Welcome to Franklin County, a part of the beautiful Cumberland Valley, located in Southcentral Pennsylvania, with easy access from major highways. The Cumberland Valley region stretches from Carlisle, Pennsylvania to Winchester, Virginia. There's something for everyone: fairs, festivals and lots of fun, unique antique shops and specialty shops, historic areas, golfing, hunting, fishing, skiing, professional theaters and more.

Franklin County was created on September 9, 1784, from part of Cumberland County and named for Benjamin Franklin. Chambersburg, the county seat was founded in 1764 by Benjamin Chambers, for whom it was named.

Franklin County is also Civil War Country. It sustained more military activity during the Civil War than any comparable area in the North. Because of its strategic location in the heart of the Cumberland Valley, the area was the target of three major Confederate cavalry raids: Stuart 1862, Jenkin 1863, and McCausland 1864, as well as one full-scale invasion, the Gettysburg Campaign of 1863. These events incurred severe destruction and economic hardship on the population. The final visitation by McCausland's cavalry left the county seat, Chambersburg, a smoldering ruin, the only northern town burned by regular Confederate forces during the war. At least 19 separate military engagements, most of them skirmishes, occurred in the county. This is more than any other county in the north. More than 150,000 soldiers from both sides camped at various locations in the area.

Explore our heritage, enjoy our countryside.