| Jacob’s Resting
Place 1790 Trail Through History |
| The house was built in 1790. One of the classic trout streams of Pennsylvania, LeTort Spring, runs along the rear of the our 3 acre property. Research indicates it was likely built by Robert Miller or Matthew Henderson, who married Robert Miller’s daughter, Margaret in 1790. Robert Miller was active in our country’s revolution and a personal friend of George Washington. In 1751 Miller purchased the land as part of a large purchase from the William Penn Land Grant. Carlisle was born from the same William Penn Land Grant. The house was in and out of the same family (Henderson and McKnight) from 1790 until 1986 when we purchased it from Marcus McKnight, Senior. From 1800 through 1835 it was a Tavern-Inn much like those of Williamsburg, VA. It was likely leased from Robert Miller from 1800 to 1809 by Jacob Matter, who was the first and longest of the various Inn Keepers. In 1809 Jacob Matter purchased it and all the land and outbuildings from Robert Miller. We have a large copy of the indenture describing the property with its buildings “known as Jacob’s Resting Place.” Hence, this became the name for the B&B. The property contained over 200 acres. The Inn was actually called “The Sign of the Green Tree” for several years. Toward the last few years of its inn period it was called “None Such.” While an Inn, it was also a toll collection point for use of the Pike (the road still today is know as Harrisburg Pike when traveling from Carlisle to Harrisburg and as Carlisle Pike when traveling from Harrisburg to Carlisle). We also have the names, with respective periods, of the various Inn Keepers after Jacob Matter. The house later passed back into the Henderson family and was owned by one of Carlisle’s favorite sons and a Civil War General, Robert Henderson. Robert was the Grandson of Matthew Henderson, son of Col. William Henderson, and Grandfather of Marcus McKnight, Senior. Mr. McKnight lived in the house as a child and bought the house from his mother in 1922. Mr. McKnight named the property “Marriet Farm”, which is a combination of his first name, Marcus, and his wife's first name, Harriet. Some historical items, as documented from the family, remain in use in the house today. Historical artifacts and items related to the house are discussed in the final section, Historical Artifacts. |
| Mr. McKnight’s children, Marcus II and Beth, have returned to visit with us. Beth Smith loaned us a number of family, house, and grounds photos for us to copy. We have photos of the McKnight family and house going back to the 1920s and forward. We also have a photo of the Pike side of the building from the 1870s. The streets North from Harrisburg Pike and off Cavalry Road are named after Mr. McKnight's children. Some acreage of the eastern part of Carlisle Barracks was part of the main Henderson-McKnight property. Carlisle Barracks is the second oldest active Army Post in the country and dates to pre-colonial war years. I have also seen an early 1800s document in the historical documents section at the Military History Institute at Carlisle Barracks, discussing a LeTort Spring water rights dispute between the family and the Army. Two streets leading west into Carlisle from Carlisle Barracks bear the names “Henderson Street” and “McKnight Street”. Robert Henderson, the Civil War General (Civil War hero, commander of the local regiment, and Provost Martial of Central Pennsylvania) was also the first president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and held political offices. Many properties on maps of the 1830s have the Henderson name (Wm Henderson) on them. There is more early history on the family. |
| A short and incomplete history of the property was presented us when we viewed and bought the house. We did further research on the property and the Miller-Henderson-McKnight Families at the Military History Institute, in the County records, and at the Cumberland County Historical Society. A Historical Society commissioned study of old historic structures in 1986-87 also helped document the history. Subsequent studies were made by Dickinson College students. Mari Lou Schaumann did additional research for her book, Taverns of Cumberland County 1750-1840, published in 1994 (Jacob’s Resting Place is on pages 102-103). Newspaper articles from the early 1800s also describe the property and buildings. Jacob’s Resting Place 1790 was one of the historic inns featured in a Pennsylvania Public Network Television (WITF) film, Taverns by the Wayside which was produced in 2000 in celebration of Cumberland County’s 250th Anniversary. Nighttime film of the front of the structure with colonial lighting is breathtaking. |
| The house and grounds were featured as a seven-minute segment of “If Walls Could Talk,” which aired on the Home and Garden in January 2003. The segment included interviews with current owners, Terry and Marie, video inside and outside the house and on the grounds, history of the house and family owners, and documents and artifacts related to the house, family, and grounds. |
| The history of the house and family exceeds what we can place in this brief sketch. As examples, Parkersburg WV bears the name of “Uncle Park” (Parkers and Hendersons were married) from the late 1700s. When we asked if he had played with Jim Thorpe (legendary American Indian athlete at the Carlisle Indian School) as a child, Mr. McKnight simply smiled and chuckled, “He (Thorpe) was pretty good at marbles, too.” |
| An after midnight “drunken barroom brawl” at the tavern is documented as having taken place on July 2, 1803 when Andrew Quigley and James Blair, after too many bowls of sangree (colonial rum drink), “sprang up, seized a chair, and struck Michael Lambert of Middleton Township.” |
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