The Stevensville Apple Orchard
One of the things I’ve always found interesting is how various stretches of land in the Stevensville area have been used, developed, and re-organized over the years, and especially since my childhood. From my pre-1970 perspective these areas include:
The Creek (Black Creek)
The Grove (which is now known as the “United Empire Loyalist Park”)
The area west of Ott Road (now the site of the Fort Erie Conservation Club)
The fields north of the creek (between the creek and the tracks. We knew this as “the vineyards”)
The area at the extreme east end of town where the Paul Hendershot orchard must have been.
And others…
This photo was (presumably) taken on the front porch of the Paul Horton Hendershot farm house.
Frank and Laura are standing. Paul and Sarah are seated. The little boy is Hubert, and the girl is Gladys Robb, niece of Frank and Laura.
Here’s an interesting note about the Paul Horton Hendershot apple orchard. Paul Horton Hendershot, who was the father of Fred, Frank, and Ella (and also my great grandfather) had a farm in the east end of Stevensville, with 1500 fruit trees and 15 acres of grape vines. Since beginning this project I’ve been curious about where these fields were located.
This is my comment made to ChatGPT to get a conversation going:
“…there was a house in the east end of town that my Grade 1 and 2 teacher lived in. Her name was Jennie Beatson. Around the back of the house there were some stairs leading up to the roof and a door to an apartment on the 2nd floor. I used to deliver the Toronto Star to that apartment. It was where Mr. Marchand (I think) lived. He was a teacher somewhere in town.
I took this pic recently. If this is the same old house it has changed a lot. If it is not, let me know.
After reading in various places about the Paul Horton Hendershot farm I wondered where this farm could have been located, because I was familiar with that area, at the extreme east end of town. It was past the school and Hubert’s development. And it was before you got to the “dump” – the old, now ploughed-over town refuse area.
There was just nowhere in that spot (or so I thought) that you could fit a sizeable farm.. And then I found the article about Jennie Beatson where it says “In 1940 the couple (Jennie and her husband) bought the Frank Hendershot home on East Man Street.” I take this to mean that Frank was by then the owner of the farm (or at least the house). In 1940 Frank would have been 74 and wanted to move close to Hubert (I have to check this out.)
This means that the Beatson house was the Hendershot farm house.”
Leave a comment if you have any info.
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Hi Rick, regarding Stevensville; I sent you an email last week leaving comments on some of your questions you had on the history of Stevensville. I saw your comments to Mark Wilkie on my wife’s facebook (Kim). Just wondering if you would like more additional info on what I gave you as I only gave very brief details.
cheers
Lawrence Beam
Hi Lawrence.
Nice to hear from you. I think I missed your email. I will take a closer look.
As I have said somewhere else if you have any special memories of your years in Stevensville (like a special event or experience at the grove or ball park, community hall, creek, etc.), or if you have old photos of places…just anything you think might be interesting to Stevensville residents.
On the weekend we drove around Stevensville and I saw things I had never seen before. I was especially impressed by the subdivision that now exists off East Ave stretching back almost to where the old ball park was. Also the way the creek has become overgrown. Back in the day we could see the banks and paddle our boats all the way to Black Creek. Believe it or not I can even remember swimming up by the “new” bridge near the dump. And of course the ice skating beside the Garage, thanks to Edgar Heximer. …anyway, nice to hear from you.
– Rick
Here is a quote from an email from Lawrence Beam regarding the location of the apple trees:
“…You were mentioning the Paul Hendershot fruit farm and where were the fields growing all this stuff. Well I think they were all to the East and South bordering Winger Road and the Railroad tracks and to the west half way over to East Ave.”
That makes a whole lot of sense, and something I had not thought of. The orchard was to the south (towards the tracks) between Winger Rd. in the east and East Ave. in the west, basically in an area behind the house.
I’ve had a few people ask me about Gladys Robb in the picture. My information, as I say in the post, is that she was “the neice of Frank and Laura”. If this correct it means that she was the daughter of a brother or brother-in-law of the Hendershots (Frank and Laura). From other sources it is clear that Frank (and Fred) had a sister, Ella. Some records suggest that Gladys was the daughter of William Robb, which suggests that Ella (Frank’s sister) was the wife of William Robb. The other possibiliy is that William Robb married Laura’s sister, and that Gladys was the daughter of those two. Laura (Frank’s wife) was the former Laura House. Did she have a sister, and could she have married William Robb? I haven’t researhed that possibility yet.