Information
Landmark: Camp Curtin Historical SocietyCity: Harrisburg
Country: USA Pennsylvania
Continent: North America
Camp Curtin Historical Society, Harrisburg, USA Pennsylvania, North America
Overview
In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the Camp Curtin Historical Society keeps alive the story of Camp Curtin-a vast Union Army training ground where soldiers drilled from April 1861 until November 1865, boots thudding on dusty parade fields.It takes its name from Pennsylvania’s Governor Andrew G., whose signature once marked the crisp parchment of state documents.At Curtin, the camp processed over 300,000 soldiers, making it the largest Federal muster point of the Civil War, and it doubled as a supply depot, a sprawling hospital complex, and a prisoner-of-war facility where boots thudded on wooden floors.Founded in 1990 by local historians and Civil War buffs, the society works to record Camp Curtin’s military, social, and cultural influence on Harrisburg and the nation, safeguard artifacts and historic sites, and share its story with the public through talks, exhibits, and printed works.The society runs a small museum and reference room tucked inside the Wesley Union AME Zion Church complex at 2216 North Sixth Street, just two blocks from where the camp’s boundary once stood.On display are photographs, soldiers’ letters, rust-speckled rifles, worn medical tools, and small personal keepsakes unearthed from the camp grounds.The research library houses regimental histories, pension files, and yellowed newspapers from the era-treasures for genealogists and scholars alike.The organization has put up historical markers, restored worn Civil War gravestones in nearby Lincoln Cemetery, and teamed with Dauphin County to help visitors picture the camp’s remnants tucked into the modern city.It pushes to protect the last earthworks near Maclay and Fifth Streets, where grass still clings to the mounded soil, and steps in to advise on archaeological digs whenever new construction begins.We host monthly talks with historians, authors, and reenactors, along with spring and fall living‑history camps where you might hear a musket crack.Every April 18, we hold a memorial honoring the first Pennsylvania volunteers of 1861.Local schools join us for tailored field trips on Civil War medicine, camp life, and the role of African American soldiers.Our quarterly newsletter, *The Sentinels*, and occasional monographs share fresh research on local Civil War stories.The museum is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and weekdays by appointment; admission’s free, though donations are always appreciated.You can park along North Sixth or tuck your car into a spot on one of the nearby side streets.Researchers need to book their visits ahead of time so they can get to the archival materials-sometimes a rare map or a brittle letter waiting in a quiet reading room.Through its museum, archives, preservation work, and public events, the Camp Curtin Historical Society keeps the story of the Union’s largest training camp alive-how it shaped Harrisburg’s history and even swayed the Civil War’s outcome, echoing in the creak of old barracks floors.
