Here is an article that was published in the Carlisle Sentinel May 21, 2016. Edits were made to the article for accuracy. The properties are currently being renovated with their historical value in mind.
FEATURED TOP STORY FROM THE CARLISLE SENTINEL, CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PA
Hidden Silver Spring property was once owned by Financial Supporter of the American Revolution
Jake Austin The Sentinel May 21, 2016
The Oliver Pollock House is one of several historical landmarks carefully hidden within the recent development of Cumberland County. The house and its accompanying spring house and tavern house, located at 400 Lambs Gap Road along the Silver Spring side of Trindle Spring Run, are mostly shielded from view by the Carlisle Pike Best Buy and its neighboring businesses. According to local histories, the Pollock House was built on lands originally surveyed to James Silver in 1735.
The house was first taxed to James Pollock in 1787. By 1793, Pollock’s brother, Oliver Pollock, a Scotch-Irish immigrant and financer of the American Revolutionary War, was assessed with the same property. At the time, the property also included a sawmill and a grist mill, built by Robert Callender, a former owner who had purchased much of Silver’s holdings in 1760.
Oliver Pollock’s contributions to the new government during the Revolutionary War were of a great personal sacrifice. He experienced financial problems in the later stages of his life as a result.
In 1798, three stone buildings were added to the property where Oliver Pollock lived. These structures included the three-story main house with a kitchen and a large spring house. David Briggs is said to have rented parts of the property from Oliver Pollock, including a tavern house and the saw and grist mill. One of Briggs’s daughters, Polly, was married to Oliver Pollock’s son, Jereat.
The tavern house caught fire in 1796 and killed two people, including one of Briggs’s daughters (the identity of whom is unknown). It was rebuilt in 1798.
Briggs acquired the property from Oliver Pollock following Pollock’s death in 1824. After Briggs’s own death, the property was eventually acquired by a James McCormick at sheriff’s sale. The property remained in the hands of McCormick’s heirs until 1931 when it was sold to a James Hatz.
