Ebbert Spring Archaeological Preserve & Heritage Park

On the Middleburg road, about two miles from  Greencastle, stands an old stone house in which Mrs. Ebbert now resides  (1936), which was the former home of James Allison, the last member of a  distinguished family intimately connected with the history of  Greencastle.

William Allison, the ancestor of this family in  this country, came from the north of Ireland to Lancaster County in the  early part of the 18th century. He bought a large tract of land in what  is now Antrim Township from John Smith in 1763, and conveyed by deed  three hundred acres of this land to his eldest son, Colonel John  Allison.   Col. Allison served with distinction in the Revolutionary war  and at its close returned to Antrim Township and laid out the town of  Greencastle in 1782, naming it after Greencastle, a large fishing  station in the County of Donegal, Province of Ulster, Ireland, near  where his father had lived.

A second brother, Patrick Allison, graduated from  the University of Pennsylvania in 1760 and studied for the ministry of  the Presbyterian church.  Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith, then resident of  Princeton College, described him "as the ablest statesman in the General  Assembly of the Presbyterian Church."

A third son, Willliam Allison, lived and died on the maternal farm and took great pride in the old home.

William Allison, Sr., was among those who met at  Edward Shippen's house in Shippensburg to confer with regard to the  erection of five forts in the county as a protection against the  Indians, and Fort Allison was soon afterwards erected west of the present town of Greencastle 

The Ebbert home is of stone and was the first house in  the locality to have "fire" or double walls. These walls were  almost  three feet thick and built for all time, in contrast with the flimsy  walls of modern construction one brick thick with a coating of plaster  board.

The entrance hall is at least fifteen feet wide,  with lofty double parlors opening out on it. The rooms upstairs and down  are of fine proportions, with the usual carved wooden mantels,  cupboards and chairboards.  One of the charms of the old place is the  beautiful spring with a stream of water flowing from it. In the early  days a stockade was built over portion of this spring where the family  could retreat in case of a sudden attack by the indians. There were  provisions and ammunition stored here and water was available in case of  a siege.

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