816-Lmcast*r Farming, Saturday, February 13, 1988 Hopedell (Continued from Page B 14) and Bill Handy are presently the only two permanent residents, they’re much too busy to feel lone ly in the big farm house. “We have a lot of company and we have grandchildren here almost every weekend,” said Ruth. “We really enjoy it.” Each summer more than 100 Hopes gather at Hopedell for a family reunion. For the farm’s 200th anniversary Ruth’s parents planned a special open house. Twenty-five years later the Hand ys held a three-day party with 500 drop-in guests. Ruth’s easy hospitality was developed during her growing-up years when her mother ran a tourist home. She indicated the sign that beckoned travelers to Hopedell Farm during the two Depression years that U.S. Route 30 was under construction. ‘The first sign, that Mother made herself, is really pri mitive; it’s in the attic. A man in Parkesburg painted this one. He didn’t get it done, and he didn’t get it done. So finally my dad would take every rainy day that he couldn’t work on the farm and go up there and sit with (the painter) to see that he didn’t get drunk.” Before Lena Hope advertised the tourist home, city-based vaca tioners would come to the farm for as long as six weeks each summer, Ruth remembers. She recalled a Rhode Island hardware salesman who liked staying on the farm so much that he went back to Provi dence and brought his wife and two children down. ‘They stayed here two weeks while he went to Wilmington, Reading, Lancaster and Harris burg, and then back here in the evening,” she said. “We played around the bam and played with the animals and swam and went hiking. They came back every single year until the girl started to college.” Hopedell Farm has been in the middle of American transportation development for most of its 245 years. Valley Road bisects the farm south of Sucker Run. Next to the road the Conestoga Traction Company’s trolley tracks used to run along the meadow. “We rode on the trolley very sel dom,” Ruth stated, “It cost five cents to go to Parkesburg. When you were making two dollars a day, five cents was something you just didn’t throw around. But we got more pleasure watching other people ride it, especially in sum mertime when Lukens Steel Com pany had their picnic at Rocky Springs Park. Hundreds and hun dreds would ride in open air trol leys with banners across the sides.” In the 1800’s, after Robert Hope divided the original farm with his brother, the Philadelphia and Col umbia Railroad cut through the property. Robert was given per mission to cross the tracks to harvest his wheat and com. Later the railroad denied access to the north fields. Robert overcame what could have been an economic hardship by burning qua'ity limestone from the shallow hillside north of Suck er Run, spreading it on his fields READ LANCASTER FARMING FOR COMPLETE AND UP-TO-DATE MARKET REPORTS Tradition and sharing the excess with neigh bors. By 1850 crop production was evenly divided between what, Indian com and oats at 150 bushels each. Robert’s son, Thomas, started dairying when it came his turn to manage the' farm about 1860. Twenty years later he’d increased the herd 500 percent, generating an income of $13,500. Even so, the family had to cope with the rail road’s new owner, the Pennsylva nia Railroad. In 1879, Thomas sold land north of the line to the Pennsy and used the money to add a veran da and Italianate windows to the house. The railroad planted locust trees as replacements for their old stone ties, but never harvested a single one, according to Ruth. The rail road also began using a spring in the woods to fill the wooden water tower built next to the tracks. The tower was dismantled after the line LAWN & GARDEN WAIVER was electrified. Bill has seen changes at Hopedell since he married Ruth in 1944. Horses were used on the farm until 1950. “I remember Frank and Barney,” Bill recalled. “Back in the day of steam locomo tives old Duke filled the haymow the horse was blind but strong; the hayfork was manual but efficient.” Ruth added that her father oiled harnesses next to a pot-bellied stove on the second floor of the springhouse. “He also had a trac tor,” she declared. The next change to Hopedell Farm may come from the 35-foot Sucker Run dam proposed by the Chester County Water Resources Authority. “It would take over our whole farm,” Ruth stated. “In case of a hundred-year flood, water would be up in our bedroom. For that reason we couldn’t live here.” “We can’t sit around waiting for that,” Bill says. “We had the hall, front room and three bedrooms papered. We’re going to keep going on faith.” Great Tractors That Just Got Better THE ENTIRE FORD TRACTOR LINE IS BETTER THAN EVER OPTION #3 Waiver Of Finance Charges To SEPT. 1, 1988 OPEN 2 B,G DAYS OF SAVINGS March 3rd and 4th HOUSE Details To Follow 1655 Rohrerstown Road, Lancaster, PA Flory Mill Exit off Rt 283 (717) 569-7063 YOUR LANCASTER COUNTY RELIABLES FOR FORD TRACTORS & NEW HOLLAND INDUSTRIAL EQUIP. LANCASTER FORD TRACTO Is Committed For Tomorrow in With SB GSBW7 OLD FAVORITE FORD TRACTORS Lancaster Ford Tractor And See For Yourself for FARMING % £0? See LANCASTER FORD TRACTOR For NEW HOLLAND SKID LOADERS * 0 M&J fit ide by the ladles of the Hope family and their friends about 1830. f/ / FORD for LANDSCAPING LANCASTER TRACTOR, ’BB FINANCE OPTION #2 0% APR Financing For 12 Months 5.9% APR Financing For 24 Months 7.9% APR Financing For 36 Months 8.9% APR Financing For 48 Months 9.9% APR Financing For 60 Months For Qualified Buyers With FORD MOTOR CREDIT CO FREE MOWER With Lawn And Garden Tractor Purchase FORD INC. -ar_Z5J i FORD for INDUSTRIAL
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers