A million presidents have come to Harrisburg, said Dan Deibler. He immediately corrected himself.
“A lot of presidents came to Harrisburg,” he said, “and they probably came to this house.”
“This house” is that graystone between railroad bridges on S. Front Street, the Harris-Cameron Mansion. Though it’s home today to the Historical Society of Dauphin County, it has hosted a long parade of history makers since its construction in 1766.
Or 1768. Architectural historian Deibler is still working on that question. And that, say HSDC officials, is the point of the mansion’s 250th anniversary celebration in this year of 2016. As they spotlight a house that has anchored Harrisburg history, they want to separate fact from fiction. Staff and volunteers are digging into archives, trying to weed out myths from cherished stories and, in the process, ride the resurging interest in history to capture new generations of audiences.
The celebration “makes Harrisburg more interesting,” says HSDC board member Nancy Mendes. “It happened here. It did have a place in history.”
Though thousands drive past every day on their way to I-83, many people say they never knew about the historical attraction on the left, says HSDC Executive Director Nicole McMullen Smith.
“The board and I have always discussed how rich the history is in Harrisburg and how this house influenced everything that happened here, from the settlement of this area, to the negotiations with Native Americans, to the state capital moving here,” she says. “The people that lived in this home greatly influenced our local history and our national history. This is the opportunity for us to present that in new and interesting ways.”
What’s known for sure about the house:
- Completed in (or around) 1766. The society chose to stick with the timetable established by previous milestone celebrations.
- Built by John Harris Jr., the city founder who named Harrisburg in honor of his father. John Harris Sr. operated a ferry and frontier trading post in the vicinity. Harris Jr. was a wealthy man, and the home, not overly large by today’s standards, was a mansion in its day.
- Bought in 1863 by Simon Cameron, Pennsylvania political player and Abraham Lincoln’s first secretary of war—so irascible and enmeshed in scandal that Lincoln sent him into political exile as minister to Russia. Cameron made few changes to the exterior but lowered the first floor three feet to create fashionably high Victorian ceilings.
- Deeded to the Historical Society in 1941. Previous occupants included the Pennsylvania Female College and Harrisburg Academy.
For the anniversary celebration, Mendes is designing exhibits to illuminate events inside the house and outdoors. Exterior exhibits will review the Native American life that flourished at this critical river crossing “for 10,000 years before the Europeans came,” she says. One indoor exhibit will spotlight Cameron, featuring his epaulets, hats and “some strange helmet he picked up in Russia.” Artifacts being dusted off from the society’s collection include William Penn’s original charter permitting Harris Sr. to operate a ferry.
An outdoor plaque over John Harris Sr.’s grave (look for the wrought-iron fence on the right on your rush-hour dash out of town) will explore the truth behind the oft-told tale of the slave, Hercules, who rescued Harris from a near-torching by Native Americans. A grateful Harris gave Hercules his freedom, says the story.
“Well, that’s not true,” says Mendes. “That supposedly happened around 1720. He did give Hercules his freedom—in his will.”
On the Frontier
This is history unvarnished, but not revisionist to apologize for the parts that seem unsavory to 21st-century ears, says board member the Rev. David Biser.
As the society’s John Harris Jr. reenactor, Biser knows the city founder quite well. Harris Jr. was so prominent that he once made inter-colony news during the French and Indian War, missing and presumed dead from a Native American ambush when he was actually taking two weeks on a circuitous homeward trek to elude another assault.
Harris would also send out agents to kill Native Americans and collect their scalps. He would buy the scalps and resell them in Philadelphia.
“While he is an incredible entrepreneur, incredible businessman, savvy in Philadelphia, Reading and Lancaster, he’s caught up in what it means to be on the frontier in Pennsylvania,” says Biser.
In Harris Jr.’s time and his father’s, “you cross the river, and you’re on your own.”
For the 250th, Biser is bringing in other reenactors to portray such historical figures as Conrad Weiser, the mediator between colonists and Native Americans who signed several treaties in the mansion or rendezvoused there with state officials before meeting tribal chiefs.
And there will also be a visit from a name and face known to every American—a guy named Benjamin Franklin. Seems the polyglot Franklin, in addition to printing, writing, studying the qualities of electricity and helping found a new nation, came to this frontier region to lay out forts in the 1740s and surveyed their construction through the 1750s. Certainly, Harris “had bumped into Franklin,” says Biser.
The revivified Franklin, Harris Jr. and Weiser are expected to attend the June 25 Founder’s Day Festival, one of the new events added to HSDC’s anniversary calendar. Founder’s Day will offer a free, family-friendly look at colonial life, with encampments, crafts, music and games.
For the anniversary year, the society wanted to expand community programs into offerings that would entice new audiences. There will still be such annual traditions as the holiday market and reenacting Harris Jr.’s reading of the Declaration of Independence from the front porch.
New on the agenda is a symposium on Cameron’s legacy, a tavern night and whiskey tasting hosted by Harris Jr. and, during the April 9 anniversary kickoff, a ticketed beer tasting of local brews. And if the beers aren’t strictly colonial-style, well, “We’re going to celebrate the local tradition, and legend has it that John Harris Sr. probably brewed his own beer,” says Smith. “He was a brewer in England.”
A redesigned website will refresh the Historical Society’s public profile for the electronic age. In March, the mansion and its Alexander Research Library—popular with genealogists and history buffs—will add Saturday hours, in the hope of attracting the region’s weekend visitors. The mansion exterior will show the effects of a recently completed $500,000 renovation. Parts of the interior will be restored to historical accuracy.
It’s all part of the society’s effort to show that, as Smith says, “The history is important. The house is important. We’re here. We’re open.”
The John Harris and Simon Cameron Mansion is located at 219 S. Front St., Harrisburg. For more information on the mansion, the Historical Society of Dauphin County and 250th anniversary events, visit www.dauphincountyhistory.org.
Year of Celebration
Numerous special events and programs are planned this year to mark the Harris-Cameron Mansion’s 250th anniversary, including:
April 9: 250th Anniversary Year Opening Event, 2 to 5 p.m.
April 10: Free Admission Mansion Open House, 1 to 5 p.m.
June 25: Founder’s Day Festival, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Oct. 1: Tavern Night and Whiskey Tasting, 7 p.m.
Dec. 17: Gala Victorian Dinner, 7 p.m.
