Photos: New Freedom's story - from railroading to rail trailing

The York County Heritage Rail Trail begins at the Mason-Dixon Line and follows the old Northern Central right of way into this southern York County borough. So it's not surprising to see a mural devoted to trains and railroading along the way.

The railroad that would link Baltimore and Harrisburg and bisect York County opened in 1838. This restored train station hosts a museum and an eatery.

This building at East Main Street and Railroad Avenue in New Freedom hosts a museum detailing this southern York County borough's past. Among other things, the borough, founded in 1873, can boast of resting at the highest point on the old Northern Central Railroad between Baltimore and York.

Freight rail service is long gone, but New Freedom plays host to Steam into History's excursion service. Here, a crew from Kloke Construction and Kloke Locomotive Works places the smokestack onto the replica North Central Railway 17 "York" steam locomotive in 2013.

A re-enactor portraying Andrew Curtin, Pennsylvania's Civil War governor, kisses the hand of Juliana Love of Gettysburg, as they met in Hanover Junction after Lincoln's funeral train rolled along part of the path it took in 1865. The trip started in New Freedom, headquarters for Steam into History.

Reenactor Nicolas Little peers out the window as traffic passes him, while riding part of the route Lincoln's funeral train took in 1865 from New Freedom to the Hanover Junction.

Reenactor Louis Welsh of Gettysburg, portraying a Union general, watches Lincoln's funeral train as it rolled from New Freedom to the Hanover Junction.

This was the schedule posted for the arrival of Lincoln's funeral train at many towns in York County. New Freedom is marked as Summit No. 1. The president also passed through New Freedom on his way to and from his 1863 trip to Gettysburg where he delivered what became known as the Gettysburg Address.

Steam into History head outs on a run in New Freedom in 2014. That's the rail trail, part of the old railroad right of way running beside the tracks. The rail trail, a recreational park, connects York to northern Maryland, and New Freedom is the first stop on the trail, north of the Mason-Dixon Line. This is the role the borough served in its freight and passenger railroading days.

New Freedom also served as the connecting point of the Northern Central Railway, later the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Stewartstown Railroad, seen here. The shortline Stewartstown Railroad served farming communities across York County's southern tier.

Until the last part of the 20th century, New Freedom was a relatively self-contained railroad town. As did several York County towns, it had its own theater, now Bonkey's Ice Cream. So this spot remains a popular meeting place in the borough.

Self-contained New Freedom played host to its own high school, now the New Freedom Community Building. The most famous graduate of this school? Cameron Mitchell, the movie star, as a plaque inside the school indicates.

The Mitzel family - Cameron Mitchell changed his last name - lived in nearby Shrewsbury, where his father, Charles, left, served as a pastor.

Another well-known, former New Freedom resident: Longtime NFL General Manager Ron Wolf. Wolf, an NFL Hall of Famer, graduated from Susquehannock High School.

Sadly, every town has its terrible moments. One of those in New Freedom came when Zachary Witman, seen here, killed his brother, Gregory, in the late 1990s. Zachary Witman is serving a life sentence.

New Freedom is home to Summit Grove Camp, a former Methodist camp meeting place. The Christian camp moved to this location soon after the end of the Civil War. Here, Cameron Wright, 9 of New Castle, Del., does a back flip into the pool at Camp Superkids, a week-long residential camp designed for children with asthma, run by Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

New Freedom is located in horse farm country. Here is one of them and its equine residents: Pin Oak Farm.

This mural, shown under construction, celebrates New Freedom's past in produce farming. This mural tells the story of Charles G. Summers Jr. Canning Factory. New Freedom sits among numerous orchards in southern York County.

New Freedom, though bustling with visitors, has maintained its small town way of life. This is an example of small town life in the borough. Parishioner Clem Marchildon of Shrewsbury exits St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in New Freedom after morning mass in 2013. This photo came at a time that church in New Freedom was in a state of transition as Father Sylvan Capitani retired after 35 years, resident pastor Rev. Robert Nugent retired after 25 years and deacon Michael Bahn moved on after 18 years.

Another example of small-town life in New Freedom: Here's a marker in Veterans Memorial Park in New Freedom.

A section of cottages at Summit Grove Camp and Conference Center in New Freedom.

Author Donna Joy Peace, who wrote the book on the camp, stands next to c. 1874 cast iron urn on the grounds of Summit Grove.

New Freedom was named after a local family, not its connection to the Underground Railroad. Still, it has many ties to that loose-knit network that delivered fugitive slaves to freedom before the Civil War. Samuel Berry, who resided outside Shrewsbury and in the vicinity of New Freedom, was a known Underground Railroad conductor. His daughter, noted evangelist Amanda Berry Smith, later wrote about her father's heroism in a book widely cited by Underground Railroad scholars today.