Toland, Pennsylvania

Toland is an unincorporated community in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The very small village is located on Pine Grove Road, east of Mountain Creek Campground. Michaux State Forest, the site of Laurel Lake, Fuller Lake and Pine Grove Furnace State Park lie a few miles to the west near the intersection of Pine Grove Road and PA route 233. Toland has a mailing address of Gardners Pennsylvania, because the size of the community doesn't warrant a post-office, nor an official incorporated name. What is now a sand pit operation was originally a clay bank mining operation that was the reason for the location of the village of Toland. Less than 50 people reside in the close-knit community, which was built for the clay bank company workers in the first quarter of the 20th century. The original community of Toland, Pennsylvania consisted of 11 duplex houses, built side by side along Pine Grove Road, with less than 0.17 of an acre of land to each. Additional homes have been built since. When the community was originally built there was only a common well with a hand pump for all of the families to draw from. Toland is less than 1/4 of a mile long, and it is located less than half a mile from the Appalachian trail crossing. The closest town is Mount Holly Springs, Pennsylvania located (3 miles north of Toland). The village is roughly 10 miles south of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 7 miles south east of Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, and 15 miles South of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The only business in Toland is the Cherokee Campground formerly known as the Tagg Run Campground. The campground restaurant is now closed. Toland Mission is a small non-denominational church that can hold up to 74 persons. It was originally built by the owner of Beetem Lumber Company in Carlisle for the families of the community of Toland. A one-room school house near the church originally served the community, but it was converted to a home when residents' children were transported to a township school. Local people in Toland usually travel to the town of Mount Holly Springs for necessities such as gas, food, and toiletries.