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The Peiffer Memorial Arboretum and Nature Preserve is a 35-acre nature preserve and memorial site in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. The Arboretum features woodlands, hiking trails, memorials to a World War II aviatrix who crashed on the site, and a Path of Leadership honoring past leaders of the local community.

The Arboretum is located at 1841 Brookview Drive in New Cumberland. The property is bounded by the Yellow Breeches Creek to the south, Interstate 83 to the west, the Beacon Hill development to the east and Simson Ferry Road to the north. It is open to the public daily from dawn until dusk.

Arboretum Founding

The Arboretum was founded by David H. Peiffer in July 2013. Peiffer was familiar with the property as he had grown up next to it and had attended nearby Cedar Cliff High School. His mother, Rosemarie Peiffer, was active in local politics. She served on the New Cumberland Borough Council and was the first woman to serve as a commissioner in Cumberland County.

The Arboretum property was slated for development as part of the Foxlea housing project. Peiffer acquired the property in 2010 to preserve what remained of the old forest, wildlife, and streams. He initially intended to establish the non-profit Arboretum to honor his mother and his father Howard, for their commitment to land preservation and agriculture. After acquiring the property, Peiffer learned of an airplane crash on the site in 1944 that killed Evelyn Sharp - a young female aviatrix for the U.S. Army. He decided to also memorialize Sharp in the Arboretum.

The Arboretum was dedicated on August 5, 2018, officially honoring Rosemarie Peiffer and Evelyn Sharp.

History of the Land

In pre-colonial times, the area was home to members of the Shawnee tribe.

On March 4, 1681, King Charles II signed the Charter of Pennsylvania. The charter granted William Penn lands between the 39th and 42nd degrees of north latitude and from the Delaware River westward for five degrees of longitude, roughly the territory between Lord Baltimore's province of Maryland and the Duke of York's province of New York. The grant was largely given to pay off a £16,000 debt owed to Penn, money which his late father Admiral Sir Penn had lent the king.

Named for Cumberland, England, Cumberland County was officially founded on January 27, 1750.

By 1764, the property was part of The Manor of Lowther, which was a 7551-acre area of land that was bound on the north by the Conodoguinet Creek, on the east by the Susquehanna River and to the south by the Yellow Breeches Creek.

In 1774, the property became part of the William Black Homestead, a 267-acre tract.

On April 3, 1944, a Lockheed P-38 Lightning military aircraft crashed on the site (see: Airplane Crash section below).

By the late 1950s, the site was part of Drexel Hills, New Cumberland and the adjacent John Fox Estate- Foxlea farm - in Lower Allen Township. In the late1960s the site was threatened with residential development.

In the 1970’s, developer Sidney Cohen obtained a sales agreement to purchase and develop parts of the William Black Homestead, adjacent to the Arboretum site . Cohen’s plan was criticized by local residents who would be impacted by the development including Peiffer’s parents. Cohen eventually went bankrupt.

Parcels of the land were later developed in the 1990’s and 2000’s by various builders featuring townhouses and single family homes.

In 2010, Peiffer purchased the last undeveloped acreage of the former William Black Homestead to establish the Arboretum.

Path of Leadership

Not long after dedication, in 2019, the Arboretum established a “Path of Leadership award” to posthumously recognize contributions made by leaders of the local community (particularly in Cumberland County) to improve the lives of others in their community. Since 2019, one person has been inducted in August of each year. Inductees are memorialized with a plaque set in small granite square stones around a path to the north side of the main house. Each marker is included in the Historical Marker Database.

Persons honored (with link to plaque photo and inscription) include:

Replica of the 1683 Caleb Pusey House

The Welcome Center is designed after the historic Caleb Pusey House built in 1683 in Upland, Pa. The Caleb Pusey House is the oldest English-built house in Pennsylvania. It is the only remaining house that William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, is known to have visited. Pusey was a friend and business partner of Penn's.

Airplane Crash

On April 3, 1944, a Lockheed P-38 Lightning crashed on the site. The twin-engine aircraft was on a ferry flight from Long Beach, Calif, to Newark, NJ and had made several stopovers along the way. On the last leg to Newark, the 24-year-old female pilot (rare in those days) - Evelyn Genevieve "Sharpie" Sharp - took off from New Cumberland Airport (now Capital City Airport/CXY). The aircraft experienced an engine failure on takeoff and Sharp attempted to land on what was then an open field - now a forested area atop the hiking trail on the northwest side of the Arboretum. The P-38 made a “pancake” landing that thrust the landing gear into the cockpit, killing Sharp instantly.

Sharp was one of the original Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) pilots with over 3,000 flight hours logged when she joined. The WAFS were soon merged with the Women’s Flying Training Detachment to form the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs). Sharp was the only WASP to die in a P-38 accident.

The Arboretum contains two memorials to Sharp – one at the front entrance, which includes original P-38 propeller blades (although not from the accident aircraft), and another atop the west-side hiking trail at the approximate site of the crash, marked by a pile of field stones and an American flag. Woodlands have since replaced the open field that existed at the time of the crash.

Howard and Rosemarie Peiffer grave sites

Peiffer’s parents - Howard R. Peiffer (2/8/1931-5/16/2004) and Rosemarie C. Peiffer (1/1/1936-8/5/2013) - are buried at the Arboretum. Their grave sites are located just to the north of the Welcome Center house and are on a ridge overlooking the stream and woodlands below.

William Black Spring House

The Arboretum contains a reconstruction of a spring house that was originally part of the William Black estate, built circa 1776. The spring house was used for cold storage in the 18th and 19th centuries, as the spring below it seeped water at a relatively cool temperature year-round. In 2013, Peiffer began a restoration, and the reconstructed spring house was dedicated on August 16, 2014.

References

1. Peiffer, David H. (2024). Bonding with the William Black Homestead: Tales of Passion and Obsession. Cumberland County Historical Society. pp. 171–176. ISBN 978-0974931173.
2. Peiffer, David H. (2023). Moxie Rose: Curious Accounts of Trials and Tribulations From the Life of Cumberland County’s First Female Commissioner. Cumberland County Historical Society. pp. 41–43. ISBN 978-0974931166.
3. Peiffer 2023, p. 43-47.
4. Peiffer 2024, p. 173.
5. Peiffer 2024, p. 77-93.
6. "Arboretum and memorial honoring two women pioneers to be dedicated in New Cumberland on Sunday".
7. Peiffer 2024, p. 127-137.
8. "1681-1776: The Quaker Province - The Founding of Pennsylvania".
9. "Historic Timeline of Cumberland County".
10. "Lowther Manor and the Shawnee presence in New Cumberland Borough".
11. Peiffer 2024, p. 33-58.
12. Peiffer 2024, p. 156.
13. Peiffer 2024, p. 162-166.
14. Peiffer 2024, p. 172.
15. Peiffer 2024, p. 173.
16. Peiffer 2024, p. 174-175.
17. "Caleb Pusey House and Landingford Plantation".
18. Peiffer 2024, p. 89.
19. Bartels, Diane Ruth Armour (1996). Sharpie: The Life Story of Evelyn Sharp: Nebraska's Aviatrix. Great Americans Publishing. pp. 239–247. ISBN 978-0976915508.
20. "Evelyn Genevieve Sharp".
21. Peiffer 2024, p. 96.
22. Peiffer 2024, p. 107.