Hemlock Farms
Hemlock Farms
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| About Hemlock Farms |
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| Hemlock Farms is located in a spectacular 4,500 acre wildlife sanctuary and surrounded by over 84,000 acres of pristine state forest and gamelands, and is managed by its own community association. This association, whose members are the lot and home owners, offer a Public Works Department for maintenance, a 24-hour Public Safety Security Patrol, garbage removal, 24-hour manned entrance gates and a wonderful fire & ambulance team that not only serves Hemlock Farms, but our surrounding neighbors when needed. | |||||
| Our community boasts four beaches, two outdoor pools, tennis courts, basketball, volleyball, two baseball fields, a brand new playground, a library, a church and Jewish Fellowship, and a clubhouse complete with an indoor pool, fitness center, sauna, steamroom, and oversized Jacuzzi whirlpool. | |||||
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| The History of Hemlock Farms |
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| In the mid 1780's, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania began issuing land grants in our region, most of them in the Blooming Grove Lord's Valley area. Hemlock Farms, at that time more heavily wooded with marshy bogs and rocks, was not attractive to potential farmers. Nonetheless, a series of twelve grants starting in 1793 brought almost all of the present Hemlock Farms into private hands. The great mass of ungranted lands surrounding the community survives today as state owned forest and hunting preserves. | |||||
| The beginning of the modern Hemlock Farms was made in 1927 when William Brewster acquired the entire Atkinson holdings from Harry J. Atkinson. These holdings represented about two-thirds of Hemlock Farms. The Atkinson holdings included the entire present golf course area, and much of the land south of Hemlock Farms Road to Route 739 (except the Steer Barn region). Brewster, a young man of not quite thirty, was the son of George Brewster, a highly successful contractor from Bergen County, New Jersey. The Brewster Construction Company built the PikeCounty section of Route 402. | |||||
| The Brewsters maintained the property as a steer ranch and as a retreat for family, friends and business associates. George Brewster built his country house (the present-day Lord's Valley Country Club Lodge) from the timbers and stones found in the surrounding area. This country house was host to many prominent political figures including President Franklin Roosevelt and Britain's William Churchill. The old horse stable and well house still remain on Orchard Drive. | |||||
| In 1923, he built the dam that created HemlockLake, located below the main house, to provide a landing area for his amphibious plane. Brewster bought the western portion of Hemlock Farms from the McConnells in 1944, and built another dam that created McConnellLake. | |||||
| After some unforeseen costs in the construction of a ramp for the GeorgeWashingtonBridge, Brewster was forced to sell his property. By 1964, the new developer promoted Hemlock Farms as a four-season recreational community. | |||||