The "History Will Remain Forever In Lancaster" Story

The Mayer House along the Fruitville Pike in Lancaster, PA.
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It was an ordinary day.  Driving past the David M. Mayer House which is located along the Fruitville Pike, a few blocks from my home in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  Stopped to take a few photographs of what it looks like after it has been totally restored.  

An artist's rendering of the property years ago.  This shows
the farmhouse and the barns and outbuildings behind it.

It was built by Mr. Mayer sometime between 1870 and 1874.  A bit over a year ago an extensive renovation was begun on the exterior of the farmhouse which features a large porch, 63 unique windows and a central cupola with bracketed cornice.  I still remember swinging on the old rope that hung behind the farmhouse near a small pond.  

The barn with some of the livestock.

That pond opened into a larger area of water we called "the swamp" where my friend Jere would catch snapping turtles while riding on a wooden raft.  He would take them to a seafood restaurant a few blocks to the south and get $.50 for each one of them.  As I got older that old farmhouse began to age just as I did.  A few windows hung at different angles and rust began to set into the joints.  

One of the families that lived on the property years ago.

Then in 1998 a new shopping center opened on the property next to the couple of barns that sat to the north of the farmhouse.  It began to draw some attention to the Mayer farm.  The Belmont Barn, part of the farm and sitting to the north of the house, was built in the 1860s and consisted of a large barn, tobacco house, corn crib, carriage house and milking parlor.  

Drawing of the limestone kiln to the west of the farmhouse.

To the west of the property was a limestone quarry and kiln.  Before long a "For Sale" sign appeared along the Fruitville Pike which listed all the barn buildings, but not the farmhouse.  Then one day they were sold.  Found out they will be rebuilt on a 275 acre farm known as the Ironstone Ranch in Elizabethtown, PA.  The same ranch that Abraham Lincoln's funeral train, as well as the train that carried the Liberty Bell, passed next to years ago.  

Sepia print of the farm from the 1950s.

Well, eventually the property was sold as well as the property across the Fruitville Pike from the Mayer farmhouse.  Bought by a developer who made single-family houses, apartments and 370,00 square feet of retail space.  Just what we needed!!  The builder who bought both sides of the Fruitville Pike called the area The Shoppes at Belmont.  

I assume this is a class of school children who came to
visit the farm from nearby Brecht Elementary School.

And, on the property where the old Belmont barn and outbuildings were torn down and moved, now has a $14 million hotel sitting on it.  But...the Mayer farmhouse has been saved and is totally renovated.  It was at this point that I wrote a blog story or two which perhaps you read.  Wasn't long before I began to get comments telling me about those who lived on the property at one time or another.  I have not added all the comments to this post and what comments I have added may have been edited.  A few of those comments are:

Judy Harnish: Our family had a tour of it about 15 years ago.  The kitchen was almost the same a when we live there 65 years ago.  Mr. Rutt who started Rutt's Kitchens built some cabinets for my mother which were still there.  The old claw foot tub was still in the upstairs bathroom.  It didn't seem quite as big to me as it did as a 6 year old when we moved away.  We even were up in the cupola which fascinated us kids.  I lived in this house until I was 6, and my Father renovated the barn back in the forties to grow 40 thousand broiler chickens. We moved away in 1953 after Route 30 was constructed dissecting the land he was trying to farm.

Another color photograph of the old barn and out buildings.

Wendy Leigh: I lived here in 1987-88 when I was a little kid!  My mom and former step-dad rented it along with another couple whose names I can't remember.  There was a tree swing built for me that was still hanging for many years to the right of the house.  Judy... I took baths in that claw tub in the upstairs bathroom!  There was a horse named Jenny that lived in the barn out back.  She wasn't ours, someone was just renting the barn.  I have such fond memories of this house.  (Writer's note - The swing was in the same location as the one that I used to swing on.  It had been replaced many times over the years by different families.)

Farmer workers on the Belmont farm show their yield of tomatoes.

Karen Kettering: Rose and Dan Fellenbaum lived there too.  Rose told me stories of the raccoons that would come from the tree onto the porch roof.      

Sharron Long Hoffer: I was about 11 or 12 when Rose and Dan moved in.  We lived in the back section of the house and they lived in the front.  We stayed friends and I can credit her for teaching me how to cook, can and sew.  We lived in the house from 1954 to 1959.

Nelson Kilmer:  I will have to see if my parents have any pictures (or stories) from the time they live there.  They were just 20 and 22 years old in 1948 when they farmed that land.  They are both still living.  Ironically, the Belmont barn (where the hotel will sit) that both my mom and dad worked in was moved to my mom's uncle's farm in Elizabethtown.  In 1948 my parents lived in the back and Clarence Zeagers (farm manager) lived in the front.

One of the farm's families working in the flower beds.

Judy Harnish:  I am the daughter of Clarence Zeager. 

Sharon Clayton: My sister and her husband lived there, then it was used as two half houses.  Somewhere around 1959 to early 60s.  Had a servants quarters in the back yard which burnt down.

Judy Harish:  We called it The Spring House.  It burned while we lived there!  Our hired man was living there at the time of the fire.

Looks as if they raised turkeys on the farm at one time.

As you can see, history is interesting!  We all remember parts of it with other parts overlapping one another.  I am so glad that the house has been restored.  So sad though that this huge monstrosity of a shopping center has been built across the street from the farmhouse.  And, the hotel...why was that built?  Traffic is awful!  I will finish my story today with one final reader's comment that is how many others feel.  Thanks to all who commented about my stories.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Some of the farm equipment housed in the lower level of the barn.

Melissa Greene:  I find the juxtaposition of what's happening across the street a warped amusement, but simply thankful that SOMEONE had the grace to preserve what can never be replicated.  Compare the new BELMONT sign - some designer's dreadful mistake in scale that went unnoticed by a supervisor who is supposed to at least make an ATTEMPT at passing along good taste - with the grandeur and personality built into every corner of its neighbor.  For those of us who care about beauty and its deep importance to the soul (and how these things feed directly into the future of art), we must continue to applaud the restoration of all such elegance and grandeur, at every cost.  (LDub's note - I have chosen not to display the huge sign that is referred to in this comment for it truly is in poor taste)

The latest photo I just took a few weeks ago.  The building has been totally restored from top to bottom.  It looks as majestic as what it probably looked like when it was first built in early 1870s.  If you look closely you can see the edge of the new $14 million Home 2 Suites by Hilton in the right background.