Results tagged “Peach Bottom Township” from York Town Square

Volunteer Tom Sadler repoints the walls of Welsh quarry worker cottages in Peach Bottom Township. 'It's good for them to be preserving this history for the future generation,' he said. By them, he means two-year owner Old Line Museum in Delta. (See additional photos below.) Background posts: Digging Coulsontown: 'This is not Indiana Jones', Time almost forgotten Coulsontown and Wanted: One slate-roofed privy from Delta.

Those old Welsh miners' cottages in the southeastern tip of York County, in Peach Bottom Township?

It's hard to get too much of their story. And those photos capture the eye.

Spokesmen at the Old Line Museum in Delta, which bought the cottages two years ago, believe the structures serve as the only examples of Welsh construction in the country... .

Marley Boyd helped in a dig area in the of Coulsontown, Peach Bottom Township, Pa. The Coulsontown miners' cottages are in the background. Excavators are looking for answers about how Welsh residents lived in the mid-1800s. (See additional photo and video by Paul Kuehnel below.) Background posts: Wanted: One slate-roofed privy from Delta, Pa., Time almost forgot Welsh miner's hamlet of Coulsontown and 100 years later, Delta clock keeps on ticking.

"Sonic Pixie," a Web commenter on a York Daily Record/Sunday News story on an archaeological dig near the old Welsh miners' cottages in Coulsontown, had it right:

"It is really amazing to see individuals in the community who are passionate about preservation and gaining a greater sense of understanding of who we are and where we came from."

This slate mining village in the southeast tip of York County has to be on a top 10 list of intriguing, obscure sites around here.

The story (4/17/08) titled "Digging local history," follows:

The cover of "The River and the Ridge," (Gateway Press, 2003) shows a Peach Bottom slate quarry pit that opened about 1900. The book's jacket states: 'The cable hoist was used to move blocks of good slate and waste slate out of the quarry. The logs protected the steam pump that was used to move water out of the quarry. The bell-ringer's shanty at upper left was usually occupied by a young boy. He sent signals to the cable hoist engineer because the engineer could not see over the edge of the pit.' Background posts: Coroner responds to quarry calls and
Pinchgut vs. The Gut and Black soldiers from York County served in 'Glory' unit - Part I.

Anytime someone asks about the Delta area, (see Wanted: One slate-roofed privy from Delta, Pa., I immediately refer him or her to the massive local history of that area, "The River and The Ridge."

The book is among the best histories written about a township or section of York County. (See post on another well-done history: West Manchester book contains valuable gold coins... .

The York Water Company's reservoir is atop Webb's Hill, also known as Shank's or Shenk's Hill. The fountain in foreground is gone, but a beautiful pagoda made from vines is worth exploring. The reservoirs are now covered.

Jack Stuckey, jrstuckey@verizon.net, has queried about the location of Webb's Hill. He has an relative with that surname.

He asked about Slate Ridge, too... .

Don Robinson of Delta's Old Line Museum is seen near one of four remaining cottages built by Welsh quarrymen. (For additional photographs, see below.)

The YDR's Melissa Burke and Paul Kuehnel recently wrote about and photographed the rebirth of the nearly dead southeastern York County village of Coulsontown.

Fourteen years ago, the YDR's Marianne Clay painted the town, near Delta, before this "renaissance." So, here goes the story of another of York County's unsung landmarks (search for "unsung" on this blog and you'll discover the others):

Jeri Jones, the go-to person on all things geological in York County, has answered the question posed in a previous York Town Square post about that water-filled quarry along Route 462.

York Valley and Lime Stone Company worked the quarry. Jeri's best estimate was that digging continued until the 1940s.

But here's another thing.

Jeri's Web site is filled with great information on York County, including great maps and photos.

Here are some excerpts: ...

It was one of those wonderful gold nuggets that make reading so wonderful.

Jack J. Jones was writing about the Welsh slate miners who settled in York County's southeast corner in the Harford Historical Bulletin (Summer 2001).

He included an intriguing note in the middle of a likewise interesting discussion on the Delta miners:

"An article in the Delta Star newspaper of August 12, 1955 stated that Enoch P. Swayne, resident of Delta in the 1860's, claimed to have heard gunfire from the Battle of Gettysburg on the day the battle began in 1865... ."