CENTER CITY SIGHTS
Shipoke District
The site of the original Harris Ferry and Tavern, which spawned the founding of Harrisburg. Features the John Harris/Simon Cameron Mansion and Harris Grave and the tucked-away neighborhood of Shipoke where Front Street is but a quiet two-way passage and where distincitve homes, both old and new, define its character.
1. COMFORT INN - S. Front and Paxton Streets.
Intimate riverfront lodging facility in historic Shipoke with direct access to Riverfront Park built in 1965 (with subsequent renovations). Features specialty Indian-cuisine restaurant and outdoor pool.
2. DOCK STREET DAM - S. Front St. at I-83
Manmade reef giving the Susquehanna recreational depth south of Forster Street. Water turbulence over spillway contrasts with placid lake-like river. Plans afoot to raise height of dam to enhance river’s navigatibility.
3. GENERAL KNIPE HOUSE - 329 S. Front Street
Quaint Federal styled, pre-Civil War townhouse situated in Harrisburg’s oldest neighborhood. Home of Civil War Brigadier General Joseph F. Knipe, commander of the city’s defenses when Lee invaded Pennsylvania and threatened to attack Harrisburg. Instead, the Confederates were summoned to a nearby skirmish that grew into the Battle of Gettysburg.
4. HARRIS PARK AND HARRIS GRAVE - Riverfront Park at Washington Street.
Burial site in 1748 of John Harris I, father of the founder of Harrisburg and operator of the trading post and ferry from which Harrisburg would later evolve. Park and gravesite occupy oldest settled land in the city.
5. JOHN HARRIS/SIMON CAMERON MANSION* - 219 S. Front Street.
(Original portions erected 1740 to 1766). Built near the site of his father’s original trading post and ferry by the founder of Harrisburg, John Harris, Jr. Recognized as the birthplace of Harrisburg from which the town would evolve. Also home in the late 19th Century to Simon Cameron, Lincoln’s Secretary of War and U.S. Senator when further renovations were made. Now headquarters of the Dauphin County Historical Society featuring many fine Harrisburg and State collections.
* Individually Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
