Traveling to Franklin County? The Franklin County Visitor’s Guide is the best way to find what to do, where to go, where to dine and where to stay. A full-color guide is distributed throughout United States and Canada. Guide sections include History, Recreation, Farms & Markets, Dining, Shopping & Antiquing, Arts & Entertainment, Festivals & Family Fun and a Tourism Directory. This publication has a circulation of 75,000+!

Photographs, letters, diaries, and short memoir excerpts from some of the Italian prisoners who were detained at Letterkenny Army Depot during World War II.

Traveling to Franklin County? The Franklin County Visitor’s Guide is the best way to find what to do, where to go, where to dine and where to stay. A full-color guide is distributed throughout United States and Canada. Guide sections include History, Recreation, Farms & Markets, Dining, Shopping & Antiquing, Arts & Entertainment, Festivals & Family Fun and a Tourism Directory. This publication has a circulation of 75,000+!

Traveling to Franklin County? The Franklin County Visitor’s Guide is the best way to find what to do, where to go, where to dine and where to stay. A full-color guide is distributed throughout United States and Canada. Guide sections include History, Recreation, Farms & Markets, Dining, Shopping & Antiquing, Arts & Entertainment, Festivals & Family Fun and a Tourism Directory. This publication has a circulation of 75,000+!

Traveling to Franklin County? The Franklin County Visitor’s Guide is the best way to find what to do, where to go, where to dine and where to stay. A full-color guide is distributed throughout United States and Canada. Guide sections include History, Recreation, Farms & Markets, Dining, Shopping & Antiquing, Arts & Entertainment, Festivals & Family Fun and a Tourism Directory. This publication has a circulation of 75,000+!

The Franklin County Military Trail of History Guide takes visitors on a self-guided tour through the many monuments, memorials, cemeteries, forts, houses and parks that honor those who served in our military and armed forces. 

Inspired by the Martin Luther King quote: “It is Always the Right Time to do the Right Thing,” Franklin County Visitors Bureau sponsored the essay contest. Doing the right thing shaped African American history, women’s history, and all of American history.

Self-guided Tour of Cedar Grove Cemetery in Chambersburg, PA. 

A trail of locally crafted beer, wine, and distilled spirits… Ben Franklin APPROVED!

Old-fashioned charm and friendliness describe Greencastle perfectly. Located near the Maryland state line along the I-81 corridor, Greencastle was founded in 1782 by John Allison, a personal friend of George Washington. First came the Baltimore turnpike and then the Cumberland Valley Railroad passed through town. Today visitors can glimpse vestiges of the era at the old passenger station along the highline at West Baltimore and Jefferson Streets.

Franklin County is home to beautiful venues, bed and breakfasts, chocolatiers, florists, tailors, bakeries and photographers all ready to make your special day an unforgettable experience. The planner includes a listing of local services and points of interest with information about the area for couples. The publication is handed out at local bridal shows throughout the four state region!

South Mountain is the great outdoors!  There are roads and trails for walking, hiking, bird watching, and motoring, while Mont Alto, Pine Grove, Caledonia, and Kings Gap state parks have numerous recreational facilities for swimming, boating, picnicking, play equipment, ball fields, golf, and interpreted historic resources.

The biking/driving tour will lead you on winding, rural roads across rolling hills and streams. Be alert for farm equipment. The circuit is about 30 miles. Take water and food as needed. Binoculars will also be useful. Parking is available at Stops 4 and 5.  You will travel through fertile farmland where the early settlers were on constant alert for Indian attacks from the mountains to the west. You will pass by the sites of Indian attacks, scalpings, and hostage-takings during the period of 1756 to 1758. 

Old-fashioned charm and friendliness describe Greencastle perfectly. Located near the Maryland state line along the I-81 corridor, Greencastle was founded in 1782 by John Allison, a personal friend of George Washington. First came the Baltimore turnpike and then the Cumberland Valley Railroad passed through town. Today visitors can glimpse vestiges of the era at the old passenger station along the highline at West Baltimore and Jefferson Streets.

On April 26, 2014, The Greater Waynesboro (PA) Area became the third community in Pennsylvania award-ed this distinction. Situated along the Mason-Dixon line near the A.T.’s midpoint, this is a perfect place to re-supply, rest or arrange a flip-flop hike. Easily accessible from the Baltimore/D.C. corridor, as well as Interstate 81, the Greater Waynesboro Area has a wide variety of businesses and services to offer, including an outdoors festival in June.

Welcome to a self-guided walking tour of Waynesboro, a town that, thanks to early industrialists who laid deep roots in the mid-1800s, once had more millionaires per capita than any town east of the Mississippi. The detailed architecture you’ll see is reflective of that prosperity; we urge you to “look up” as you walk to appreciate the intricate touches on many downtown buildings.

Historic and beautiful, Chambersburg is the seat of justice for Franklin County. Settled in 1734 by Scots-Irish immigrant Benjamin Chambers, Chambersburg has long been known for its excellent location. Majestic Memorial Fountain marks the crossroads of the historic Lincoln Highway—U.S. Route 30—and Route 11. Raided, invaded, and devastated by fire in 1864, the fountain and the bronze sentry are monuments to the soldiers of the Civil War.

The Freedom Hike explores the Appalachian Trail through South Mountain and begins at Caledonia State Park.

Pick up the freedom journey of the Underground Railroad through South Mountain just south of the Mason Dixon Line. Many escaping enslaved used the Potomac River to move closer to the safe houses of the north. Knoxville, MD, located along the Potomac River and adjacent to the Appalachian Trail, is a good point of access to the natural travel corridor of the South Mountain, passing from Maryland into Pennsylvania.

Franklin County was the American frontier in the 1730s. Scots Irish and German immigrants settled in Franklin County, bringing a desire to build a new home. From settlements, forts, and sites of Native attacks—many frontier Franklin County sties and stories portray this early American history.

War is a choice, sometimes unavoidable, but always a choice nonetheless. Within this decision is an infinite depth of others. Fight or run? Attack or defend? Press on or surrender?  And it is within these choices, both big and small, that great people are forged, great stories told, great moments defined. It is within these choices that generals decide the fates of their men and weigh lives against possibilities.

In the early days of America, the spirit of freedom and opportunity attracted many settlers to Franklin County. This same spirit of freedom extended beyond the colonial period as the condition of slavery came to an end in the North and accelerated in the South.

In the 1800s, the natural resources of South Mountain fueled the iron ore industry. Plentiful timber, water, and iron ore kept the furnace stacks of South Mountain working day and night. For decades the iron industry stripped the life from South Mountain, leaving a blank landscape, void of natural resources and habitats. Out of the iron ore industry, the Pennsylvania conservation initiative took shape.  Today, the furnace site is home to hundreds of bird, wildlife, insect, tree, and plant species.

Harriet Lane’s education, both formal and informal, prepared her well for the responsibilities that lay ahead of her.  Harriet Rebecca Lane, later Harriet Lane Johnston, niece of President James Buchanan, was hostess in the White House during her uncle’s Presidency from 1857 to 1861.The daughter of Elliott Tole Lane, whose family was from the area of Charles Town, Virginia, now West Virginia, and Jane Buchanan Lane, she was born in Mercersburg on May 9, 1830, in a large brick house across the street from what had been her Grandfather Buchanan’s store and home.

The 1,125-acre Caledonia State Park is in Adams and Franklin counties, midway between Chambersburg and Gettysburg along the Lincoln Highway, US 30. The park is nestled within South Mountain, the northern terminus of the well-known Blue Ridge Mountain of Maryland and Virginia. Within South Mountain there are four state parks and 84,000 acres of state forest land waiting to be explored and enjoyed. The soils on either side of South Mountain are ideal for fruit production, proven by the abundance of orchards in the surrounding area.

This quiet park features a unique pavilion, picnicking and trout fishing. Mont Alto is the oldest park still in the Pennsylvania state park system.

The African American community in Mercersburg traces its roots to efforts by religious and community leaders in the late eighteenth century to manumit, or free, held slaves in PA.  In addition, to freedmen, the community’s members included newly manumitted slaves and runaway slaves from Southern States.

The Old Forge area highlights the remains of the old ironworks charcoal staging site. The area adjoins the Appalachian Trail and connects the Old Forge Picnic Area to the Appalachian Trail in Caledonia.

Spend the day in Downtown Waynesboro, PA
Experience our fine art galleries, summer farmers market, fun downtown events, and unique shops filled with antiques and artisan treasures. Enjoy lunch or dinner at one of our unique restaurants, or a cold one at our new downtown brewpub, Rough Edges at 91 West Main Street.

Whether it’s a Tiffany Stained Glass tour, girls day out, or a history tour, you are sure to find something that peaks your interest. Explore on your own, or with a group, or allow us to help you plan a great day. Get out and explore Franklin County.