom of the lake.
Laurel Lake
Laurel Lake is a companion to Fuller.  It also serves many vacationers.  Some think Fuller Lake is warmer than Laurel Lake for swimming, but Laurel is not nearly as dangerous.  Laurel Lake slopes gradually into deep water but Fuller Lake drops off suddenly close to the edge.
The Tenant House
About a mile, northeast of the camp, along the Appalachian Trail is an old house.  It is now used as a lodge for the hikers on the Trail.  Originally it was the tenant house belonging to the Gardner Farm, Tenant houses were used in those days by the hired man’s family.  The house and the immediate surroundings are overgrown with a heavy stand of pine trees.  Somewhere among these trees are three unmarked graves, bearing the remains of three small children who died of small pox.
Near the tenant house are the remains of a stave mill, only the foundation is in evidence.  The staves manufactured here were used to make barrels for salt pork.
The Indian Breast Works
There are two legends in existence concerning the Indian Breast Works.  The first of these connects them with the Indians and the second claims that they were used by the settlers living there during the Civil War.
Story # 1—The Indian Story.  This story assumes that there was a road where the Appalachian Trail now is.  It was used by the early settlers who traveled from Pennsylvania to the South.  When these settlers would reach this particular point in their journey the Indians would shoot their arrows from a stone barricade, on big Rocky Ridge.  This story is not very plausible because Indians seldom used handmade fortifications.  There were plenty natural fortifications about 100 yards up the mountain where many huge boulders lie poised as though ready to be dashed down the mountain side at a moments notice.
Story #2—The Civil War Story.  It is more plausible to believe that soldiers of the Confederacy used this valley to proceed from the South towards Chambersburg.  It seems more logical that this stone fence (that is all the Indian Breast Works were) was hastily thrown together by people who wished to snipe at an enemy, than by Indians who out of sheer maliciousness wished to kill a few white men.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if some future historian would discover a bit of evidence that the stone fence was only a stone fence.  About 25 feet of it remains.  The remainder was destroyed by the CCC boys.
The Charcoal Pits
The Charcoal Pits had their beginning about the same time the furnace was built at Pine Grove Furnace, prior to 1770.  The ingredients used in manufacturing iron were charcoal, limestone, and iron ore.  Sometimes these ingredients were adulterated with other metallic substances and caused brightly colored slag to come from the furnace.  This odd slag can still be found in the refuse from the furnace that was strewn over the Appalachian Trail.
The charcoal was brought out of the mountains and transported to the furnace in bottom drop wagons drawn by six or eight mules.
The remains of the pits can still be seen.  They’re circular in form, absolutely level, and about 15 to 20 feet in diameter.  There are quite a few of them on the Sunset Trail.  Some are found on the Appalachian rj7rail About two miles west of the camp on the Appalachian Trail remains of fireplaces that the charcoal burners used for cooking purposes are still in evidence.
The Frog Pond
Near the Ridge Road about two miles west of camp in Jerry’s Flat is a sluggish pond.  The water in it is an accumulation of rainwater.  There is no evidence of a spring feeding the pond.  Apple trees appear in the vicinity making it possible that an early settler lived near by.  Recently a bulldozer dug the pond deeper.  The pond is not nearly as picturesque as it once was.
The Ant Hills
Along Ridge Road are huge Ant Hills.  Some of them attain a height of 2 or 3 feet.  Several groups of Michaux campers have closely studied these ant hills.  One of the groups thrust a pane of glass from the top to the bottom through the middle of the hill.  Then they carefully scraped the ant hill from one side of the pane.  In this way the activity of the ants could be seen.  It was quite evident that these ants had a highly organized social existence.  They fed aphids for their milk, they had a nursery with trained nurses for the infants, they had storehouses for food, they had a standing army, and many other features of a similar nature.  The nature of this organization disturbed some of the campers because it appeared too much like socialism.
Dead Woman’s Hollow Road
This road got its name from the fact that a woman whose identity is no longer known was bitten by a snake and died there.  After she was found the natives referred to this road as the Dead Woman’s Hollow Road.  It is located about 2 miles south of Camp Michaux.
Hammond’s Rocks
These rocks are an outcropping of huge boulders about 40 feet high.  They are located about 7 miles northeast of the camp on Buck Ridge.  They afford a good place from which the surrounding mountains can be surveyed.  The scenery is very beautiful.
The location of these rocks is approximately 5 miles west of the camp and is sometimes known as Prospect Place.  The site was cleared by the CCC.  The rocks are comparatively small and are called flint stone.  They cover the entire side of a mountain for about 200 yards.  They are supposed to be infested with snakes.
Sunset Trail
This trail is sometimes known as the “Blue Trail.”  The name was given to it because of the blue markings that are painted on the trees indicating the direction of the trail.  It is one of the most picturesque of all the trails in Michaux Forest.  It is very rugged and demands a good deal of stamina on the part of the traverser.  Some of the rocks that must be climbed are as tall as ,a two-story house.  (Snakes are not uncommon.  The author helped to eradicate a nest of copperheads.  The nest contained six mother snakes with 60 little baby snakes.  And that is no “snake” story!)  It extends from the Appalachian Trail near Pine Grove Furnace south to a place where it again joins the Appalachian Trail about one mile south of the camp.
The Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Trail which begins at Mt. Katodin, Maine and ends at Mt. Ogelthorpe, Georgia, passes through Camp Michaux.  The old tenant house belonging to the Gardner Farm is one of the stations along the route.  The key to this house can be obtained from the forest ranger in Caledonia.  About 2 miles south of the camp are two lean-tos, which furnish shelter for travelers on the trail.
The half way mark from Maine to Georgia is located near Mt.  Holly Springs.  1225 miles stretch either way from this point.
This is the story as it was given to me: A married man living in Pittsburgh ran away with a married woman from the same place.  The woman had three children.  They finally arrived in the Michaux Mountains.  The man was looking for work but could not find any.  Becoming desperate and unable to bear the hungry complaints of the children, he killed them and left them in the mountain.  A marker identifies the spot where the children were found.  The man and woman were later apprehended and brought to justice.

Lewis’ Cave
“On the banks of the Conodoguinet Creek, about 1½ miles from Carlisle is a cave, the haunt of David Lewis.”  David Lewis was a very romantic figure that lived in the vicinity of Carlisle during the early Colonial period.  He is supposed to have stolen from the wealthy and given to the poor.  The more realistic story, but still romantic, is that the “poor” was a comely widow that lived in these parts
In a book about David Lewis appears the description of the above-mentioned cave.  It had an antechamber 90 yards long and a man could stand erect in it.  Three passages branched from it.  One of these led to the “Devil’s Dining Room.”  Before Lewis took possession of it the Indians were supposed to have used it for a storehouse.  It is also possible that parts of it were used for a tomb.
Those who have had the rare pleasure of reading the autobiography of David Lewis find that he was not as romantic a figure as he was reputed to be.  He met a very tragic end.  He was caught by the authorities and died in prison.
Andre’ Michaux
In order that you may become more familiar with the man whose name this forest bears I have asked the Reverend Doctor Addison H.  Groff of Baltimore, Maryland to do some research along this line.  He has submitted the following: Through the mountain around our camp there passed more than a century and a half ago the romantic figure of Andre’ Michaux.  This beautiful state forest is named after him.  Our books on botany bear his name on every page.  We are indebted to him for his discovery and naming of a host of flowers, shrubs, and trees never before seen by white man.  On closer acquaintance we admire his genius and untiring labors not the less, but we love him the more for the man he was, a man with a heavy burden on his heart, and the light of a soul-quest on his face.  Those who have dreams will love this lone and gentle man who loved these forest deeps and revealed their pleasures to a wonderful world.
We said “alone,” but Andre’ Michaux did not pass through these silent and virgin woods alone.  With him was a boy, a lad of 15, his son Francois, who continued his father’s labors when that unfortunate man was sent by cruel fate, not back to the American Wilderness he loved, but toward the Spice Islands, w hen a sudden fever brought death to the gallant searcher, at the age of 55, on the Isle of Madagascar.  The year was 1802, the month November.
Andre’s young wife had died in giving birth to her son, and Andre’ sold his estate and rushed toward the East, as if to quiet the pain in his heart.  In Persia he was captured by bandits rescued as if by a miracle, and brought back to Europe rare fruit and ornamental trees for the King of France, trees which he later presented to our own George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, among them the Tallow Tree and Chinaberry Tree which now graces our Southern Gardens.
Andre’s King then sent him to America to gather plants for the Royal Gardens.  He was 38 years old when his ship landed in New York accompanied by the young Francois.  In near by New Jersey he set up his garden and.  into the wilds he plunged to gather seeds, leaves, roots, cuttings, and plants for a King who forgot to pay him, and whose gracious Queen was ungraciously to give away his American treasures of flora and fauna to her father the Emperor of Austria.  When the traveler returned to Paris after losing almost all his books and diaries, his specimens, and almost his life, when his boat was wrecked off the coast of Holland, he found his King and Queen dead by the hungry Guillotine, and his country in the hands of those who had no interest in things scientific or beautiful.
Eleven years Michaux was to extend his American travels.  The courteous French gentleman was to face the wilderness with little armor other than his gentleness, his hunger for knowledge and his love of growing things.  “He loved flowers as Audobon loved birds”, says one admirer, He explored the mountains of Carolina, he made hazardous journeys through the swamps and marshes of Florida.  Back among the mountains after a voyage to the Bahamas, Michaux discovered Ginseng and taught its commercial value to the mountaineers.
In 1794 the relentless searcher made an expedition to Canada and the Arctic Regions about Hudson Bay and on his return he discussed with Thomas Jefferson the prospects of an exploration of the great West by way of the Missouri River.  The Lewis and Clark expedition in the next century followed the Frenchman’s plan and suggestions.
In 1796 Michaux sailed home to France.  For seven years he had received no pay from the home government and his own resources were exhausted.  After the almost fatal wreck off the coast of Holland Michaux reached Paris to place his precious books of dried plants in the famous museum.  His collection of living plants and seeds and most of his notes had been lost at sea.  And so to the Pacific and death at Madagascar.  while his son Francois returned to the American mountains they had first explored together.  The father’s dreams were realized in his son.  Francois lived to an advanced age.  always happy to receive American visitors and hear of how the wilderness he had loved was now the dwelling place of settlers.  And of how great cities now stood at the crossing of the roads which once were trails for the deer and the Indian and a few intrepid men like the Michaux father and son.
If in our walks along the Michaux trails we come upon the stemless Yellow Violet (Viola Rotundifolia Michxj, or the Silvery Gladefern (Asplenium Thelypteroides Micbx.), we shall remember Andre Michaux who loved the woods we love and who first named hundreds of our plants for all who were to come after him.  It may well be that those who bring their burdens to these mountains may, like him, find all they are seeking and more.

The End
Printed by
THE CARROLL RECORD COMPANY, INC.
Taneytown, Md.
APRIL 1955
Word Processed by
Lee Schaeffer
Pittsburgh, PA
MAY 2002

The Pine Grove Prisoner of War Camp
Patrick L. Metcalf

In May of 1943, as American and British forces were wrapping up their operations in North Africa and preparing for an invasion of Sicily, United States military personnel in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, were making their own unique contribution to the Allied war effort.  Deep in the heart of the Michaux State Forest, an abandoned Civilian Conservation Corps camp was being renovated for an entirely new purpose: to detain and interrogate German prisoners.  This site, referred to in official War Department documents as the “Pine Grove Prisoner of War Camp,” was classified as “secret,” and its existence and mission (to glean vital strategic intelligence from German prisoners of war) were largely unknown to the local inhabitants.  This long-kept secret is perhaps one of Cumberland County’s most intriguing historical events of the Twentieth Century.

The Second World War was the first and only war in which the United States found itself holding a massive number of enemy prisoners on American soil.  Men and war material were transported to Europe and North Africa in Amen-can ships; and the empty ships returned to the continental United States with enemy prisoners, thus alleviating the logistical and security crisis presented by the increasing number of Axis prisoners in Allied hands.  This gargantuan and unanticipated cask became the responsibility of the Army’s Provost Marshall General’s Office (PCMO).1

The War Department and the PGMO were wholly unprepared to deal with the overwhelming number of enemy troops that were disembarking in Atlantic seaports in the summer of 1943.  The War Department had no experience to guide them in establishing the administrative and logistical system required to transport, process, and house a large number of prisoners.  In April of 1943 there were 5,007 Axis prisoners in the United States.  This number jumped to 130,299 by August of that year, and by 1945 the number had risen to 425,871.  Eighty-seven percent of these prisoners were German;2 the remainder were Italian and Japanese.  POW camps were established in 44 out of 48 states;there were 16 in Pennsylvania alone, including camps at New Cumberland, Gettysburg, Fort Indiantown Gap, and Pine Grove?

The primary concern of the War Department was to ensure that the standards set by the Geneva Convention of 1929 were met in full lest substandard treatment of Axis prisoners would result in retribution against American prisoners held by the German military) To make matters more difficult, all American assets, including food, housing, energy, transportation, and personnel were in limited supply during the war.  These pressures forced the PGMO to conduct only basic interrogations of prisoners before sorting them by rank and branch of service and transporting them to the appropriate camp.  As a result, the PGMO made a tragic mistake in assuming that all German prisoners held similar political views.  The truth was that not all Germans were hardened Nazis; in fact, some of them detested Hitler and his National Socialist regime.  Many of these anti-Nazi prisoners were subjected to persecution and some were even murdered by the Nazi hierarchy that came to control the internal workings of many POW camps in the United States.5

Despite the fact that the War Department was not prepared for the large number of prisoners that it would receive, the United States used the situation to its advantage.  As more and more Americans volunteered or were drafted to fight the war in Europe and in the South Pacific, labor became increasingly scarce and precious.  To help alleviate this crisis and to increase the production of materials needed to sustain the war effort, many prisoners were put to work in American agriculture and industry.  The Masland Company in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, received a contingent of over one hundred German prisoners and the necessary guards from the Fort Indiantown Gap POW Camp to augment its work force in producing war materials in the late summer and autumn of 1944.  The prisoners who worked at the Masland factory were housed in tents on the grounds of the Carlisle Barracks.6 This sort of use of Axis prisoners was common in the United States during World War IL.

‘While prisoner-of-war labor played an important role in sustaining the rate of American industrial production, prisoners of war in the United States played an even more crucial role by providing important strategic information for the Allied forces.  The War Department established two major Strategic Defense Interrogation Centers, which were modeled after the system that the British had established for the same purpose.  Of such interrogation centers in the United States, (there were others located in various theaters of operation outside the United States), one was located in Byron Springs, California, and another was at Camp Hunt, Virginia.  These interrogation centers were created by a joint effort of the Army’s Military Intelligence Service (MIS) and the Office of Naval Intelligence (0NI)7

The purpose of these Strategic Defense Interrogation Centers was to obtain strategic rather than tactical intelligence.  Tactical intelligence is battlefield information, such as the location, strength, equipment, and intent of various enemy combat elements.  It must be obtained on or near the front lines and utilized as soon possible after enemy personnel are captured, as this information quickly loses its value on a rapidly changing battlefield.  Strategic information can be gleaned from enemy personnel long after their capture.  It concerns the industrial capabilities, technologies, morale, and long term military strategies of the enemy.8

Of all the POW camps in the United States, Pine Grove was one of only three used for interrogations.  It was classified as “secret” and no civilians were employed there or even allowed to have knowledge of the camp, which could house as many as 2,000 prisoners at a time.9 The prisoners who were shipped to Pine Grove, which was activated in May of 1943, either came directly from Atlantic seaports where they disembarked, or from other POW camps across the country.  They were of undetermined intelligence value, and it was the responsibility of interrogators at Pine Grove to determine which prisoners were worth sending to Camp Hunt for detailed interrogation.  At times, as few as 20 percent were deemed to be worth further interrogation.10 This “weeding out” process, which took as little as a few days or as long as several months, improved the overall efficiency of the system, and conserved valuable manpower and transportation resources.  Those prisoners not sent to Camp Hunt were sent to various camps across the United States as dictated by their rank, branch of service, and political disposition.

Political ideology was not originally one of the criteria that the War Department used to segregate prisoners into various camps.  As a result of this oversight, a minority of hard-core Nazis were able to seize control of the German military hierarchies in POW camps across the United States.  These fanatical Nazis waged a reign of terror against anti-Nazi and apolitical German prisoners in order to ensure loyalty to their fascist ideals and to Adolf Hitler.  At least five murders and an unknown number of “forced suicides” were attributed to such elements in camps throughout the United States.1’ There is no evidence of such activity in the Pine Grove camp.  It seems unlikely that any such organization could have materialized due to the short amount of time that the prisoners stayed in the camp and the fact that many prisoners attempted to conceal their identities, military and political, in the face of interrogation.  Pine Grove did, however, assist in the process of sorting such radicals through the interrogation process.

In addition to these tasks, Pine Grove also served to improve the overall efficiency of interrogation.  When prisoners thought to possess strategic intelligence disembarked at some Eastern seaport, they were immediately sent to Pine Grove to be screened and to have preliminary interrogations conducted.  These prisoners susceptibility to questioning would have dramatically declined if they had had the opportunity to interact with, and become “contaminated” by, prisoners from other camps who were familiar with American interrogation techniques.12

Pine Grove was a desirable location for an interrogation camp for several reasons.  The first was its relative isolation.13 Prisoners were transported to the camp in vehicles (buses or trucks) with covered windows during the night.” Prisoners were deterred from making an escape because they did not know where they were but thought that they were in the middle of a vast wilderness.  This location was also selected to save time and money.  The Pine Grove POW camp was previously the Pine Grove Civilian Conservation Corps camp.  The installation was not a particularly large one, composed of 30 or so buildings.  Because of the limited size of the installation, the government was able to utilize many buildings and facilities already in existence.  This was a fairly common practice in constructing POW camps across the United States.  The last reason for choosing Pine Grove was its relative proximity to both Carlisle Barracks and Camp Hunt, Virginia.15

The command structure of Pine Grove and the two Strategic Defense Interrogation Centers was, in a sense, schizophrenic.  The Third Service Command under the Provost Marshall General’s Office was responsible for providing for such practical day-to-day concerns at Pine Grove as transporting, feeding, housing, and guarding the prisoners.  Officers from the Military Intelligence Service and the Office of Naval Intelligence conducted interrogations and decided how prisoners of intelligence value were to be handled.  This joint command, between the various Service Commands under the PGMO and the intelligence services of the Army and the Navy, was a unique facet of the SDIC facilities.

As a result, even the American military personnel who guarded the prisoners had very little knowledge of individual prisoners or their interrogations.  William Myers was a corporal at Pine Grove.  He told a reporter from the Chambersburg Public Opinion in 1986 that soldiers were not even told where they were being assigned or what they would do until they arrived.  Myers saw action in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy before he was wounded and sent back to the United States.  Joseph Tarquino, also a guard at the camp, was a private, and like Myers had seen action in North Africa and Sicily before he was wounded.  Tarquino was from Chambersburg, but rarely had the opportunity to go home.  “We had our usual times off We were still in the Army and we did things the Army way.“16   Another guard, Robert Chastulik, was the first sergeant of the Pine Grove camp in 1944 and 1945.  He was wounded in France and sent back to the United States, where he expected to be discharged.  His discharge never came through and he found himself placed in charge of the enlisted men who guarded the Pine Grove camp.  As one would expect, Sergeant Chastulik had mixed feelings about guarding the Germans.

‘Well, when I first went in there, I was bitter.  And I also told them, when we did anything with them outside, if one of them tried to escape, I would shoot him.  And they knew that.  But then we also had classes and lectures on that they were prisoners and they were to be treated as prisoners.  After you’ve been there a while it leaves you.17

Leo Groeger remembered the Pine Grove camp, though his brief stay there (several weeks) in 1943 was spent on the opposite side on the wire.  He was a captain in Erwin Rommel’s famed Afrika Korps before being captured by American forces.  He was transported from Casablanca to some unknown port in the United States before arriving at Pine Grove, where he was interrogated for the first time.  From Pine Grove he was transported to Montana to harvest potatoes and then to Arizona to pick cotton.  He remembered that there was “absolutely no contact with civilians and the guards would not talk to us.“ 18

The relationship between the prisoners and guards at Pine Grove was an uneasy one.  Many of the guards, like Chastulik, Tarquino, and Myers, were combat veterans.  They had fought the Germans and many had either been wounded or lost close friends in combat.  They were not eager to establish friendly relations with the Germans.  The guards were ordered not to fraternize with the prisoners, though many of the Germans spoke at least some English.19 Many of those who did speak English pretended not to, as they were in an interrogation camp and were suspicious of the soldiers who guarded them.  Nevertheless, many of the prisoners were described as friendly, and sometimes carved wooden boxes and other such novelties to trade with the guards.20 However, the previously mentioned factors, along with the larger context of the war, diminished the possibility that friendships might have been established.

In 1945, a separate and smaller compound was built to house prisoners from an entirely different theater of the war, the South Pacific.21 Little information is available about the Japanese who were held and interrogated at Pine Grove.  One can only surmise that they were of extraordinary intelligence value to be shipped all the way from the West Coast for interrogation.  Cultural and language barriers probably decreased the already minimal amount of interaction between the guards and the prisoners.

Of all the prisoners at the camp, the Germans who were kept for special duties were those whom the guards became the friendliest with.  These prisoners were enlisted men who were not ardent Nazis and who possessed some sort of talent that made them useful.  Those that were good cooks were kept to prepare meals for the guards.  Those that had experience with horses were kept to work in the stables.  (Horses were kept to facilitate searches in case of an escape.)  But even these prisoners were not allowed to stay long at Pine Grove for security reasons.

Work details were a part of the daily routine for prisoners.  There were both enlisted men and officers at the camp, and though the Geneva Convention dictated that officers were not required to work, many volunteered for labor parties.  Many POW camps compensated prisoners for work by giving them credit at the camp canteen, where they could buy such necessities as cigarettes.  It is likely that Pine Grove operated in the same manner.  Routine tasks such as cutting firewood, shoveling snow, cutting grass, and general maintenance of the camp were required of the prisoners.  There was also a detail of prisoners who were sent to the Carlisle Army Barracks to work on the grounds and in the hospital there.

Though there was interaction between the Pine Grove camp and the Carlisle Barracks, few people knew that the Pine Grove camp even existed.  When First Sergeant Chastulik interacted with civilians in Chambersburg, where he lived, he told them that he was stationed at the Carlisle Barracks.  “That was our address.  That’s where we got our mail and, for essential purposes, that’s where we were.”22 According to Private Tarquino, many Chambersburg area people knew POWs were being kept in the area, although they did not know where.  Corporal Myers stated that measures were taken to keep the public away.  Food and provisions were brought by truck from Carlisle and work around the camp was done by guards and POWs.  No civilians were involved.

The guards at Pine Grove sometimes made trips to Carlisle or other local towns when they were on liberty.  The drives to and from the mountain outpost were made dangerous due to the exhausted state of the soldiers who worked on four-hour shifts with only four hours off duty in between.  This excruciating routine was maintained because of a shortage of manpower due to the demands of the war.  Joseph Tarquino spent Christmas of 1944 at the Pine Grove camp, though his family was only a short distance away in Chambersburg.  Though a traditional Christmas meal was served for the guards, Tarquino stated, “I remember it was a very rainy and freezing day.  The chaplain came in and had a service for us.  It was pretty much routine.23

There were no successful escape attempts by prisoners from Pine Grove, thanks to the vigilance of the men who guarded the camp.  Six-foot high fences around the prisoner compound and machine gun towers armed with automatic weapons and spotlights assisted in ensuring security.  However, there was an incident in which two prisoners who were believed to have diphtheria were transported to the Carlisle Barracks infirmary for treatment.  They escaped from the prison cell there and were reported to have been captured shortly thereafter.24
That no prisoners ever escaped from Pine Grove is an impressive fact when one considers the fact that there were 2,803 escapes from the various POW camps across the United States during the war.25 Nor was any prisoner shot.  (There were 56 prisoners shot while attempting to escape from prison camps in the United States, 34 of whom died.)26

Though guarding the prisoners at the camp was a crucial task, it was not the primary one.  The ultimate purpose of the camp was to interrogate enemy prisoners.  Paul Gross, a German soldier, experienced interrogation at the camp first-hand.  He was captured in France shortly after the invasion of Normandy.  Though he was only a private in the German Wehrmacht, he was probably sent to Pine Grove because of his attempts to befuddle American field interrogators who tried to procure tactical intelligence from him when he was captured.  They may have suspected him of being a German officer posing as an enlisted man.  Once he arrived at Pine Grove, it required only a fifteen-minute interrogation for the Americans to realize that Private Gross knew very little in the way of strategic intelligence.  They asked him questions such as:
“Have you been a member of the Hitler Youth?”
“How did you come to it — voluntarily or were you compelled to join it?”
“What about the hours of duty in this organization — did you enjoy them or had you an aversion to this duty — and why?”
“What profession has your father?”
“Is he a member of the Nazi party or one of its organizations?”
“What does he think of the Nazis and their policies?”
“Do you personally believe that Germany will win this war?”27
After answering these questions to the interrogator’s satisfaction, Gross was returned to the compound.  He spent only four days at Pine Grove before being transferred to Carlisle to work at the Masland factory to make canvas tank covers.

Contrary to popular perception, interrogations during the Second World War were often a simple matter of asking pertinent questions and recording the answers.  Most did not involve deception, coercion, or physical or psychological torture.  For example, the records of three I.P.W Teams (Interrogation of Prisoners of War Teams attached to combat units to extract and disseminate tactical information from enemy prisoners on or near the battlefield) who operated from D-Day to ME.  Day in Europe indicated that 80% of German prisoners gave information freely and voluntarily.  Ten percent gave information under pressure, either physical or mental, seven percent were tricked into revealing information, and only three percent were successful in protecting their secrets.28 These figures roughly correspond to the extraction of strategic information at the Strategic Defense Interrogation Centers in the United States.  Records and documentation indicate that the most effective way to gain valuable information from prisoners was simply to ask them.  Of course, this was not always the case.

As mentioned earlier, knowledge of how interrogations were conducted or what information they revealed was not known to the vast majority of personnel who worked at Pine Grove.  Only the intelligence officers from the Military Intelligence Service and the Office of Naval Intelligence were privy to such information.  The records available at the National Archive give some insight as to what went on in the interrogation building at Pine Grove.  Boxes of interrogation reports describe various battles from the German point of view.  They describe tactics, morale, and German experiences with and opinions of both their enemies and allies.  Maps and blueprints illustrate battle plans and experimental weapons systems.  It is clear from these artifacts that the interrogators at Pine Grove learned much about the Nazi war machine from these prisoners.

One unconfirmed rumor about the Pine Grove Prisoner of War camp is that it held the inventor of the German “buzz bomb”, also known as the V-l rocket.29 This device was essentially an unmanned aircraft that the Germans launched from the mainland of Europe to bomb cities in England.  Its devastating strike was preceded by a terrifying buzzing noise, which gave it its name.  Most of its victims were English civilians, as the V-I was not accurate enough to employ against specific military targets.  Though there is evidence to suggest that German prisoners of war gave away secrets about German military technology, there is none to substantiate the claim that such an illustrious prisoner as the inventor of the buzz bomb ever resided within the wire of the Pine Grove facility.

Though most information was contributed voluntarily by the prisoners, there is some evidence that indicates that some Germans remained loyal to their Fuhrer and the Fatherland even after capture.  Interrogation reports from Pine Grove reveal that hardened Nazis of Hitler’s fanatical SS divisions were interrogated at Pine Grove, and furthermore, that they were rather arrogant during such interviews.  Another “legend” of the Pine Grove camp is that one particularly resilient German naval officer refused to reveal any information even after two weeks of interrogation.  American interrogators decided to employ a new tactic to trick the German into revealing what he knew.  Someone discovered that this officer was very fond of American whiskey.  They placed him in a room with another German officer and gave them two bottles of whiskey.  The two became inebriated and the resulting conversation was secretly recorded through a Dictaphone concealed in the ceiling.  As a result, a few days later a German submarine pen, whose location had long been a secret, was bombed for the first time.30

While the veracity of such a tale is certainly questionable, it does contain an element of truth.  Take, for example, a very similar and completely factual account of a British naval interrogator at the Strategic Interrogation Center No.  2, in England.  The British had captured an overly confident German U-boat officer who refused to yield to any conventional method of interrogation.  The British officer, after repeated failures, decided to pursue a different strategy.  He went to the German’s cell with some beer and cigars which he shared with the man.  They began a casual conversation which inevitably turned into a debate about the outcome of the war.  The British officer at one point stated that in order to win the war the Germans would need to invent U-boats that would not need to re-charge their batteries above water.  At that, the German gave a hoarse laugh and stated, “Just wait, soon we’ll have that too.  The quick-minded interrogator retorted rather nonchalantly, “Well, as a matter of fact, we know about that too.”  This comment shook the German prisoner so badly that as soon as he was reunited with his cellmate he began a worried conversation about whether or not he had revealed any such information during his interrogations.  This discussion was recorded secretly through hidden microphones and gave the Allies the first indication that such a device existed.31

These deceptive tactics were commonly used by both British and American interrogators, and suggest that the legend about the inebriated German at Pine Grove may be true.  Another form of deception used by British and American interrogators was to have Germans who wished to overthrow Hitler impersonate German officers in order to acquire information.  Chastulik, who was the first sergeant at Pine Grove, reported that he saw Germans who weren’t German military personnel dressing in uniform and mingling in with the population at the camp.32 Though this was probably an effective method, it was also a dangerous one that resulted in the murder of a prisoner by the name of Johann Kunze at Camp Tonkawa in Oklahoma in 1945.33

It was unusual for American interrogators to resort to violence to procure information, though the threat of violence was commonly used.  A former guard named Rex Waite drew a map of the Pine Grove camp in a 1993 interview with a reporter from the Shippensburg News Chronicle.  In his rough depiction of the camp, which looked very much like a crude representation of the Army Corps of Engineers map of the same installation, was a building near the mess hall labeled as the “sweat box.”  Though it was not a common tactic, it is not entirely beyond the realm of plausibility, especially when considering the context of the time, that American military personnel utilized a more severe tactic with some of the more obstinate prisoners.  Though sweat boxes were used occasionally by both the British and Americans, the utilization of this method at Pine Grove is purely speculation.

The surrender of Germany on May 7, 1945 and the surrender of Japan on August 13 of that same year brought the Second World War to a close.  The defeat of the Axis powers and the end of the war made the Pine Grove Prisoner of War Camp obsolete, and it was closed in May of 1946.34  The post was abandoned by the military and the camp remained unoccupied until 1947.  That summer members of the Presbyterian and Evangelical and Reformed Churches leased the camp from the government for $600 a year on the condition that they keep the buildings in good repair.  The camp was renovated and became a church camp.  It was renamed, “Camp Michaux” and served in that capacity until 1972, when the property reverted to the control of the Pine Grove State Park.35 The buildings were torn down and since then the site has become overgrown with vegetation.

Evidence of the camp still exists.  Located along the Appalachian Trail on Michaux Road, weathered foundations of the buildings that once housed German and Japanese prisoners can be found beneath dense vegetation and pine trees.  It is a strange and quiet place with a rich history.  Few of the people who stumble upon it can imagine that the site was once a secret military installation vital to national security Pine Grove holds its secrets well.

Notes
1.	Origin Of The Interrogation Centers For The Interrogation Of War Prisoners (United 
                   States War Department, Military Intelligence Division), 2.
2.	Charles Muskiet, Educating The Afrika Korps: The Political Reeducation of German 
                 ROWs in America During the Second World War.  (MA Thesis, Baylor University,   1995), 

3.	List of P0W camps in the United States as of] June 1943 (Army Service Forces, 
                  Office of the Commanding General.)
4.	A.J.  Barker, Prisoners of War (New York: Universe Books, 1975), 87
5.	Muskiet, EducatingtheAfrikaKorps, 3.
6.	Diane Reed, German POW in Carlisle Pennsylvania, 1944-1945 (MA thesis, PA 
                  State University, Harrisburg, 1989), 17.
7.	Origin of the Interrogation Centers For the Interrogation of war Prisoners, (U.S.  
Army, Military Intelligence Division), 3.
8.	FM 30-15; Examination of Enemy Personnel, Repatriates, Civilians, Documents, and 
                 Materiel (U.S.  War Department Field Manual, 1945), 32.
9.	Diane Reed (Interview with Robert Chasrulik, 1983), 85.
10.	Origin of the Interrogation Centers for the Interrogation of War Prisoners, 26.
11.	Judith Gansberg, Stalag USA (New York: Cromwell, 1977), 52.
12.	Origins of the Interrogation Centers, 26.
13.	Ibid.
14.	J.C.  North, “Christmas 1944 was rainy in area POW camp.”  The Public Opinion,
                 (Chambersburg, PA), December 26, 1986, 15.
15.	Origin of the Interrogation Centers, 26.
16.	North.  “Christmas was rainy in area POW camp,” 15.
17.	Diane Reed, interview with Robert Chastulik, November 4 1983, 93.
18.	J.C. North. “Former German POW Recalls Pine Grove,” December 26, 1986.
19.	Reed, Interview with Robert Chastulik, November 4, 1983, 93.
20.	Ibid. 94.
21.	Ibid, 93.
22.	North. “Christmas 1944 was rainy in area POW amp,” 15.
23.	Ibid.
24.	Reed (Interview with Martha Eareckson, January 30, 1989), 73.
25.	Gansberg, Stalag USA, 44.
26.	Ibid.
27.	Reed (Interview with Paul Gross via written correspondence, February 7, 1989), 116.
28.	Interrogation of Prisoners of War (U.S. War Dept., General Staff, G-2, 1945), 3.
29.	M.S. Reifsnyder, The History of Camp Michaux, (Pamphlet printed by the Presbyterian and Evangelical and Reformed Churches, Camp Michaux, Pine Grove Pennsylvania), 3.
(Is this Rev. M. S. Reifsnyder, former rector of Baust Reformed Church?
 Seehttp://www.carr.org/hscc/research/yesteryears/cct1997/970727.htm)
30.	Ibid.
31.	Interrogation of Prisoners of War , 6.
32.	Reed (Interview with Robert Chastulik, November 4 1983), 91.
33.	“Death and Treason.” Newsweek, February 5, 1945, 47.
34.	Reed, (Interview with Robert Chastulik, November 4, 1983), 92.
35.History of Camp Michaux, 3.

Patrick L. Metcalf, "The Pine Grove Prisoner of War Camp", 
Cumberland County History, Winter 2000, Volume 17 Number 2.
Available from: The Cumberland County Historical Society
21 North Pitt Street,  P.O. Box 626,  Carlisle, PA 17013

The History of Pine Grove Furnace
In 1764, George Stevenson, Robert Thornburgh, and John Arthur built the first iron furnace at Pine Grove, which they enlarged in 1770. The furnace manufactured cast iron products like, ten plate stoves, fireplace backs and iron kettles. In 1782, Michael Ege purchased the furnace, iron mine, mill and mill house. By his death in 1803, Michael was the sole owner of the Pine Grove ironworks and two other ironworks in the area. 
His son, Peter, became the Pine Grove Furnace ironmaster and from 1827 to 1829 built a stately brick English Tudor mansion, currently the A.Y.H. Hostel.  In 1830, Peter added Laurel Forge to the ironworks. With six fires, runouts and trip hammer, Laurel Forge could produce 2,000 net tons of blooms a year.  Laurel Forge reheated and hammered the cast iron ingots from Pine Grove Furnace to produce wrought iron, a product that could be bent in many shapes.
The financial panic of 1837 bankrupted tens of thousands of Americans including Peter Ege. At a sheriff’s sale the following year, 37-year old Frederick Watts, later to be known as the father of Pennsylvania State University, and his partner, Charles B. Penrose, purchased Pine Grove Iron Works for $52,000.
In 1864, the ironworks changed to a corporation. A group of investors formed the South Mountain Iron Company and brought in Jackson C. Fuller as the furnace manager. The new iron company also began construction of the South Mountain Railroad to bring raw materials to the furnace and move its iron products to market.
Jackson was a life long friend of the chief investor, Jay Cooke, who is credited with almost single handedly financing the Union’s efforts in the Civil War with the concept of selling war bonds to the public. Jay Cooke found himself deep in debt and went bankrupt, causing the financial panic of 1873. It took the federal government nine years to recover from Cooke’s financial failure.
In 1877, through his friend Jackson, Jay Cooke bought back the ironworks portion of the old company at sheriff’s sale under the newly created corporation called the South Mountain Mining and Iron Company. The Cumberland Valley Railroad bought the other half of the old South Mountain Railroad.  Throughout the winter of 1878, the iron furnace went through a total renovation raising the stack to 36 feet with closed bell and hopper on top, a steam hoist to raise raw material to the top of the new stack and three tuyeres to force air into the furnace with the new steam blowing engine which replaced the old blowing tubs.
These innovations allowed the furnace to operate on fuels other than charcoal, which was becoming harder to secure due to constant harvesting of the forests.  Now the furnace could be operated on coke and when that was low, anthracite coal could be mixed with the coke.  Charcoal would remain the primary fuel of the furnace, but the furnace would no longer have to shutdown when charcoal supplies were exhausted.  1883 marked the peak production year for the furnace, producing 6,000 net tons of cast iron annually, but new technologies quickly put small iron producers out of business.
Pine Grove Furnace went out of blast for the final time in 1895, ending 131 years of iron making in South Mountain.
In 1913, the South Mountain Mining and Iron Company sold the ironworks, encompassing 17,000 acres, to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to be part of the new Forest Reserve system. Much of the land became Michaux State Forest, but part became Pine Grove Furnace State Park. 
Some of the historic buildings dating back to the charcoal iron community still stand and include the furnace, ironmaster’s mansion, clerks office, stable, grist mill (now the Visitor Center), the inn (now the park office) and several residences. Remnants of raceways, charcoal hearths and related man-made features are still discernible.
Fuller Lake was the major ore quarry for Pine Grove Furnace.  The quarry filled with groundwater when mining ceased. Laurel Lake once supplied water power to Laurel Forge. 
In 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established Camp S-51. The CCC boys built roads, trails and facilities until 1941. 
In 1977, Pine Grove Furnace was entered in the National Register of Historical Places.
Internet Publication: 
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/pinegrovefurnace.asp

RECOLLECTIONS, HISTORICAL AND OTHERWISE, 
RELATING TO OLD PINE GROVE FURNACE
Horace Andrew Keefer
From the PATC Archives  
http://www.patc.net/history/archive/pine_grv.html
The following is an historic reprint from the October 1934 Edition of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club Bulletin, precursor the PATC's current newsletter, the Potomac Appalachian.
Pine Grove Furnace was one of the old style cold blast furnaces using charcoal for its fuel, situated on the beautiful stream of water known as Mountain Creek in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and it is a pleasure to know that at this late date, one of its old time managers has consented to give some of the experiences that go to make up the routine life of the various people who were connected with these old iron industries. 
This article was written at the request of the Department of Forests and Waters of the State of Pennsylvania, and was intended for publication by the State, but due to the necessity for economy in state printing in recent years, it was never published. The original manuscript gave still more experiences with the old pioneers and the author's impressions of Jay Cooke and Jackson Fuller, the last owners, but it is unfortunately not now available. It is to be hoped it may some day be published, together with the many photographs and plates furnished by the author.  Mr. Keefer has kindly consented to the publication of this portion of the article and has promised to assist in the near future in locating some of the old landmarks in the vicinity of Pine Grove Furnace. - J. S. 
I desire to acknowledge valuable assistance from George H. Witt and S. F. Moore of the Department of Forests and Waters; Mrs. George S. Comstock, daughter of William Watts, who was born at Pine Grove Furnace; Miss Nellie King, Finksburg, Md., daughter of Daniel King and niece of Jackson Fuller, and Charles D. Barney, son-in-law to Jay Cooke. - H. A. K. 
In my early life there were no vocational schools to direct one's natural abilities, no physiological genius to jumble our age-old inheritance for good or evil, we just grew up and took such places as circumstances offered.  In my case it was a clerkship in the office of the Paxton Furnaces at Harrisburg, Pa., and as proved fortunate was the beginning of a growing love for the manufacture of iron. So, when in 1879 I was offered the superintendency of The South Mountain Mining and Iron Company's properties at Pine Grove, I felt (after six years' experience) capable of the undertaking, responsible as it was and proved to be.  In offering these reminiscences I desire to convey first a short chronology of this old and historic property, fully aware of some gaps which I am unable to supply. 
Pine Grove Furnace was built on the original land warrant granted to Samuel Pope dated July 23, 1762, for 137 acres 17 perches of land, and Samuel Pope, by his deed dated October 2, 1762, conveyed his land to George Stevenson, and this land with the surrounding lands came into the hands of Michael Ege, Joseph Thornburg and Thomas Thornburg, the deed reciting, "Being the same lands whereon a Furnace is now erected known by the name of Pine Grove Furnace, and mine holes sunk to supply with ore." 
This would indicate that the original furnace was built prior to 1770, certainly not later. In fact Thomas Hyle, an old life-time employee, now in his 85th year, still having a good memory, says he has always understood that the furnace was built prior to the ownership of Michael Ege, but the second furnace was undoubtedly built by Peter Ege at a later date, although Swank, in his "Iron Making in Pennsylvania" says that the furnace was built by Michael Ege.  The records show that on August 11, 1810, the Court appointed referees who reported an agreement by which the Pine Grove Furnace and all the lands should be sold at public sale, and they were so sold November 7, 1810, to Michael Ege for 15.565 pounds sterling.  At the time of his death, August 31, 1815, he seemed to be the sole owner of the plant at Pine Grove, and the Mt. Holly Estate Furnace and Forge and the Cumberland Furnace Estate, as an order for an appraisal of his estate soon after his death, was issued by the Court, and the following lands were taken at the appraisement: 
Peter Ege (his eldest son) took the Pine Grove Furnace Estate. George Ege (his second son) took the Mt. Holly Iron Works. Mary Ege accepted the Cumberland Furnace lands. 
The patents for the various warrants that became the property of Peter Ege were all granted to him in 1821, and the furnace continued in operation under his management for several years.  According to Mrs. Laura E. Flower, of Carlisle, Pa.,  Peter built the mansion house, without which no old cold blast charcoal furnace property was complete, and when he died we do not know, but the fact remains that his burial place was in the small cemetery on the hill back of the old brick plant, and there an iron slab with the name barely legible still remains. 
The Ege family were all iron masters of the old style. George Ege (1st), the father of George (2d) and Michael Ege, died in 1759 and the two sons were brought up by their uncle Baron Henry William Steigle at Elizabeth Furnace, Lancaster County. Baron Steigle will be recalled as one of the great iron masters of his day, and the first manufacturer of glassware in the United States. 
The George Stevenson who purchased the lands in 1762 from Samuel Pope, was born in Ireland in 1718 and came to America in 1741. He married Jane Geddes of Mill Creek Hundred in 1744, Mrs. Stevenson died in 1748, and some years later Mr. Stevenson married the widow of Colonel Thomas Cookson and removed to Carlisle in 1765 and became part owner of Pine Grove Furnace. 
George Stevenson and Mary his wife by their deed dated April 21 1772, conveyed their land to Finley McGrew, and at this time this land was returned as being located in West Pennsborough Township. Finley McGrew and Dinah his wife by their deed dated April 15, 1773, conveyed the land to Jacob Simeon, and Jacob Simeon and Anna his wife conveyed the land to Michael Ege, Joseph and Thomas Thornburg by his deed dated December 3, 1782. This deed cites, "The same premises on which a furnace is erected," and seems to indicate that the original furnace was built prior to the first date of Michael Ege's ownership. Joseph Thornburg and Rebecca his wife by their deed dated December 22, 1788, conveyed his interest to Thomas Thornburg and John Arthur, and the firm continued until about 1800 when Ege, Thornburg and Arthur seem to have disagreed and various law suits were entered against Michael and Peter Ege, which continued until about 1810 when an agreement was arrived at to refer the matters in dispute to Robert Coleman, another well-known iron master. This agreement was signed by David Watts for Thornburg and Arthur, and by Michael Ege. November 7, 1810 Pine Grove Furnace with all its accumulated acreage of wood land was put up at public sale by order of Court, and Michael Ege purchased it for fifteen thousand dollars, and he seems to have been the sole owner until his death, August 31, 1815. At the time of his death, he left to survive him the following children: Peter; George; Michael (this boy had received special favor from his father and did not share in the estate when the division was made), Mary (we take it from the records that she was married to William C. Chambers); Eliza, then about fourteen years old. 
Letters of administration were granted to Peter Ege, George Ege, Michael Ege, Isaac B. Parker, and James Duncan, dated September 15, 1815, and as stated before, Peter Ege came into sole possession of the Pine Grove Furnace Estate, and continued to purchase the surrounding lands at every opportunity.  We find that Peter Ege purchased at sheriff's sale November 30, 1826, the lands of David Watts and Robert Buchanan in Dickinson Township, and from which a number of court actions arose as to title. 
During the years 1835 to 1838 Peter Ege became involved financially to such an extent that a foreclosure was necessary for the payments of his creditors, and February 6, 1838, he agreed to waive all inquisitions and condemnations.  The Pine Grove Furnace Estate was sold by the Sheriff July 21, 1838, to Frederick Watts and Charles B. Penrose for $52,500 and a Sheriff's Deed Poll given dated August 20, 1838, for 35,000 acres located in Dickinson and South Middleton Townships, with a furnace, forge, coal houses, smith and carpenter shops, brick mansion houses, 30 log dwelling houses, grist and saw mill, etc. The property thus came into the ownership of Watts and Penrose, and Charles B. Penrose and Valeria his wife by their deed dated November 25, 1843, conveyed all his interest in the estate to Frederick Watts. 
Frederick Watts was the grandfather of William Watts, and came to Pennsylvania in 1760 and bought land on the Juniata River near Duncannon and called his place "Wheatfields." David Watts was his only son and was prepared for college by his mother, Jean Murray. He graduated from the first class sent out from Dickinson College, studied law in Philadelphia and practiced in all the Circuit Courts as far as Baltimore. William Watts, son of David Watts, was born 1809, and was the youngest of six children, four boys and two girls. William was educated both in law and medicine, became the owner of one half interest in Pine Grove Furnace by virtue of a deed from Charles B. Penrose and wife dated October 17, 1845 and deeds from the heirs of Frederick Watts. According to Julia Watts Comstock, her father, William Watts, lived at Pine Grove, her brother David Watts marrying Marion Cameron, granddaughter of General Simon Cameron, and she became the wife of George S. Comstock of Mechanicsburg, both brother and sister having been born at Pine Grove. David Watts in 1794 had taken up several tracts of vacant land farther down the creek, and there were gradually purchased and became part of the lands of the Furnace. David Watts died about 1819, as his will dated July 30, 1819, was probated September 18, 1819. 
Rev. Conway P. Wing, D.D., in his "History of Cumberland County, 1879," states that the original furnace was built by Jacob Simons between 1773 and 1782, as Simon became owner of the property April 15, 1773, and conveyed to Michael Ege and the Thornburgs in 1782 and his deed calls for "His improvements." 
Mr. Edward B. Wiestling in his splendid article read before the Kittochtinny Historical Society in 1922, entitled, "Old Iron Works of the Cumberland Valley," states that Laurel Forge was built in 1850, and had six fires, a run out and a trip hammer. It used the waters from Laurel Dam for the power and had an output of about two thousand tons yearly. He also adds "The old Garrison at Carlisle added to the gayety of the region. In those days there were fewer people in the world and they were closer together. If they happened in the neighborhood of the mansions, they were expected to stop as a matter of course. The only fuel was wood, and the big fires in the huge hearths were not only comfortable but lent a cheer that nothing else could do. All supplies were brought in large quantities and brought to the works in big wagons." 
By the Act of April 23, 1864, the "South Mountain Iron Company" was incorporated, with George A. Cooke, George C. Thomas, James T. gingham and others as incorporators (P. L. 1864, p. 582) and they purchased all of the Pine Grove property from William Watts, and the furnace was greatly improved. 
The right to build the railroad connecting the Pine Grove works to the Cumberland Valley R. R. was given by the Act of Assembly of February 28, 1865 (P. L. 1865, p. 245) and the railroad was extended as rapidly as possible.  A mortgage was given by the incorporators, but probably on account of the slump in the charcoal iron industry, the iron company failed in the payment of the interest and payments, and at the January term 1877 the Cumberland Valley R. R. Company foreclosed their mortgage against the South Mountain Iron Company and a sale was held at the Merchants Exchange in Philadelphia May 15, 1877, but the property as a whole was not purchased.  The property was then divided with the result that Jackson C. Fuller purchased the entire Pine Grove property excepting the railroad and its franchise for one hundred dollars subject to the various liens against it.  Thomas B. Kennedy purchased the railroad and its franchise for ten thousand dollars.  These sales were confirmed by the Court June 11, 1877. 
This resulted in the incorporation of the South Mountain Mining and Iron Company with Jay Cooke, Jay Cooke, Jr., Charles D. Barclay, E. J. Williams, B. J. Woodward, John W. Sexton, William H. Woodward, and John M. Butler, as incorporators with a capital stock of $20,000, which was approved by the Governor September 22, 1877, and Jackson C. Fuller and Caroline M. his wife by their deed dated November 30, 1877, transferred all their right, title and interest in the Pine Grove property situated in Cumberland and Adams Counties. Allen Butler was appointed Treasurer and Manager of the company. 
In 1879 the furnace was thoroughly overhauled and reconditioned by John Birkenbine, one of the best known hydraulic engineers of the time, who afterwards became a member of the State Forestry Reservation Commission, and I was given the task of its physical operation.  At this time, so far as I know, it was the most complete charcoal furnace in the State and possibly in the United States.  lts engine was one of the "Weimer make that had been in the World Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876. The stock had been enlarged with a closed bell and hopper top, iron syphon hot ovens and steam hoist had been added.  It was connected by railroad with the three operating ore mines and limestone quarries, and had a woodland area of about 25,000 acres embracing all of Cooke Township (which had been erected out of Penn Township June 18, 1872 and included all of the furnace proper) with a circumference of about 70 miles. 
Despite the misgivings of the old workers who were unfamiliar with modern conditions, the "blow-in" was entirely successful, and the continuance of operations for four years, with only one blow out for repairs and relining, was maintained. As I recall it we made about twenty tons of pig iron every twenty- four hours.  Most of this pig iron was sent to Laurel Forge and made into ingots or blooms, although quite a little was sold for car wheels and other purposes requiring a high grade of pig iron. 
Even under these advanced conditions, it soon became apparent that not for long could we compete with the cheaper Bessemer products now coming rapidly into the iron market.  People looked to price rather than quality, and at that time there was no basis for comparisons. Today, we know that charcoal products for ductility tensile strength and longevity were better than the Bessemer and open hearth steel, but what could we expect.  The forests were gone with their fuel, along with the furnaces and forges, and we may only see one inevitable phase of the process of evolution and economical pressure of a vast productive period which demanded volume that could not be met with the charcoal industry. 
With all the trials and tribulations of a cold blast charcoal furnace, there was generally considerable comedy, for despite this ducal-feudal colony, there was so little tragedy (except its decay) as to be negligible. The old Tennessee and Virginia mountaineers who formed much of the colony were peaceably inclined, so long as the red liquor was kept in control, and this, we believe, was done then better than it is today. The forge workers were all negroes and a finer lot of men I never worked with.  The wood chopping was mostly done in the winter by the surrounding farmers and the charcoal burners who lived in self-constructed cabins in the woods.  It was when the coaling jobs became busy in the spring that the teamsters with their mule teams got under way, after a winter's idleness and there was much bucking and confusion at first, but the refractory mule was soon put in line by hitching him backward to a load coming down hill. One lesson of this kind was usually enough, I wish I had jotted down some of the amusing incidents that occurred to me during my stay there, but several stand out clear after all these years. I had an assistant, Willie Bolton, whose widowed mother was the head of a fashionable girls' school at New Rochelle, N. Y., and she induced Mr. Cooke to wish Willie on me. Nothing we did was quite up to Willie's standard. Mrs. Lynch, our Maryland housekeeper in the old mansion, just before Easter, wanted to know how many eggs she should have for each one at breakfast. I thought three or four, but Willie promptly told us he could eat a dozen and top it off with a goose egg, all hard boiled. I promptly bet him a five- dollar bill he could not eat them. The boy ate them and collected the five. To give us all a Christmas dinner diversion, I arranged for a turkey dinner at Gettysburg. We found our sleigh would be too crowded with five, so Willie offered to walk by having a half hour's start and beat us into Gettysburg, but here he lost his bet and I collected mine. 
The ore miners were a shifting and mostly an irresponsible lot.  They labored eleven hours each day and received eight cents an hour, and were expected to supply their wants from the company store in which Colonel J. D. North kept their accounts balanced for fear of squandering too much on non-essentials. Pat McGuire was one of these. He lived in a log cabin not far from the church, and his wife frequently helped out around the house. One winter night Pat, in a drunken fit, beat up this little woman and ran her out of the house with nothing on but a pair of boots and night dress.  Fortunately I was out late that night when she came to the furnace crying and shivering, and I took her to Mrs. Lynch who made her comfortable.  Next night Pat was visited by a committee of six, who thoroughly whipped him and put a rope around his neck but let him off on his promise to leave the place and not come back. He went to Carlisle and was locked up, and the foolish little woman left me no peace until I went to Carlisle and got him out, but neither of them was permitted to come to Pine Grove.  The next issue of the Police Gazette had a large picture of how the Pine Grove Vigilantes treated wife beaters. 
Frequently there were guests of either Mr. Fuller or Mr. Cooke in the mansion during the summer months.  As a young man of social connections and supposedly of good behavior, it became my duty to see those guests entertained.  Horseback riding was the chief attraction, and usually by those who never had been mounted.  Three young ladies were given preliminary training and when thought safe, I started with them one moonlight evening to cross the mountains to Bendersville where a supper had been ordered.  We reached the top of the mountain safely and then our troubles began.  Approaching from the other direction we could clearly hear the hoof beats of many horses. The girls became panic stricken.  I dismounted them all and took the horses and girls into the underbrush and I went forth to meet the enemy, which proved to be four men looking for horse thieves.  After some parley and inspection of our mounts, they went on their way, but the girls refused to proceed and insisted on returning, thus missing a good supper. 
Catoctin Iron Works, just south of us in Maryland, were having trouble with their men who were out on a strike, and word came to me they were coming in a body to Pine Grove to induce our workers to strike.  That would have been a serious matter which must be avoided. Silently and unobserved at night I fastened a locomotive head light on my railroad velocipede (a new vehicle just out) and started to Carlisle. I came near not reaching that place for near Laurel, a rabbit started ahead of me between the rails and in my endeavor to overtake it, I upset and lay for some time unconscious in the ditch.  Finally coming into my senses and feeling no bones broken, I proceeded.  I had myself appointed a special policeman and was back before sun-up and sent a trusted party to intercept the Catoctin people with the threat that they would all be arrested the moment they came into Cooke Township. They did not come. 
The old ore bank near the furnace had become a source of constant anxiety.  It was about eighty feet deep and water coming in regularly. Never did we have enough ore to supply the needs of the furnace beyond a week, often only two days, and a flooding of this ore hole meant disaster.  The water was kept under control by the use of a large plunger pump about six feet long and 12" in diameter driven by a huge water wheel 20 feet diameter and 10 foot face.  One night the unexpected happened.  Gravel sucked into the cylinder and constantly rocking back and forth with each suction of the piston had gradually worn through the iron and the mischief was done.  When I was called, the water had raised four feet and in order to get the name of the maker I stood in water up to my waist and felt for the letters with my-fingers.  I finally made out Reading, Penna. and in consulting old ledgers we ordered by wire a cylinder to replace.  Before it was out of the sand mould, I was in the shops seeing it bored and through the influence of personal friends had a special car placed on a passenger train and met our waiting locomotive at Carlisle Junction.  In the meantime a centrifugal pump had been mounted on a raft in the mine hole to help out, and within a week we were normal.  The ore from this mine was run through washers to remove the clay and sand, the overflow from the washers was confined to a dam which frequently broke out, and the Mt. Holly Paper mills soon were to detect. 
Just before casting time one evening, the keeper informed me they could not cast on time because a drunken workman whom we had discharged had purposely waded through the "Pig Beds" and destroyed the moulds.  I ordered him out, and when he refused there was a test of skill and endurance, but the third round was sufficient and I took him out, and Esquire Weiser sent him to Carlisle on the next train.  His big burly brother tried to get me the next day, but did not like the looks of my hip pocket, and left after trying to beat up another man after dark, when he mistook the man for me.  As an evidence of what might have been a panic among good but credulous people, and how it was met, Dr. Longsdorf, our Company physician, startled us one day by announcing that we had a case of smallpox on the place.  Old Jim Dougherty, a wood chopper and collier out in the Whetstone job four miles away, was down with the disease, and every last person around him had deserted him.  It was necessary for someone to go there at once.  Several of us offered, but Daniel King, the General Manager, who happened to be at Pine Grove, vetoed it and went himself, daily, until the poor fellow died. The person who would not be inspired by such noble leadership is hopeless. 
Water, pestilence and famine are dreadful scourges, but nothing at Pine Grove filled us with such terror as an alarm of fire in the mountains. The year before I came there over 2,000 cords of wood had been burned and many acres of growing timber.  This was all new to me, but after the first fire I saw that the failure lay in having too many bosses with cross purposes.  There should be one director whom all must obey.  Dan Leeper the wood boss mapped out the various wood and coal jobs.  The bosses of the different jobs were instructed that at the given signal from the furnace whistle all hands were to report to me.  The six carpenters were furnished with brush hooks, who, under Leeper, were to cut away brush for a fire line following them with torches and forks, backfiring was begun and patrols folio-wed for keeping the fire line clear.  I never lost a cord of wood, though we had many stubborn fires.  Meals were conveyed to the fire fighters who were kept on the line until all danger was past.  I had some narrow escapes.  One hot July day during a very stubborn fire, in back tracking I found the line uncovered for several miles, and was at a loss to know the meaning until I heard some one talking in a secluded spot, and on investigation found six men playing seven up.  I ordered them to the office, but they threatened to beat me up. Putting my hand to my hip pocket, I declared it was death to the first man who came towards me.  Of course it was sheer nerve, but I got them down the hill and at once replaced them. 
The railroad was the weakest part of our system. Not enough business could be supplied locally to balance the expenditures.  We laid out a park half mile south of the furnace. Dammed up Mountain Creek for a lake.  Put in a number of attractions and erected rustic buildings. With these diversions we had through the summer season daily, four to ten coach loads of Sunday School and other organizations with picnics. One of the Market Street, Philadelphia, Baldwin steam cars, that operated during the 1876 Centennial, was purchased and carried parties between the park and the furnace at ten cents the round trip, and it soon paid for itself.  On one of these days a drunken rowdy held the car by himself and refused to get off.  We ran the little machine to Laurel out of sight, and dumped him in the shallow water of the lake.  This park was the gathering place for some of the most notable meetings of distinguished persons in the State of that period, for once in each year Mr. Cooke and Mr. Fuller royally entertained their friends.  Special cars from Philadelphia carried notables from that city, while on the Cumberland Valley another car gathered them up.  United States Senators, Congressmen, bankers, railroad officials and state officers were highly entertained, and the topics of the day thoroughly discussed. Bart Woodward of Philadelphia, with his famous "Fish House Punch," soon had them all going full steam ahead. 

The Fuller Brick and Slate Company. - March 14th, 1891.
The South Mountain Mining and Iron Company conveyed to the Fuller Brick and Slate Company four tracts of land in Adams and Cumberland counties consisting of 439 acres for the purpose of operating as a brick-making plant, as a fine body of shale and clay had been found on the land, and a stock company was organized with a capital of $600,000.  A fine quality of buff-colored brick was made, but for some reason the market did not seem to be open for their product, and the brick company was forced to suspend operations, and by a deed dated August 11, 1913, reconveyed back to the South Mountain Mining and Iron Company the four tracts of land. The large building used for the brick making was lowered four feet, and is now used for the storage of machinery and stables for the teams of the Forestry Department.  The stone grist mill has been refitted into a delightful building now used for entertainment and eating rooms, and during the summer months is well patronized.  The park with its many original pine trees, is used during the summer season by the girl scouts organizations, as well as other pleasure seekers.  One of the curiosities in the older days was a pine tree fountain.  Pipes were laid from a spring of fine mountain water across the creek, and were run under one of the big pine trees, and brought out about three feet above the ground.  No one could see the pipes, and of course the query was where did the water come from flowing so freely out of that pine tree? 
By deed dated November 22, 1912, and other deeds later, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased from the South Mountain Mining and Iron Company over fourteen thousand acres in Cumberland County and nearly three thousand acres in Adams County for forestry purposes at four dollars per acre.  The Department rebuilt the roadway running from Pine Grove to Caledonia, and it is now one of the attractive automobile drives that could be taken for mountain scenery, and a great number of pleasure cabins are built on the land, especially along Mountain Creek. 
A terrific forest fire occurred April 20, 1915, on these lands, and destroyed many acres of fine young timber, and burned the Forge Farm house, barn and all out buildings, burned the Forge Mansion then occupied by Joseph Fuller, and several summer cabins, and also burned the immense ice house that stood at the edge of Laurel Lake filled with hundreds of tons of pure ice that had been harvested from Laurel Lake for use in Carlisle and Harrisburg by the United Ice and Coal Company of Harrisburg.  It was a wonderfully destructive sight to watch the glistening ice while the wooden house around it burned fiercely. 
It is almost impossible to record a history or even a sketch of history of such works as the old charcoal furnaces, without giving the names of those faithful helpers, who in all troubles stood shoulder to shoulder with the owners, feeling that the end of their work must soon come.  While I was manager of the works, the following were my dependable helpers ready for call at any time: 
John Christman, master mechanic, could do more and better work with a chisel and file than many can now with lathe and planer. 
Daniel Leeper, wood boss, knew every foot of the property, and all the deceptive tricks of wood choppers, putting stumps and crooked sticks in their cord ranks. 
William Foreman, Superintendent of No. 1 ore bank, a splendid man who had to deal with all sorts and conditions of men and knew how to do it. 
Ezra Root, general repairman at banks, expert wire rope splicer, blacksmith and wood worker, very ingenious, loyal and intelligent. 
Joseph D. Barber, millwright.  Splendid mechanic. Built the large overhead water wheels at forge and the ore hole. Was a man of intelligence.  He was an ardent member of the "Greenback" political party. Died January 1st, 1892. 
Jerry Barber, his son, for years in charge of the stables and later the personal coachman for Mr. Fuller, and with his wife, Kate Bailey Barber, conducted the boarding house.  It was always said that when Jerry looked at a horse, he knew every fault and favor in every bone in the body. It was thought that nothing but death could pry Jerry away from Pine Grove Furnace, but he did move with his family a few years ago to Mount Holly Springs, and died there January 29, 1927. Jerry was born October 21, 1849. 
Charles Sheaffer, the miller at the stone grist mill, was a good miller and quite a wag.  His tales would make a good volume rich in humor if they had been kept. 
Samuel Dysart, boss carpenter and coal and iron policeman, Sam had wonderful skill with his tools. 
William Mounts had charge of mine banks No. 2 and 3 in the vicinity of Laurel, and was always known as "Old Man Mounts" by everybody, loved by everybody, and had the character to go with it. 
To make a success in the charcoal iron manufacture, no set of men are more important than the Charcoal burners, and we were fortunate in having a set of very dependable men.  Mr. Thomas Hyle still living at Pine Grove in his 85th year, was one of them.  There were four men in each coal job, and they were expected to turn out into charcoal from 200 to 400 cords of wood each coaling season.  These colliers were William Showers, William and George Stainer Emery Cline, Daniel, Calvin, John and William Cline Eli, Andrew and Fred Heller, John, Hiram and John Warner, Jr. Thomas and Henry McElwee, William, John, Jesse and William Waine, Jr. George Murtiff and George Boane. 
On the furnace work the following were employed: 
Keepers: Daniel Stout and Davie Weiley. Keepers' helpers: George Shockley and John Martin Filler: John Bohn. 
At the forge the following were employed: Joseph Fuller, Superintendent. Clerk, Mr. McClure, who later became a noted divine in the Episcopal Church.  The company store was managed by J. D. North, assisted by W. A. Davis and Albert Warner.  The upper or Bunker Hill farm was tenanted by Frank Arnold, the Forge Farm by Edward Grimes and the Furnace Farm by Mr. Lynch.  The teacher in the little school house was Miss Ella Cormoran. Mrs. Lynch took splendid care of us in the old mansion house until we moved into the new mansion house (now used for a hotel) where Mrs. Mary Mullen and her daughter were persuaded to come from the Mount Holly Inn to take charge of the new place.

A SHORT HISTORY OF CAMP MICHAUX
Text from a document obtained at the Pine Grove Furnace Park office.
Nestled in the ridges of the South Mountain two miles west of Pine Grove Furnace lies Camp Michaux. This church camp, was shared by the United Presbyterian Church and the United Church of Christ, has an unusual historical background, which dates from the early iron mining industry and continues through World War II.
The present site of Camp Michaux was once known as the Bunker Hill Farm and included about 250 acres of land. No one is certain how far back this early farm dates because the deed is believed to have been destroyed by confederates on their march north.
According to one theory, however, the farm existed in Revolutionary days. It is know that after the Battle of Trenton, Hessians were taken as prisoners to the Carlisle Army Post. From there, they were issued to various farmers in the area as workers. These Hessians may have erected the enormous stone barn at the Bunker Hill Farm because its construction resembles the old Hessian guardhouse at the Army Post. One side of the stone barn still stands on the Camp Michaux grounds.
About a mile northwest of camp, on the Appalachian Trail is the old tenant house of the farm. Located close to a mountain spring and a creek, the house is now used as a shelter for hikers along the trail. Behind the house among the trees lie three unmarked graves believed to be those of young children who died of small pox.
In addition to the farm proper, the farm included a large peach orchard on Big Flat and a sawmill close by. The first steam traction engine in the South Mountain was owned by the Baker family for use in this sawmill.
Sometime through the years the farm was bought by the owners of the Pine Grove Estate and became part of their vast system of farms. The iron works community at Pine Grove was similar to a feudal system in that workers were dependent on their master for food and shelter and that "farms were worked for the support of man and beast."
The farm system was so extensive that in 1878 the South Mountain Iron Company hired an expert planter and fruit culturist, J.D. North from North Carolina, to have charge of the farms and their management. A tenant farmer operated each individual farm. Under this plan, John A. Gardners was the last farmer of the Bunker Hill farm. For this reason, natives often refer to the site as the Gardner Farm.
In 1912 the South Mountain Mining and Iron Company sold out to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for $29,827. The sixty square miles of the Pine Grove Estate became a state forest reserve. The state, however, continued to cultivate the Gardner farm until 1919 when 1,000 bushels of wheat were harvested.
The once prosperous farmlands were then abandoned and left to overgrow with weeds. In 1932, the Civilian Conservation Corps, under Roosevelt's New Deal, spotted the site for one of their camps. This camp, S-51. became the first CCC camp in Pennsylvania.  
In May of 1933, the first group of boys came from Philadelphia by train to the Pine Grove station. At the beginning they lived in the railroad coaches and each day walked the two-mile distance to and from the farm. When the crew had sufficiently cleared the fields they set up their camp of tents.
These tents were only temporary housing until barracks could be built. Living in tents was unpleasant as well as dangerous. Once when lightning struck the camp, two boys were killed. The corps finally moved into barracks at Christmas that first year.
About 200 boys occupied the CCC camp at one time. Boys from eighteen to twenty-five years were eligible to enlist for a six-month period and could re-enlist up to two years.
The first work crew set out on June 1, 1933, to improve the road to the Baker sawmill. Other work assignments that first year were primarily devoted to the construction of a camp. Fields no longer needed were planted in tree plantations, and permanent buildings were built. Later years, however, were spent improving old roads, making new roads, and making general improvements in the forest reserve.
After nine years of operation, the CCC camp closed in February 1942; then the Intelligence Department of the Army took over the site and supervised the Camp Pine Grove Prisoner of War Camp. (The official name according to Metcaff) Not only was the camp close to the Carlisle Army Post, but also it was only a two-hour drive from Washington, D.C.  Most important, though, the camp was well isolated and could be kept a secret.
At first, the camp was intended only for German naval officers, but then it was enlarged to take in some Rommel's African Corps and later, Japanese officers. A staff of 150 American personnel were stationed there. The camp held the inventor of the German buzz bomb (Metcalf disputes this information) in addition to 1,500 other prisoners.
Because the camp was kept a secret, very little information is available about the actual operation of it; however, evidence of its existence remains in the present church camp for all to see. A gallery of pictures painted by the prisoners was displayed in the recreation hall. ( I hope some record of them survives.) Several pictures showed the barbed wire fence that surrounded the camp, and the high watchtower located in the center of camp. The concrete base of this tower still remains. German words and names are embedded in concrete steps and bridges that the war prisoners constructed throughout the camp.
With the end of the war, the camp again was abandoned in approximately 1945. Then when a small group of ministers and laymen from the Presbyterian and Reformed churches were looking for a summer camp where they could train their young people, they discovered the ex-prison camp.
In 1948, Camp Michaux Incorporated got a ten-year lease from the state at $600 per year provided they maintain all buildings and grounds. A provisional agreement from the state allowed them to use the grounds during the summer of 1947 when work camps cleaned the area and repaired the buildings.
Like the state forest that surrounds the site, the camp is named after Andre Michaux who made great contributions to botany by his explorations and collections. This Frenchman, who lived from 1746 to 1802, was sent by Louis XIV to North America to gather plants for the Royal Gardens. He was also commissioned to study various trees and give advice on woods suitable for naval construction. During his eleven years in America, Michaux did extensive travel. He spent two years in the southern Appalachian Mountains collecting and naming many plants. Today's campers have a special interest in this man who loved the same woods they do.
The camp has reverted to Michaux State Forest and in approximately 1972 the buildings and appurtenances were removed. The buildings are now gone, save for the still standing end of the old barn.  However, the pristine setting has not been altered significantly.
Take some time to visit the former site and absorb through the mind's eye, days long past, and listen to the serenity of the mountains.