As you might imagine, I’ve gotten a lot of phone calls since we started covering the demolition of the Avalong dairy barn in Springettsbury Township.
Demolition on this barn in Springettsbury Township started last week. The age of the barn is disputed by concerned citizens, township officials and family members who grew up on Avalong Dairy Farm.
Usually, those calls involve sharing some sort of memories.
The first came from Charles Noonan of Windsor Township.
His family, he said, owned contractor R.S. Noonan Inc.
His dad was a farmer, and wanted to buy a farm that belonged to the Robertson family.
But Alva Long already had an option to buy that property along Mt. Zion Road.
“That’s the story we got anyway,” the 84-year-old said.
The farm later became Avalong Dairy Farm, and Noonan’s family settled for another property near Wrightsville.
Noonan wanted to emphasize that the dairy barn in question was there at the time his parents tried to buy the Robertson property.
He challenged the assertion of Springettsbury Township Historic Preservation
Committee Chairman Luther Sowers, who said the barn is barely 50 years old.
“It’s probably very close to 100 years old, if it’s not,” Noonan said. “It’s not a Pennsylvania dutch barn. It’s a dairy barn.”
I received another call last week from Arlene Raffensberger of Mt. Wolf.
Her family moved from a small farm in Strinestown to another farm in Starview (East Manchester Township) along Jerusalem School Road when she was seven years old.
Her parents, she said, were friends of the Longs.
“I’ll be 71 in June,” Raffensberger said. “I know that barn was there when we moved.”
She remembers the barn that’s being torn down to become a Susquehanna Bank branch.
It’s definitely more than 50 years old, she said.
“I know that barn was there. It bothers me,” Raffensberger said. She wasn’t sure, at first, she wanted to say anything.
Demolition on the barn began last week.
“I’ve been putting this off and putting this off,” she said, “thinking my voice wouldn’t matter.”
