| LYDICK BLOCKHOUSE |
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The first settler in Cherryhill township lived on the Spring Fort Farm, now owned by Mrs. Steele Berkeypile, on the old Clymer road. John Lydick blazed a trail to this tract while the locality was just a wilderness. He returned bringing his wife, Mary, and their small children. The two youngest were carried on horseback each in the end of a bed tick thrown over the horse's back. The exact date he came is unknown, but he was assessed for taxes as early as 1783. In 1788, Lydick purchased all right and title of the land warrant from John Chain, who applied for warrants on several tracts in this section of Pennsylvania. Three times the Lydick family fled to forts on the other side of the Conemaugh river, and finally a blockhouse was built for the protection of the neighborhood. It was attacked by Indians, and the Berkeypile family, who are Lydick descendants, point out the approximate site of the barn burned by the redskins. John P. Lydick, living on a part of the original tract, has the little mill which the family buried on the farm before leaving for the fort before their blockhouse was erected.
All that remains of the old blockhouse are the foundation stones near the spring that has never failed. From this spring the Berkeypiles have named their home, "Spring Fort Farm." |