(Courtesy of Cloyd W. Wagner)

Shown here is a photograph of the fruit house several years before its west wall collapsed in August 1993. It was built in 1939 by Harold Hassinger, who had at least two orchards; one being where Bud Mattern’s development is now, (Jonna Drive, etc.) right in Beavertown, and a much larger one south of our town’s reservoir. Harold had several kinds of cherry, apple, and peach trees in these orchards. He recruited summer vacation school children to pick cherries at this time of the year. Mainly it was adults who picked the other fruit.

(What was different about picking cherries for Harold? Answer next month.)

Answer to Last Month

Today in Beavertown, Jim Edmiston is the pilot with a plane available at Penn Selin airport.

Last issue we said Guy Narehood had two planes. That should have read, two makes of airplanes. Actually Guy had at least 4 different airplanes. His first was a yellow Piper Cub (J-3) with seats in tandem (front and rear). His next was a Piper with seats side by side. Then he got a Stinson 150 (Voyager), and finally a Stinson “Flying Station Wagon”, in which the back seat could be removed to haul cargo. The airport’s first runway angled southeast toward Shem Aigler’s cherry orchard. After WWII Guy bought Squire Wetzel’s farm which was farmed by Jake Hackenberg and later by Bert Bowersox. Guy then constructed the runway east and west. He sold the buildings and meadow to Bob Edmiston. Carl Herbster bought the rest of the land. (Info: Ken Narehood & Don Herbster)