Blog #54 – Flora & Fauna of Drums #7 – Drumyngham
Park
Our most recent posts have been about the plants and critters (the flora and fauna) that either made an impact on Drums’ lives over the years or, at least, grew/lived near Drumyngham in the Drums Valley. This post takes it all to a new level, well, a different level, anyway. This post describes how Harry, then Eleanor, and now their son, Ronald, have each “organized” a few elements of nature in the acre of land next to Drumyngham house.
If you read the earlier post Finding History in a Beautiful Morning you may have a sense of where this is going. One of the first things Harry did after finishing his house, was create an orchard. His widow began to transform the orchard into a park-like setting. Their son, the author of this post, carried that idea forward to bring about the Drumyngham Park as it exists today. This post proposes to tell that story.
It
doesn’t begin with Harry in 1954, however. It begins with tribes of Lenni Lenape (Delaware)
Indians who traversed the valley hundreds of years ago, long before any
Europeans, or any other non-native peoples, for that matter, as far as we know,
ever laid eyes on it. It appears that the valley we call Drums Valley (Butler
Valley) was not used as a place for living back then. To our knowledge, no
Indian villages ever existed in the valley they called Towanensing (the
wilderness). Native peoples lived along the Susquehanna River. It appears that
the valley was a location for hunting and fishing, but mostly was just
travelled through.[1]
This map is the eastern half of a map that offers a depiction of the Indian Paths that crisscrossed the commonwealth at one time. I believe I purchased it for $5.98 during a visit to the Pocono Indian Museum in East Stroudsburg, PA.
The area I’ve circled is the approximate location of the Drums Valley. I’ve marked the Nescopeck River in BLUE. It empties into the Susquehanna River, depicted on the map as a darker black line. I’ve highlighted in tan, portions of two paths on the map. Where they cross near the center of the circle is a few miles West of Drums Corner. The left-to-right (East to West) line is part of a path labeled on the map as the Nescopeck Path. The North – South line is part of a path that is shown, but not labeled, on the map. A local resident told me it was known as the Nanticoke Path. The part of the Nanticoke Path that runs just below where it crosses the East/West Nescopeck Path is known today (if my local source is correct) as Main Street in the Borough of Conyngham.
The map also shows a place called Nuttimus Town. It is located on the map just left of where my tan highlight meets the blue highlight against the Susquehanna River. The Lenni Lenape Chief, Chief Nutimus, who signed the Walking Purchase of 1737 under protest, moved to this location when his protest was rejected by the Six Nations, a union of Northeast Indian Tribes. I discuss the Walking Purchase and how it helped impact members of “our” tree in the post One Life Well-Lived, One Life Cut Short.
My dad did say he had found arrowheads at various times in his fields. He gave me two of them when I was age 9 or 10. Problem is, I presently have no idea where I put them. I’m sure they are in this house someplace. Where? That is the question. I believe I’ll find them again, someday, in the back of a drawer under a pile of socks! That none have been found recently in our fields, however, doesn’t stop me from looking around after Ransom Young does some plowing. I mean, you never know.
It is fun to stand looking South across the fields toward Butler Mountain imagining one or more American Indians hunting deer or Wild Turkey in the fields below Drumyngham. Of course, the area was wooded then, not open fields, but you get what I’m talking about, right?
Of course, that research HAS been done, a number of times, most recently in 2002 when Mom sold the property to my wife and me. However, as to who were the original owners, and the progression of the deeds from them to me, stupid me did not retain a copy of that documentation.
I don’t think that Drumyngham was in any Drum’s hands until 1941. Shown here is a portion of a Butler Township map made in 1873.[3] The tract of land I call Drumyngham is located between the names “D. Walk” and “J. Walk” on the map[4]. That means, in 1873, one of three people owned the 6+ acres of land Drumyngham now rests on, D (Daniel) Walk, J (John) Walk or S. Santee. Like I said, a deed search would fill in these gaps.
At some point after 1873, but prior to 1936, it would seem, then, that one of the Walks, or Mr. Santee, sold some or all of his land to a member of the Schaffer family. If I had to guess, I’d say it was Santee since the 1873 map marks the house as his. As far as I know, this is the same house Nathan Drum rented in the very early 1900’s that we’ve always known as “The Cal Schaffer House”. See the post They Call it Progress for a photo of Nathan Drum and his family sitting on this house’s porch, as well as a photo of the Schaffer family; Cal, Laura, Mary, and Ed; stopping by for a visit. Sorry, I don’t know who they are stopping by to visit. I assume it is Ella and Elmer, maybe to sell them Drumyngham’s 6+ acres of land, but we do not know. What we DO know is what happens when one assumes.
According
to the Calvin Schaffer/Elmer and Ella Drum deed of 1941, Drumyngham’s 6+ acres came
into Calvin “Cal” Schaffer’s possession “by quit claim DEED by the heirs of the
estate of the late Mary Shaffer (sic) and dated the 3rd day of
September, A.D. 1936…”.
In February of 1941 (the deed is dated February 3, 1941) Cal Schaffer sold “6.44 acres more or less” (MORE OR LESS!??) of his land located along the “south-side of the Drums-Conyngham state Road” (later called “highway” in the same document), now known as West Butler Drive, between Clyde Young’s Lane and Daniel Walk’s land, to Elmer and Ella Drum for “FIVE ($5.00) Dollars and other good and valuable Consideration”. It became Ella’s alone when Elmer died in January of 1959.
Elmer and his son, Harry (my dad), built Drumyngham on the land in 1953/4. Some of that story is told in the post The Library. The land, itself, was not officially Harry’s, however, until Ella sold it to him and his wife, Eleanor, in February, 1959. The deed is dated February 13, 1959. When Dad died in 1986, the land became my mom’s alone. She decided to sell it to me and Phyllis in 2002.
Mom called Drumyngham “home” until she died in 2014. I moved back permanently in 2017 and, upon retirement from her position in Washington, D.C., Phyllis closed out our Silver Spring, MD apartment and joined me in 2021. I think I know what is going to happen to it next, but as we have seen, history has to happen before it can be history and please recall my point made above about assumptions.
Harry wanted an orchard beside his new house and a few acres of garden below his home. The garden came quickly but there were a number of things that had to be done to finish making the house “a home” before an orchard could be planted, so the orchard had to wait a little bit.
Finally,
the day came and the first tree was planted. No one recorded the date, not even
a photo was taken, and my mom was a photo-taker! Once begun, however, it became
a center of our lives at Drumyngham. The following is a compilation of photos
that help us watch the orchard/park progress through the years. In the top left
corner, we see two children sledding in front of what is probably the newly, or
recently, planted orchard. That’s me behind my brother, Nathan. The top middle
photo is a zoomed-in version of the original photo which appears on the right. I
zoomed in to get a better view of the orchard in the background. Obviously, this
photo was taken a few months earlier than the sledding photo. The boys riding
pedal toys in the photo are Nathan (left), and our cousin, Charles (right).
Across the lower half of the compilation, we see three images of the orchard: 1983, three years before my dad died; 1987, one year after he died, and 1996. It was the snow Mom was photographing. Finally, lower right, the area as it looks today beside that 1964 image to show the difference, both taken from a similar camera location.
Since
he did not date the original orchard chart, I am uncertain of the exact year he
began to work on the orchard. I thought it was in 1956 or 1957, but it may have
been as late as 1960. No matter the start year, the chart shows the orchard of
my childhood years (1960’s-early 1970’s).
The first chart, seen here, and the one that follows dated 1984, are both photos of photocopies of the originals making details somewhat difficult to see on both of them. It is interesting that Dad chose to depict the orchard as hand-numbered points on a straight line that correspond to a list of the tree names typed below the lines. I would have expected Dad to create something much more like the 1984 chart, all hand written (nothing typed) and showing the tree names right on the lines. The penmanship on the 1984 chart is clearly my dad’s, but information that is handwritten on this earlier chart may not be his handwriting. I wonder if my grandfather, Elmer, who died in January of 1959, was responsible for creating this first chart.
Whether
created by Dad or Pap Pap, the chart does help us know what trees were
originally planted and which ones died first. We see one tree “X’ed” off the
“tree line” (#25) and nine trees crossed off in the corresponding list below
the diagram. I (once again) assume that these trees failed; maybe these trees
were lost to the deer.
I believe a few of the trees were transplanted from the Fritzingertown farm, but most were purchased trees. I don’t know if he planned it all out on paper first, and then planted the orchard plants, or if he did it the other way around: planted his plants and then made a chart of where everything was. Either way, there was a plan of some sort; just like on the chart, the trees were all planted in straight rows.
My guess is he planted the orchard first. One reason I think he planted first and then made the chart involves the issues with #31 and #32 on the chart. It is almost like they couldn’t remember what they planted in those spots. Of course, it may have been that they couldn’t decide which tree to plant there. See below for details.
These are the plants as they are listed on the chart, some with notes.
Row
1
1. & (possibly) 31. Anoka[5]: These apples have a skin that is yellow to green with red streaks. The trees do not live long. The apple’s flavor is very tart. The apples are very good for baking. This is an older variety that most orchards have replaced with newer varieties. The chart lists “Stanley Prune” for number 31, but that name is crossed off and “Anoka?” is written beside it.
2. Gravenstein: This apple’s flavor is often described as being crisp and tart with a touch of honey. Very good for Cider and drying.
3. King: There are a number of apple varieties with the word “King” included in the name making it difficult to know which specific King variety had been the “King” of Dad’s orchard.
4. & 21. Red Elberta Peach: The Arbor Day Foundation says this is America’s favorite Peach. Dad chose well!
5. Wagner: I think this is a typo. It probably was supposed to be Wagener, an old New York apple variety. it is crossed off on the list.
6. & 8. J. H. Hale Peach: A high maintenance (needs lots of pruning) older variety.
By the way, and this is true for Philip’s treehouse discussed below as well, we did not impact the tree in any way to build the house. The “house” was a structure built beside the tree, near enough for me to climb from the structure into the tree and back. No nails were driven into either tree, and that was done on purpose. Please don’t nail into live trees, or carve things into live trees. It not only hurts their pride; it offers too many opportunities for insects or disease to get a foothold.
9. Smokehouse: An old variety of apple that originated in Lampeter Township, PA around the 1800's. Apparently the first tree grew beside Mr. William Gibbons’ smokehouse.
10. Nothing was originally typed beside this number. Someone inserted in pencil what appears to be “Yellow Transplant”, although I am not confident that is what is written. If that is what it says, we have a new question: what does that mean? Did Elmer have a Yellow Delicious Apple, or some other yellow fruit variety, in Fritzingertown that they transplanted (or planned to transplant) to this location?
Between the first and second rows of trees, Dad planted
Red Raspberries. He may have had Black Raspberries there as well. Memory fails
me. I sure enjoyed those raspberries but I sure hated having to pick them.
Raspberries have thorns. Thorns and young skin do not mix. The thorns are hard on older skin as well!
The raspberries, however, were not included on his chart.
This photo of my dad plowing snow from our driveway, was taken by Mom just after one of the two blizzards of early 1964 (Jan 13-14, 22” of snow; Feb 18-19, 25” of snow), most likely taken through the eastern facing living room window. In the photo, you can see that first row of trees near the road, then the raspberry patch, and just a portion of the second row. Young’s barn is in the background.
Row 2
11. through 14. Bartlett Pear. Yummy.
15. & 24. Montmorency Sour Cherry: #24 is crossed off on the list. I loved cherries as a child (still do!). I remember asking my dad if I could have some of the cherries from the orchard. He said that I could but to be careful which tree I picked them from because some of them were sour cherries. I picked cherries from this tree (#15). He was right. They were sour. I still remember my dad laughing over my reaction upon biting down on the fruit. Another cherry story follows below in the SWEET cherries of Row 3.
16. Summer Rambo: The apple varieties are getting older! Here we have an apple the American Colonialists used to enjoy! Turns out the apple has nothing to do with Sylvester Stallone and everything to do with the name it uses when it is in its country of origin, France: Rambour d'Ete. It was known as plain old Summer Rambo in the states by the 1850’s.
17. & 19. Oboy Peach: If nothing else, it has a GREAT name!
18. & 20. Solid Red Delicious[5]: My dad loved this apple. Apparently, he was not alone. According to Doll’s Orchards, this very sweet apple is an all-time favorite, for many years voted as the favorite eating apple. I actually like an apple that is more on the tart side, like a Winesap (see below).
Row 3
23. Black Tartarian Cherry: The Arbor Day Foundation says this is “a great choice for home orchards”. Its large, reddish-black fruit is somewhat shaped like a heart. This is the tree that got me into trouble. As mentioned above, I love cherries. One year, probably 1966, this tree was covered in cherries. I went out one day and climbed up into this tree and had a cherry. Delicious! So, I had another, and another, and another. I still remember plucking those drops of heaven off the tree, popping them one by one into my mouth, removing the pit with my teeth and spitting it out, and relishing that wonderful sweetness of cherry; then repeating the process with another. I was out there for at least an hour, maybe longer, until I began to get a funny feeling in my belly. Suddenly, I didn’t want any more cherries. I climbed down and doubled over in pain. Did those cherries make me sick or what! I don’t remember how it all ended but I’m pretty sure I didn’t do much for the rest of the day. I also remember my grandmother Drum saying something along the lines of “I told you not to eat too many cherries or you would get sick”. Grammy was helpful that way. Arbor Day Foundation says, “This species was brought from Russia to England in 1794 by Hugh Ronalds and named Ronald's Large Black Heart. It came to the United States in the early 1800s and has been popular ever since.” I don’t know about Ronald’s Heart, but it sure felt like Ronald’s stomach had turned black! It was a long time before I ate cherries again, I can tell you that!
25. Giant Black Sweet Cherry: That’s all the chart says making it difficult to know what specific variety this was. I do not remember this tree, and you would think I would remember it! #25 is crossed off on the list. Maybe that’s why I don’t remember it.
26. Winisor Sweet Cherry: This may be a typo on the list and should have been Windsor Cherry. I don’t remember it and it is crossed off the list.
27. Schmidt Black Sweet Cherry: I remember a cherry tree in “the back” of the orchard (on the side closest to Young’s Barn) and this one may be it. As I recall, it produced a lot of black sap when the bark was damaged. Of course, I may be mixing memories here with another tree but I’m thinking that this is that tree. Needless to say, if this was the “sap tree”, perhaps that was why I stayed away from climbing this tree.
Row 4
32. “Hale Haven” is typed beside the number. Then, on the line below is typed “Peach” After that, handwritten, is a “?”. I have no idea what was going on here.
33. Early Redbird: This dark red apple was developed by a 27-year-old grower named Francis P. Sharp (1823 – 1903) of New Brunswick, Canada in 1880. He called it “Crimson Beauty”. In the early 1900’s he sold the rights to the apple to the (American) Stark Brothers Nursery. They renamed it Early Red Bird.
34. Once again, we see “Hale Haven” and then, typed below it, is “Peach”. This time there is no “?”.
35. Turley Red Winesap[5]: Doll’s Orchard says this is an “all-time favorite” apple. It is for me! The apple is tart, flavorful, and firm. This is the tree we chose to build Philip’s Treehouse in. You can see the house remnants in the photo on the right. I discuss the treehouse, with photos, later in this post. Note the size of the tree then as opposed to now.
36. & 38. Red Hale Peach: Hale, Hale, the gangs all here! #38, however, is crossed off.
37. Solid Red Jonathan[5]: Doll’s says this apple is “tops for flavor” They claim it is a juicy, crisp, tangy taste “excelled for cider.” “A perfect blend” they add. I guess they like it.
39. Red McIntosh[5]: Doll’s calls this apple an “Old time favorite”. They describe it as being “crisp and mildly tart”. Good for cooking, cider and for drying.
Have you noted the “good for cider” theme yet?
Every fall, Dad would drag out his apple press and we would commence to making apple cider. We’d collect “drops” (apples that had fallen off the tree) and pick some “low-hanging-fruit” that were still hanging on, as well. We’d “wash” (rub off any mud, etc.,) still clinging to the apple in a big tub of water, cut out any “bad spots” (worms, bruises), cut the remaining flesh into smaller pieces, and toss them into the grinder bin at the top of the press. When the bin was full, one of us would then turn the crank, grinding up the apples into “mash” which then fell into a wooden-sided, open-ended cylinder. When this was full, it would be pulled forward and positioned under the screw press. Again, one of us would turn the steering wheel-like handle above the press to turn the screw-press down onto the ground up apples and squeeze the juice out of the mash. The juice (now cider) would be collected into a metal tub and the pressed apple mash would be tossed away onto the compost pile. The cider would be filtered through a few layers of cheesecloth, bottled, and placed on our road-side stand along West Butler Drive in front of the house to be sold to customers who stopped while passing by, or consumed, happily, I might add, by you-know-who and his family and friends. Making Apple Cider was a big event! But FUN!
Today, Drops are not used because they offer too great a chance for bacteria. The cider is pasteurized, again to reduce the bacteria that might be present. Looking back on how we did it then to how they do it now, it’s a wonder any of us survived!! But back then, we thought we would live forever.
Nothing, however, lives forever and this includes fruit
trees. In 1984 my dad decided new trees were in order so, replaced the dead or
dying trees with new trees. He created a new chart as well. He entitled it
“Order of Trees 1984”. The chart title is written where the raspberry patch was
in the orchard.
Row 1
§ Anoka
or Baldwin: A question right off the bat! Why “or”? Was this a plan for the
future or did he forget what he planted there? We just don’t know. The Baldwin Apple
is, as far as apples go, quite an interesting apple. Check out the web page I
linked for an interesting history. It was discovered in Massachusetts in 1740,
just two years after Philip arrived in Philadelphia from Germany.
§ Gravenstein
§ Seckel:
This is a pear, a controversial pear as well! I remember my dad being quite
proud of having gotten a Seckel Pear. I guess he liked them. The controversy is
if it is an American Pear or a German Pear. According to the website USA Pears:
Seckels are believed by many to
be the only truly American variety of pear grown commercially. Unlike other
varieties planted in the U.S. from European cultivars, Seckels are thought to
have originated as a wild seedling near Philadelphia. They were discovered in
the early 1800's. This may or may not be true, however. It is possible that
German immigrants travelling westward through the area dropped fruit or left
seeds behind.
§ King:
Once again, that’s all he wrote.
§ Spy:
Another slightly tart, crisp apple that is good for cider making. It originated
in the early 1800’s. The web site Specialty Produce does not say why it was
named “spy”. I remember Dad being a fan of this apple, too.
§ Whitney
Crabapple: Now this is different! This tree produces numerous sweet,
red, golf ball-sized apples good for many things including cider.
§ Idared: Until I Googled the name, I didn’t believe I
was seeing what I thought it said, “Idared”. Turns out, this red apple comes
from Idaho (cute, huh?). According to our friends at Apples from N.Y. website,
this is your baking apple. It is a cross between two old-time New York apples, Jonathan
and Wagener.
§ Smokehouse
§ DBL Red Delicious: Specialty Produce says this is a Red Delicious variety that has very red skin.
Row 2
§ The
first three trees are listed as Bartlett. These are pear trees.
§ Elberta:
Peach tree.
§ Nectorine
Norcrest: Obviously a misspelling, Dad meant “Nectarine”. A nectarine is a smooth-skinned
peach. I have no idea what “Norcrest” means.
§ Yellow
Delicious
§ Red
Delicious
§ Red
Delicious
§ Cortland: (I believe this is the same tree as #22 on the first chart.) One of the two Red Delicious Apple trees listed above and this Cortland tree are in the same approximate locations on both charts. It may be that they were the same trees. If so, the Cortland is still alive, now a VERY old tree. In fact, it may be that the original tree fell or was cut down, but shoots (sometimes called suckers) grew up from the roots/stump and gave us this “new” tree. Check out the photo included by #22 in the first chart and see what you think.
Row 3
§
Seckel Pear
§ Liberty: This apple variety originated in Geneva, NY in 1955, only two years older than me! As can be seen in the photo, this tree is one of the five trees that are still part of Dad’s orchard.
§
Bartlett: the pear, again. It seems he
had a pair of them in this row. (sorry)
§
Bartlett
§
Stanley Prune
§ Hale Haven Peach
Row 4
§ Clapp’s
Favorite Pear: I was so hoping that Clapp was some neighbor-friend of
Dad’s but, alas, it was not to be. According to Specialty Produce:
The first Clapp's Favorite pear
tree was discovered as a chance seedling in the 1850s in Dorchester,
Massachusetts, which is now a neighborhood of Boston. The tree grew on Thaddeus
Clapp's property, leading to its present-day name. Clapp’s Favorite pear was
introduced to the market in 1860, and today it can be found at farmers markets
and in private orchards in the northern UK and the northeastern United States.
§ Early
Redbird: I believe this is #33 on the original chart.
§
Turley Winesap: Again, if I am correct,
this is #35 on the original chart. As noted above, it is still there producing
apples.
§
Jonathan: I think this is #37 on the
original chart.
§ McIntosh: I believe this is # 39 on the original chart.
Row 4A
Two peach trees are listed below the fourth row each marked by a cross, Elberta (Peach) and Champion White Peach. I do not remember these trees, but then, I wasn’t here a lot in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Although even yet to this day sometimes, we will refer to the park
as “the Orchard”, it basically stopped being an orchard when Dad died in 1986.
Neither my brother nor I was living in Drumyngham at that time and Mom sure
couldn’t care for an orchard, so it dwindled. She did her best to keep it
mowed. In the photo from around 1990, we see Mom on her mower. Behind her are
some of the French Lilacs Dad planted when his fruit trees failed.
She was still out driving her riding lawn mower around at
the age of 80 (2007). One day that year, she fell and apparently broke her hip,
although no one, including her, realized that at the time. The hip problem,
however, slowed her down immensely.
I was away so much 1986-2016, I really didn’t know what she added or removed in the orchard or why. Looking through her scrapbooks I did find at least one reason trees were removed. Apparently, in 1988, according to the caption Mom wrote beside these photos, Drums experienced a Microburst Windstorm that damaged a number of Dad’s trees.
Here are two photos of some of that damage. I can’t tell if it is the same tree, but I think it is. She had a number of downed-tree-photos but some were not from our property. The lower of the two photos shows our driveway and Butler Mountain so we know this photo is clearly one of the orchard trees. I think it may be the Seckle Pear in Row 3 on Dad’s 1984 chart.
Around the year 1998, Mom decided she wanted more use of the orchard, so had many of the now dead or dying fruit trees, and the raspberry plants, removed. She replaced them with a number of ornamentals and evergreen trees.
In 1995, Phyllis and I had a son. We named him Philip after
the first Drum listed in the North American part of our family Tree. By 2003 I
felt he was big enough to enjoy having a treehouse. We made it back to Drums
enough that I figured a treehouse in Drums would be a fun place for him to
“hang out” when we were in town. So, together we built a tree house in the tree
Dad marked as a “Turley Winesap” on his 1984 chart (Row 4). Our neighbor,
Walley Herhal, helped and even Mom came out and hammered a few nails. The next
year, we put “sides” on the house. Philip and Mom had a few picnics under the
treehouse. It was fun while it lasted!
Mom continued to mow around her trees as long as she was able but by 2008, when the hip problem became too much, she pretty much stopped going outside the house, let alone try to mow anything. The orchard/park was left to its own devises. “Weed Trees” took root, Rosa Rugosa that Mom had planted as a “fence” along the road went wild, growing almost everywhere, goldenrod loved the meadow-like environment, Poison Ivy gladly sprung up and the area became almost unusable.
When it became evident Mom could no longer keep the grass even around the house at bay by herself, she asked David Mumaw, a member of our church, St. John’s United Church of Christ in St. Johns, PA, to mow around the house. He had been a member of the church choir with Mom and Dad so was glad to help her. I don’t know if she paid him for this help, she probably did, but, after she died in 2014, I asked him to keep coming on a regular basis and we agreed on a suitable compensation.
One day in 2015, I asked Dave if he would follow me around the orchard, cutting a walking path I could walk each day when at the house. Together, we cut the first path of what would become Drumyngham Park – I named the paths: Prince’s Run (my childhood dog was named Prince. His house was near this location), Goldenrod Way, Schaffer Shortcut, Ronnie’s Treehouse Turn (circles the approximate location of my “Wealthy” Tree House), Linden Lane, Eleanor’s Umbrella Tree, and out of the park via Drumyngham Way.
When I moved back to Drumyngham in 2017, Dave was unable to continue mowing so I hired a new fellow who keeps the lawn down suitably. However, I bought a hand-push electric mower of my own to keep the park paths open. I’ve added new paths as well, much to my wife’s enjoyment – and mine too.
Thanks for going on this “walk in the park” with me. In our next post, we will take another walk in the park, this time to examine the park as it exists today. We’ll see plants and animals you’ve never seen before. Ok, you may have seen them before but not in someone’s backyard! Well, maybe in someone’s back yard but not in MY backyard! If you HAVE seen them in my backyard, what the heck were you doing in my backyard!?
Wanna join me in a walk?
[1] Two
Hundred Years of Progress: Butler Township, 1784-1984 (Drums, PA: The Drums
Lions Club, May 1984) p 1
[2] Helman,
Laura M., History and Genealogy of the Drum Family (Allentown,
PA: Berkemeyer, Keck & Co., 1927), p. 28
[3] Atlas
of Luzerne County Pennsylvania from actual surveys by and under the direction
of D. G. Beers (Phila: A. Pomeroy and Company, 1873), p 39.
[4]
The 1870 Census lists a Daniel Walck and a John J. Walck. The 1873 map shows
the names as D. Walk and J. Walk. I believe these are both one and the same
people. The 1941 Schaffer/Drum Deed shows “Daniel Walk”. No one ever said this
was going to be a “walk in the Park”, or even a walck in the Park for that
matter!
[5] List
numbers 1, 20, 22, 35, 37, 39 and possibly 31 are apple varieties described on
Doll’s Orchards’s website: http://oldenburgapplelady.com/apple-varieties/
