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-Richard
Barnard "Barnard's Orchard"
Richard
Banard bought a couple hundred acres in the early 1720's from the
Baily family, which bought the land from the Newland family, who originally
bought the land from William Penn and cheated some of the land from
the Indians. They also named the land he owned, Newland Township,
after him. Originally, all together the Banards had 4,500 acres of
land. This, however, was including all the nearby land their cousins
owned. Then, in the 1860's Milton Banard (Richard's son) bought 40
acres of this land, on which he built Banard's Orchard.
In
1955, Richard and Samuel (Milton's grandsons) purchased thirty- two
more acres. Since then, none of the land has been sold off to development
and has remained at 72 acres. Although fruit prices do not increase
with inflation they have stayed more or less the same over the past
decade. However, still today, Richard, Samuel, and Richard's son Louis,
work and run the 72 acres of the orchard everyday along with many
other family members and employees.
Milton originally built the house that Sam, Louis, and Richard now
live in. It has eleven rooms and was built in the 1850's. This same
house has held several family reunions through out the last 150 years.
At these reunions, all the Banards would come from around the country
to gather around and listen to each other talk and tell stories for
many long hours. These reunions were very well known and even written
about in the local newspapers.
Many historical events have taken place on the Banard's land and with
the family. During the Revolutionary War, since the Banards were all
strong Quakers they did not pay the taxes for the war, so instead
the government took bushels of grain. The farm was raided by the British
for supplies and animals, when they were on their way to attack the
Americans in the Battle of Brandywine. The Banard family was also
very involved in assisting with the underground railroads. Richard's
cousins, William, Vincin, Simon, and another Richard's, homes were
all major underground railroad sites. William and five other Quakers
even went to Washington DC and met with Abraham Lincoln to talk about,
how he should free the slaves. Six months after this occurred, Abraham
released the Emancipation Proclamation.
Another event that had occurred with the Banard family was back when
Richard III was living on the farm. His family would use the same
stream as the Baily family for water. The Baily family was related
to the original Bailys who had sold their land to the Banards. These
original Bailys had also built a house, which had two rooms and still
stands today, inhabited by the Wickersham family. They had a dispute
over the water since the Baily family had put a dam in the stream
and were not letting enough water through for the Banards. So, the
two neighbors fought so much that finally Richard walked over to the
Baily's house one day and demanded to Mr. Baily that he was going
to wash his feet to solve the problem. Mr. Baily at first wouldn't
let him do this, but after the convincing of Richard and the biblical
reasoning for this, Richard ended up washing Baily's feet. After doing
this, they both decided to never have such a dispute again and both
gave two acres of their land away for a meeting house to be built
on. The meeting house is still there and is named the Marlborough
Meeting House. They had the dispute in the late 1780's but the meeting
house wasn't officially built until 1801.
Banard's orchard was a general fruit-growing farm for hundreds of
years. Percy Banard was the father who first turned the land into
orchards. He did this in the early 1900's. Before he did this, it
was all a dairy farm. Banard's orchard was originally known for its
apple cider. Two years ago, they even shipped their apples to Motts
to be made into applesauce (this was because they used to sell to
Rice Fruit Co.). They grow many other fruits such as tomatoes, pears,
and pumpkins. However, apples are their main crop. They sell their
crops in their store and some to local farm stands. Their store is
packed with fruits and vegetables. Most of them are grown on the orchard.
However, some are shipped in (like the garlic from China). Some of
their products in the store include jam, honey, corn, pepper, potatoes,
squash, and many different assortments of apples.
Many different activities take place at Banard's Orchard. For instant
"pick your own apples and tomatoes", " the great pumpkin
contest", and preschool and elementary classes touring the orchard
on field trips. Banard's Orchard is not as commercial as other orchards
and more low key. However, its land and crops have been well maintained
for over 250 years.
Banard's Orchard has tons of history to it and has had so much work
put into it as well. The orchard is still a well-maintained family
farm, which serves so many loyal customers who really appreciate the
freshness of the crops and the labor being put behind them. The customers
also appreciate Banard's Orchard because without them there would
be another development of large houses devastating the open space
and pristine nature of the Newlin Township.
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Jeremiah
Bailey| Richard Banard | Bayard
Taylor | George Fox | Howard
Pyle
Martha
Brown |Pierre
Samuel Dupont | Wyeth Family
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