Hike #572; Warwick/St. Peters Loop
Abandoned road, now used as a farm road near James Mill Road
7/23/11 Warwick/St. Peters PA loop with Sharon Daley Kelly and Wesley ?
My next hike would be another loop, this time in the vicinity of St. Peters and Knauertown PA.
Originally, we were planning to have a campout party at Sharon's office near St. Peters, but no one showed up besides Sharon, Wesley, and myself. I was quite surprised.
Still, we made the best of the day and had a really nice hike. The original plan was to hike back from French Creek, but since Wesley was there, we took the opportunity to tour the history of the area because he has such great knowledge.
Big tree on County Park Road
We started walking from the Warwick County Park, where we had parked, out of the parking lot onto County Park Road. We turned left and began following it up hill. Wesley pointed out some of the old historic buildings along the way, which was quite interested. During our road walk he pointed out what was probably the oldest building in the township.
Valley and farm land from the corner of County Park Road and Warwick Furnace Road.
We continued walking and made a left turn onto Warwick Furnace Road which had a nice view over farm land and a branch of the French Creek ahead. We went up the road a short distance to a beautiful old metal truss bridge over the French Creek's southern branch I guess it was. Wesley used to live in the old farm head straight ahead, and he told us some of the stories behind it. In fact, he refurbished it because it was in a bad state of disrepair when he first attained it. I believe he said his son now lived there.
Bridge on Warwick Furnace Road
He told us there was a couple who lived there, and that they would fight regularly. The man supposedly shot his wife in cold blood, and the weapon was never found, but Wesley had found it during his time there. He also told us a ghost story of a guy who supposedly had the woman's ghost chase him home after flying out of a tree. He told us the history, and the things that couldn't necessarily be proven he called something like a factoid, or something. I forget the term!
Nice farm view from Warwick Furnace Road
Farm view on Warwick Furnace Road
Farm view on Warwick Furnace Road.
Nice old bridge on Warwick Furnace Road.
We turned around and headed back the same direction along the road. Ahead, there were more beautiful old farms on the right side of the road, with the fields out on the left. We could see one of them was an old mill, and that the mill race was still in place. Wesley mentioned that they once wanted to reopen the race, but that different land owners along the way didn't want it opened on their land.
We continued up the road, and he pointed out that a lot of the properties were privately owned, but that there were public easements for an eventual trail system along the way, and that even his property had such an easement. Some of the properties had caretakers. We met an older guy at a building to the right, who took care of a farm where the cannons were tested during the American Revolution. Wesley said a lot of the cannons that did not work correctly were discarded on the property, and that many had been found and recovered. There are also many cannonballs there.
We continued on to the next intersection where Warwick Furnace Road went right, and Valley Way went left. There was a very old historic marker in the weeds at the intersection, barely noticeable.
Old historic marker at Warwick Furnace
The marker told that the Warwick Furnace was close by, an early iron furnace. I asked Wesley if the furnace still stood, and we all scaled a galvanized fence to go onto the land to see it. Wesley knew exactly where the furnace was, still standing and covered in vegetation. There were also other buildings adjacent to it, masonry in construction, still standing in ruins. Although there was no official public access to this site, Wesley knew the caretaker, and so we were able to go on through.
Warwick Furnace
Building next to Warwick Furnace
I felt very lucky to see these historic structures hidden from the world back on this property. We headed back out, and the caretaker came back out to talk to us a bit again. We then headed south on Valley Way Road to the bridge over the French Creek branch.
Nice view of the farm where cannons were tested during the Revolution
Bridge plaque along Valley Way Road
A branch of the French Creek from Valley Way Road.
It was a lovely farm setting. Once across, we turned left into the old abandoned through road that vacated by the township long ago. The caretaker gave us permission to go on through, and mentioned that he kept it cleared for the most part. The French Creek's tributary was off to our right in a wide swampy area while we were along the edge of a sort of shelf. The road was in pretty good shape other than being somewhat overgrown, but had no washouts.
Abandoned road near Warwick Furnace
Abandoned road near Warwick Furnace
Abandoned road near James Mill Road
Farm land along James Mill Road
We continued along the road for a ways, which was pretty easy to pass through, and then came to a corn field on the left. The road was no longer cleared parallel with the field, but it didn't matter because we could go out and walk along the edge of the field with no problem. We continued like this for a while, and then after the field ahead opened up we were able to regain the original road route which was now used as a farm access. We passed by some nice big trees and followed the old road out to James Mill Road.
Here, we made a corner and crossed the French Creek branch on a bridge, and then made a turn to the right up hill on Grove Road. Soon, we came to Wesley's house, a beautiful old farm house on the right. He had nice old barns, a fantastic view of farm lands with an enourmous Oak off at the corner of the fields, and an old building down closer to the creek below.
Spring house/root cellar/caretaker's house on Wesley's farm.
Wesley and his house
Wesley invited us in and gave us some of his good well water. The house was decorated fantastic, using all antique pieces of all kinds. He had renovated the house completely himself. The floors were incredible wide planks, and some of the ceilings were the grooved artisan style beams. Wesley told us the original house would have been a log cabin. This home had the first section, his kitchen added onto it I think he said in the 1700s, and that records showed a "good stone dwelling with log kitchen". He assumed they annexed the original home onto the stone one. Then the log house was torn down, and the stone was extended very nicely. The latter additions had hand hewn beams because they were too long to run through a saw mill.
The home could be opened as a museum and be better than many I have visited. I was thoroughly impressed.
Wesley's spring house/root cellar/caretaker house
Sharon and Wesley in the caretakers/spring/root cellar house
We next made our way down to his out building. This small home was a multi purpose dwelling that served as a home for a caretaker, a root cellar, and a spring house. The spring house portion was different than most I'd seen, in that it had a trough around half of it to carry the water out of the building. The interior was done over with much respect to history, but kept a bit artsy where he left some of the discolorations from removal of years of different paint exposed and covered over with a clear coat. It really gave an interesting ambiance. He was hoping to rent this one out.
Old blacksmith shop and barn across from Wesley's house.
I can't remember what this is.
We left Wesley's house, and returned the way we came along Grove Road and turned right on James Mill Road. This was another nice farm road with some nice views off to the valley of the French Creek. We continued and stayed to the left at an intersection where the road became Mansion Road. We soon crossed over another old stone bridge over the French Creek tributary. This one was also not built before 1900 surprisingly, and neither was the previous stone one.
Stone bridge near the site of Reading Furance
Plaque on the stone bridge on Mansion Road
On the other side of this narrow bridge was a large mansion that once served as a large iron master's house. Wesley explained that the area was unique because many of the local furnaces were owned and operated by women. I recalled walking through some locations in the past that bore the names of women, and I just figured they were named after the iron master's wife or something. One of the more recent ones I'd gone by was Joanna Furnace last year.
On the other side of the bridge, Wesley pointed out to the right, just off the road and near the creek was the site of the Reading Furnace. This one was completely torn down.
We turned back the way we came across the bridge, and then went left on Reading Furnace Road.
Near the site of Reading Furnace
We soon turned right onto Morningside Road. On the right of us was an old stone house that was falling into ruin. Behind it was a house in nicer shape, and Wesley told us the same family owned both houses but that they didn't know what to do with the one in the front. It's a shame to see this place going to waste. I thought back to the building Wesley pointed out to us that was supposedly the oldest building around, and how it was a log cabin that had a cover around the outside. Such a shame artifacts like this which are still practical can't be saved.
An old stone house falling into ruin on Morningside Road.
We continued up the road and came to a church, St. Mary's Episcopal. This was not an old church, but built much in the style of the old ones which I really respect. Apparently what happened was the original church in the town of Warwick ahead had it's membership grow too much and a new church was needed. They had already outgrown their cemetery and started using the site adjacent to this church, and so I suppose it made sense to put the new church at the cemetery.
Cemetery marker
We continued out Morningside Road to Rt 23 in Warwick. Wesley had an obligation, so he had his son come and pick him up, while Sharon and I continued across Rt 23 on to Warwick Road and turned left.
A sign saying there's an historic sign ahead? Wow...
I was surprised to see, as we walked this road, that there was a significant old sign denoting that an historical marker was ahead. I hadn't often seen such redundant signs proclaiming the approach to yet another sign that was not necessarily practical for driving conditions. Interesting thought.
Warwick's older church
Cemetery in Warwick PA
Revolutionary War soldier's grave in Warwick PA
The historic marker it was referring to was probably for the original church that the one we had passed most likely replaced. This older, much smaller church was very nice, and was surrounded by a fantastic old grave yard. There was even a Revolutionary War soldier buried here, and it still had what looked to be an original medallion on the flag. I was happy to see this, because all too often those things get stolen.
Along the railroad bed heading east from Warwick
We continued on and turned right on Rt 345, Pine Swamp Road. Along the road I could see a berm on both sides, partially plowed away which I figured might have at one time been a spur of the railroad line we were looking for to get into St. Peters. We continued along the road looking for a way to access the path back to St. Peters, and soon found a vague ATV trail. This was actually the rail crossing site, and we followed it into the woods to the right.
Old railroad trestle over French Creek in St. Peters P A
Old railroad trestle in St. Peters
French Creek from the old railroad trestle, St. Peters
Old railroad trestle in St. Peters
French Creek from the rail trestle in St. Peters
Old railroad trestle in St. Peters
Crossing the old rail trestle in St. Peters
Old railroad trestle in St. Peters PA
St. Peters quarry
The rail bed was for the most part clear, and pretty easy to walk. We made pretty good time following it to the east. There was one spot where some sort of quarry property bordered it to the south, and I went up to look but found nothing of interest.
We continued on and came to where the Horseshoe Trail joined it to the left. I recognized it by this time from the previous time I had hiked it in the fall of 2009. We continued on across Tyndhall Road, and then when the Horseshoe Trail turned off to the right, we stayed on the railroad bed ahead. There was a really badly washed out spot, and it had a small tributary that soon passed beneath a tie bridge.
We took a nice break here and sat in the creek to cool off, as it was quite humid.
When we continued, we soon made it to an awesome old trestle over the main branch of the French Creek into St. Peters. It looked the same as I remembered it, with no ties in place, just wooden timbers. We crossed and then turned right on St. Peters Road.
Pretty soon, we could see where the rail line would have been right along side of St. Peters Road. This line accessed the quarry in town. From here on, there was a switchback railroad that went down into Knauertown, and then beyond along the French Creek to Kimberton which was called the Delaware River and Lancaster Railroad. The line was intended to stretch from Lancaster all the way to the Jersey Shore, but the only part that was ever built was from Kimberton to St. Peters. It was one of those forgotten short lines that was given the name "Sow Belly Railroad". We had hiked a section of it in the past because it's route is now part of Warwick Park.
We continued and came to the road on the edge of the quarry at St. Peters. Tourism people put a fake waterfall on the edge of it, but kids still liked to go up and jump off. I'd never seen anyone jump off of it before, but it looked attractive to me. A kid was standing to my right, considering it, but there was a policeman off to the left watching us.
I told the kid if he jumped off I would. The first cop left, and then two more went by along St. Peters Road below us. When they were all gone, the two of us ran up hill to the cliff of the quarry.
St. Peters quarry where I jumped
A few other kids showed up, and they swore the cliff was sixty feet high and that they'd measured it. I would say it was no higher than forty, and more likely thirty five.
The first kid I ran up with was too nervous to jump. I too was nervous because Sharon told me that two kids had recently died jumping off and that's why they were really putting their foot down about people trespassing there. This was a pretty crazy spot, in plain view from all of the roads. We'd have to be quick as not to get caught.
The second kid who showed up told me that he had brought his friends with him so he had to do it, but he'd only done it like twice before. I said "Okay, well if you go I will". He jumped off, and as soon as I saw him come up I threw myself off to the right of him. I hit the water pretty hard, and other than some pain in the groin area I was fine. I did hit the water really hard.
St. Peters quarry
After my jump, pretty much everyone followed. I swam off to the shore as quickly as I could and ran back up. We watched a few others jump, and then continued on our way.
Rails still in place in St. Peters
As we headed away from the quarry, there was one spot where I was surprised to see rails still in place form the old line that serviced the quarry. We made our way back up hill a bit to the parking area near the big swimming hole on the French Creek. This spot was pretty well overrun with people, but we went in anyway. There was a section of woods full off all sorts of incredible tree roots growing above surface level that was really neat.
Weird roots along the French Creek in St. Peters
French Creek swimming hole, St. Peters
Along the French Creek in St. Peters
French Creek near St. Peters
In the French Creek under the Rt 23 bridge, Knauertown
After taking a dip in the popular one, we followed a vague path down along the rocky shore of the creek and found another, even better swimming hole, and jumped in again. After this, we continued slightly further down the creek and found yet another to get in. We saw only a few other people, one of which was a young kid walking funny, balancing on the rocks who we jokingly made fun of as a "ninja".
One of the spots we found was apparently the site of an old dam across the French Creek. I could see the berm stretching further out away from the water's edge. The creek was close to the surface here, leading me to believe it did not always take this route down stream before damming. The Horseshoe Trail came in from the right, and we were able to follow that along the creek for a ways down stream from here. It was starting to get pretty dark.
A side path led away from the Horseshoe Trail to the left, shortly before Sharon's office. We crossed the creek here, and then checked out the property. This spot is the perfect party place, with all sorts of space, beautiful creekside, and a nice building. Her office was also very nice and homy.
We had a few beers here, but didn't realize how late it had gotten. Our cars had gotten locked into Warwick Park, and we were threatened with tickets (I had a warning on my car). The Ranger actually picked us up from Sharon's office, which was right up the road a short distance to take us back and open the gates. He wasn't very happy. Fortunately, Sharon knew the head Ranger and hopefully we've gotten out of tickets....but I'll hold off on laughing about it until I know for sure!
Big tree on County Park Road
Valley and farm land from the corner of County Park Road and Warwick Furnace Road.
Bridge on Warwick Furnace Road
Nice farm view from Warwick Furnace Road
Farm view on Warwick Furnace Road
Farm view on Warwick Furnace Road.
Nice old bridge on Warwick Furnace Road.
Old historic marker at Warwick Furnace
Warwick Furnace
Building next to Warwick Furnace
Nice view of the farm where cannons were tested during the Revolution
Bridge plaque along Valley Way Road
A branch of the French Creek from Valley Way Road.
Abandoned road near Warwick Furnace
Abandoned road near Warwick Furnace
Abandoned road near James Mill Road
Abandoned road, now used as a farm road near James Mill Road
Farm land along James Mill Road
Spring house/root cellar/caretaker's house on Wesley's farm.
Wesley and his house
Wesley's spring house/root cellar/caretaker house
Sharon and Wesley in the caretakers/spring/root cellar house
Old blacksmith shop and barn across from Wesley's house.
I can't remember what this is.
Stone bridge near the site of Reading Furance
Plaque on the stone bridge on Mansion Road
Near the site of Reading Furnace
An old stone house falling into ruin on Morningside Road.
Cemetery marker
A sign saying there's an historic sign ahead? Wow...
Warwick's older church
Cemetery in Warwick PA
Revolutionary War soldier's grave in Warwick PA
Along the railroad bed heading east from Warwick
Old railroad trestle over French Creek in St. Peters P A
Old railroad trestle in St. Peters
French Creek from the old railroad trestle, St. Peters
Old railroad trestle in St. Peters
French Creek from the rail trestle in St. Peters
Old railroad trestle in St. Peters
Crossing the old rail trestle in St. Peters
Old railroad trestle in St. Peters PA
St. Peters quarry
Big tree on County Park Road
Valley and farm land from the corner of County Park Road and Warwick Furnace Road.
Bridge on Warwick Furnace Road
Nice farm view from Warwick Furnace Road
Farm view on Warwick Furnace Road
Farm view on Warwick Furnace Road.
Nice old bridge on Warwick Furnace Road.
Old historic marker at Warwick Furnace
Warwick Furnace
Building next to Warwick Furnace
Nice view of the farm where cannons were tested during the Revolution
Bridge plaque along Valley Way Road
A branch of the French Creek from Valley Way Road.
Abandoned road near Warwick Furnace
Abandoned road near Warwick Furnace
Abandoned road near James Mill Road
Abandoned road, now used as a farm road near James Mill Road
Farm land along James Mill Road
Spring house/root cellar/caretaker's house on Wesley's farm.
Wesley and his house
Wesley's spring house/root cellar/caretaker house
Sharon and Wesley in the caretakers/spring/root cellar house
Old blacksmith shop and barn across from Wesley's house.
I can't remember what this is.
Stone bridge near the site of Reading Furance
Plaque on the stone bridge on Mansion Road
Near the site of Reading Furnace
An old stone house falling into ruin on Morningside Road.
Cemetery marker
A sign saying there's an historic sign ahead? Wow...
Warwick's older church
Cemetery in Warwick PA
Revolutionary War soldier's grave in Warwick PA
Along the railroad bed heading east from Warwick
Old railroad trestle over French Creek in St. Peters P A
Old railroad trestle in St. Peters
French Creek from the old railroad trestle, St. Peters
Old railroad trestle in St. Peters
French Creek from the rail trestle in St. Peters
Old railroad trestle in St. Peters
Crossing the old rail trestle in St. Peters
Old railroad trestle in St. Peters PA
St. Peters quarry
St. Peters quarry where I jumped
St. Peters quarry
Rails still in place in St. Peters
Weird roots along the French Creek in St. Peters
French Creek swimming hole, St. Peters
Along the French Creek in St. Peters
French Creek near St. Peters
In the French Creek under the Rt 23 bridge, Knauertown
No comments:
Post a Comment