York Town Square

Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station is just one of the southeastern York County, Pa., entities that appropriated the Peach Bottom name. (See second photograph from Peach Bottom Township below.) Also of interest: Stone structures tell York countians how their ancestors lived and Delta-Peach Bottom slate shingles: ‘Nothing works as good as this’ and Old York County town jails: ‘They’re kind of hidden history’ and Delta Welsh homecoming offers opportunity to learn about culture of slate miners.
Peach Bottom is a less-than-artful name that conjures conflicting feelings.
I’ve read that Scotsmen, founders of that sector, were often tone-deaf in such matters.
But the name is all over the place in southeastern York County and is here to stay.
“The River and the Ridge,” the authoritative history of the Delta/Peach Bottom Township area, addresses its ubiquity:
Peach Bottom is the name of: … .

– a township.
– a village in that township – part is now under Susquehanna River waters and the rest was dismantled to provide the site of the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Plant.
– a village in Lancaster County.
– famous slate.
– a long-time river ferry.
– a railway.
– a public school in the now-defunct village.
– the nuclear power plant.
– the Delta-Peach Bottom Elementary School.
As for the origin of the name, “The River and the Ridge” gives this earliest known reference, a Baltimore County Court order directing Caleb Peverill to:

“clear a road … from peach bottom down the River of Susquehannah to the first valley above the first fall of rocks below Slate Hill thence up the said valley to the top of the said hill and along the ridge unto Alexander Mackelneys … plantation.”

But actually, the true origin of Peach Bottom is not known, as the book indicates:

“When it all started is not known. As someone once said, ‘Heaven only knows the treachery of folklore.’ “

The roundabout in Peach Bottom Township is rare around York County. A similar circle was installed in Spring Grove. Of course, squares in Jefferson and Goldsboro have roundabouts in their downtowns.
Also of interest:
For 2010 Census information for Peach Bottom Township and other York County municipalities, click here.
Archives
– All York Town Square posts from the start. Then use “find” function on browser to search for keywords.
– Of course, you can always search for York Town Square posts on Google. For example, when you search for yorktownsquare and Peach Bottom, you get this.

York County views from on the air:
– Just try to resist studying this memory-tugging photograph
– Just try to resist studying this memory-tugging Sears photograph, Part II
– Just try to resist this memory-tugging photo of North York’s White Oak Park
– Just try to resist this memory-tugging aerial photograph of York Whitehull Airport and York Valley Inn and Playland and …
– So, can you find long-gone Springwood Park in this aerial photograph?
– Camp Security area of Springettsbury Township from the air
– Columbia-Wrightsville Susquehanna River bridges from the air.
– Just try to resist this memory-tugging photograph of northwest York, Pa.
– Just try to resist this memory-tugging aerial photograph of York’s Roosevelt Avenue Airport.
– Memorial Stadium, now Bob Hoffman Stadium, built to keep professional baseball in York.