The Adams County Almshouse was built in 1820 to care for the poor of Adams County one mile from Gettysburg on the Harrisburg Turnpike. The almshouse property included 270 aces of land which was worked for the institutions benefit. The original almshouse complex consisted of three buildings, the almshouse proper, the infirmary, and the old insane hospital. The main building was a two story brick structure with a basement, measuring 70 by 40 ft. The old insane building was also was a two story brick structure with basement, measuring 95 by 20 ft. The infirmary, which housed the counties sick measured 60 by 32 feet and was also a two story structure of brick. The capacity of these structures was 125 people.

The Almshouse cemetery remains in its original location on Barlow's Knoll. It contains the graves of the dead from the county complex and the poor and unidentified departed of Adams County.

We originally heard about this cemetery through the story of Jennie Wade. We visited this location a separate occasions and performed an investigation while walking around. We did capture a couple of EVPs during that investigation. If you have any other reports or stories for this location and would like them added to the database, please contact us and we would be glad to add them.