AREA HISTORY:  Small Fruits, Dover Township, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

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History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
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SMALL FRUITS – Page 679

Strawberry raising has lately become an important industry in the northern part 
of Dover Township.  In 1884 Jesse Crone, county auditor, raised 7,700 boxes on 
two acres, which were disposed of at 7½ cents a box.  Henry Wilt, of Conewago, 
raised 2,500 boxes; Henry Fahs, of Dover, 1,300 boxes; Joseph Boring, of 
Newberry, 8,000 boxes on four acres of land.  The Ball Hill country, mostly 
lying in Newberry Township but adjoining Conewago and Dover is noted for the 
raising of small fruits and peaches.  The land here is a pure red shale, and 
generally slopes to the south, absorbing warm rays of sunlight during the early 
spring time.  By proper cultivation the strawberry crop on this land yields 
luscious fruit abundantly.

The sandstone, for the trimming of the Harrisburg Court House, was quarried in 
Dover Township by Philip S. Crone.  Furnace stone containing sixty cubic feet 
were also obtained years ago near the base of the Conewago Hills.  A quarry was 
opened on the Drawbaugh farm in 1884.  Some years ago a live toad was found in a 
hole without a vent in the center of a large sandstone, in this township.