YorksPast

In Monday’s post we learned about an old, non-dated, hand-drawn plan of the Town of Pleasant Garden in the files of the York County Heritage Trust.  We also learned that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania passed an act on April 11th 1793, authorizing a Susquehanna River Bridge from Blue Rock, Lancaster County to Pleasant Garden, York County.

In Monday’s post I posed the question; was the Town of Pleasant Garden planned with a River Bridge in 1793?  In an attempt to determine the exact location of the planned Town of Pleasant Garden, I discovered the key JACOB DRITT LAND DEED that, when plotted, matched the shape of the layout of the Town of Pleasant Garden.

The borders of the center, WHITE shaded, deed are from Book 2W, Page 162.  The Town of Pleasant Garden layout slips right into this plot of land.  This is approximately a northerly plot.  The Susquehanna River is on the right side; I tried to keep the original notation, shown in blue, from the original layout of the town.  Continue reading, as I explain deed 2W-162 and the neighboring land deeds that are shown surrounding the Town layout.

 

 

I suspected the location of the Town of Pleasant Garden based upon 1786 and 1784 deed plots of Jacob Dritt’s neighbors to the north; i.e. Michael Dosh [Dosch] and Christian Rathvon [Rathfon] respectively.  However I was certain of the location of this planned town when I plotted the 1811 deed from Book 2W, Page 162; its shape matching the old hand-drawn plan of the Town of Pleasant Garden.

The October 9th 1811 Deed 2W-162 is from Jacob Dritt to his son Henry Dritt.  This plotted 50-acres is one of the tracts in the deed; the other two tracts are not connected.  A key feature in this deed, the property line is “passing through the middle of the entry of the stone dwelling House.”  After Jacob Dritt drowned in the Susquehanna River during 1818, the other half of the Dritt House was deeded to his daughter Margaret Bonham; eventually the Bonham family would acquire both halves of the house.

This is the illustration featured Monday; you now have the background of how I’ve located the Town of Pleasant Garden.  With the location of the Town of Pleasant Garden established, the next question is; did the town layout come before the 1811 deed or after the 1811 deed?

I still believe that this layout is from the 1793 era.  Jacob Dritt owned the Town of Pleasant Garden land during his involvement with the 1793 bridge planning.  By 1793 the northerly boundary lines, which show up in the town layout, had already been established with neighbors Michael Dosch and Christian Rathfon.  With that the case, one would think that Jacob Dritt had a hand in the Town layout.

With 175 lots in the town layout; most lot sizes appear to vary between 1/4 to 1/3 acre.  Another interesting question concerns the “Historic Farm Ruins” in the present Native Lands County Park; they fall within the boundaries of the town layout, about on the corner of Race and Third Streets.

It is still an open question when these Farm Ruins date from; do they date from before or after the town layout?  An additional curiosity is that the primary street leading up from the river, High Street in the town layout, is about where the unpaved Farm Lane was located.

Was the farm lane in existence before the town layout?  Is that why High Street was located accordingly?  All interesting questions to investigate in the coming years.

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