The "Days Of Ole' To Be Remembered For A Lifetime" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading "The Scribbler'"column in an old newspaper that I had saved for some time.  Seems the column dealt with The Belmont Shopping Center along the Fruitville Pike which was just a short distance from where my wife and I used to live about a year or so ago.  Story was about how the shopping center had all but destroyed the natural area it replaced.  Seems that David Mayer opened a limestone quarry and kilns at Belmont in the late 1870s.  He used lime from the quarry to feed his own kilns and sold the excess to other businesses.  Across the Fruitville Pike from the quarry sat an elaborate Italianate brick house that had been built by Mr. Mayer.   Mr. Mayer died in 1891 and his widow Katherine sold the property to John Keller in 1894.  Keller improved the dwelling and built a spring house that had a rush of water running through it.  In 1895 the Lancaster Examiner wrote a glowing account of what Mr. Keller had accomplished which included a description of the waters of Belmont.  The story said that in every building, and in all parts of the farm there is a copious supply of fresh spring water which travels through pipes from the famous Belmont Springs.  But, eventually the springs filled the quarry which halted production of limestone.  The City of Lancaster thus began using the quarry as one of their sources of water for their many customers in Lancaster.  Then, about 1966, the city had to stop using the quarry's water due to contamination.  Then in 2017, the developer of the Shoppes at Belmont, as part of a deal with Manheim Township, filled in part of the quarry and retained the northern section as a "wet detention basin" to hold runoff from the "shoppes."  A paved walking path now surrounds the quarry and three kilns.  Most of the surface water is still polluted these days so the quarry water cannot be used as drinking water.  Seems that the underground springs are also paved over, thus killing the idea of using the underground springs as drinking water as it once was years ago.  Wasn't more than about 60-65 years ago that my friend and I would visit the springs and enjoy throwing rocks in the water as well as putting a raft in the water to paddle around and catch the huge snapping turtles that were taken to Mr. Bill's Seafood were he would pay us for them.  Today most surface water is polluted and the quarry water is no longer potable, but the year's old memories still remain in the back of my mind as I pass the spot where we once enjoyed life as kids.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.