Meetings & Events Archive

THE LETORT: A LIMESTONE LEGACY

Event Date: June 30, 2016

Event Time: 6:00 pm

Location: Cumberland County Historical Society, 21 N Pitt St, Carlisle, PA 17013

June 30, 2016

6:00pm

Cumberland County Historical Society, 21 N Pitt St, Carlisle, PA 17013

 

In conjunction with the Cumberland County Historical Society and the Central Pennsylvania Conservancy.

 

The Letort Spring Run is responsible for the initial development patterns of Carilse and though the communities’ reliance on the spring run and its history have been largely forgotten, the legacy is still strong and fascinating. Historian and Letort Spring Run land owner, Lorraine Luciano, will give a discuss the interesting cultural legacy of the Letort Spring Run. Candie Wilderman, founder of the Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring at Dickinson College,  will discuss the environmental legacy and monitoring data collected from the Letort over the last several decades. This will be a unique opportunity to learn about the Letort – as a natural resource, recreational resource, and cultural resource!

 

This event is named after The LETORT: A Limestone Legacy, the book commissioned by the Central Pennsylvania Conservancy to support the purchase and preservation of the Letort Headwaters property. CPC intends to secure and restore the Upper Letort Spring Run watershed while allowing access and education about the value of limestone streams, wetlands, and the regional history. By restoring the natural wetlands, stream channels, aquatic vegetation, historic structures, and removing invasive species, we aim to reverse the damage caused by years of commercial agricultural use and surrounding urban growth and development.

 

The site of the east branch of the Letort headwaters is:

  • A former commercial watercress farm that began production in 1880 and is spring fed by the headwaters of the Letort
  • Bisected by the Letort Nature Trail, managed by the Letort Regional Authority
  • Designated as an Exceptional Value Waterway (EV) by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and as a Class A Wild Trout Stream by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
  • Named in the PA Wild and Scenic Rivers legislation as an outstanding natural waterway
  • Listed as a locally significant site in the Natural Areas Inventory (NAI) of Cumberland County
  • Part of a Scenic River District adopted by a local ordinance of South Middleton Township