Codorus Creek / Lau Family Tract
Having chanced upon the online records of Philadelphia Architects and Buildings, I found an entry entitled “Lau Family Tract” (philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/390458).The record notes the existence of “ruins” and locates them “(South of Stoverstown Rd. Near Twp. Line & Railroad Tracks) in West Manchester Township, York County, PA.”On January 5, 2009 my wife and I went in search of the ruins.With helpful suggestions from a long-time resident of Bairs Station, we found the ruins of a mill and a number of farm buildings of very early date.The precise GPS location of the ruins is 39°53’54.08”N and 76°49’35.24”W.The ruins are located on wooded public land on the east side of Codorus Creek (between the creek and the corn fields that stretch east to Stoverstown Rd.).
Onsite there are many foundations made of local field stone.There is a two level structure that is easily discernable, as its remaining walls stand 3 to 4 feet high.Atop the walls of the upper story of this structure is a monolithic piece of worked stone about 6 feet long.This building may have been a mill, as there are remnants of sluices going to the area.Harder to find are a number of out-buildings on the south side of the promontory; they are thickly overgrown with weeds and very sharp briars.Here you will find the remains of many collapsed structures which are nearly buried.Local handmade brick is omnipresent and there are many severely degraded pieces of slate roof littering the ground.There are also a number of rusted mechanical farm implements that seem to date from the late 19th or early 20th century.The remains of one building, at the very top of the knoll, has a few rotten beams and some bigger pieces of slate roofing.The most impressive ruin on the Lau Family Tract is a subterranean ice house built into the side of the banks of the Codorus: it was used to store winter ice cut from the creek.The ice house has a stone-arched doorway and has the volume of about a six-person tent.Between the ice house and the two story building runs a stone paved path that descends down the hill; the “road” then continues along the creek for a considerable distance.
The mill site is clearly of a very early period.The resident we spoke with said the ruins were the “oldest in the area,” but he had no idea how old they were.He seemed genuinely surprised to learn that he was living on land that Christian Lau had settled in the middle of the 18th century.A more careful survey will have to wait until our next pilgrimage to Pennsylvania.
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Re: Codorus Creek / Lau Family Tract
Teri Webb 5/23/10