The Celery Farm EarthCache

A BRIEF HISTORY

…....In the southeast corner of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, one can locate the small town of Blue Ridge Summit. Situated on the South Mountain Plateau in the shadow of Mt. Dunlop, Blue Ridge Summit was once a thriving resort community patronized by folks from Baltimore and Washington, DC who chose to ride the railroad for a weekend retreat.

…....To accommodate their guests, the lavish hotels of the period looked to John and Albert Happel, whose farm on what is now known as Happel’s Meadow supplied about 90% of the produce for the resort. The Happels purchased the marshy area northwest of Tracey’s Corner, set up a drainage system of terra cotta pipe laid every 300 feet and began working the rich wetland soil. Specialties included up to 300,000 celery plants annually, a variety of herbs and green vegetables, cantaloupes and chickens. Orders of 500 dozen ears of sweet corn on a weekend were not uncommon. When John left the business in 1921, Albert farmed timothy and sold wholesale feed, much of which was purchased by the Washington Zoo. In 1937, the new PA Rt. 16 bisected the wetland, but farming continued.

…....The Blue Ridge Summit resort era gradually ended with the advent of the automobile and decreased demand for train excursions. The Happel farm was passed on, and in 1990, Washington Township accepted from Charles Gardner and his sister, Letitia, the donation of the 76 acre tract as a wetland preserve.

AREA GEOLOGY

…....The South Mountain Plateau and Happel’s Meadow are part of the South Mountain geological formation which extends from Maryland through the eastern part of Franklin County into Adams County and ends near Dillsburg. The South Mountain fold is predominantly Cambrian metamorphic rock (500-600 million years old) consisting of limestone and dolomite with some sandstone and shale. A small Precambrian intrusion in the Blue Ridge Summit area includes gneiss, greenstone and serpentine.

WETLANDS

…....Happel’s Meadow has officially been designated a wetland. To meet wetland criteria, an area must:
……….1. be saturated by surface or ground water such that the
.........] average annual water level is at the surface
….……2. demonstrate vegetation that is typical of wet marshy soils
……….3. exhibit hydric soils

..…..Vegetation is a good indicator of the water level and duration of saturation in a wetland. Many wetland species are not commonly recognizable as such. More familiar are sedges, cattails, rushes, skunk cabbage and riparian hardwoods such as red maple and sycamore.

…....Hydric soils are those which are saturated, flooded or ponded long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the surface horizon. Oxygen diffuses 10,000 times more slowly in saturated soils than in unflooded soils. Microbes rapidly use the little oxygen that does reach the soil, creating anoxic conditions. The type of hydric soil depends upon both bedrock and vegetation.

…....Hydric soil is recognizable by a rotten egg odor resulting from reduction of sulfur to hydrogen sulfide under anaerobic conditions, deep organic content, and gleying: bluish to greenish color resulting from reduction of iron in the soil.

…....Happel’s Meadow is drained by Red Run which follows Rt. 16 down the west side of the mountain and joins the east branch of Antietam Creek not far from Welty’s Mill. Wetlands provide not only a natural water filtration system, but also offer species diversity rivaled only by salt marshes, coral reefs and tropical rainforest canopies.

THE CACHE

…....If you are arriving from the west, carefully observe Happel’s Meadow as you drive through on your way to the designated coordinates. Look for the sign to the right about 0.6 mile from the posted latitude and longitude. If you are arriving from the east, continue past Tracey's Corner and the Pen Mar Little League field on the left, observe Happel’s Meadow as you drive through it along Rt. 16, and then return to the posted coordinates.

…....At the stated coordinates you will be able to safely view a long section of the meadow together with a sampling of the many plant varieties. Walk along the edges but please do not enter the meadow, as it is a fragile environment containing at least six species listed in Maryland as being endangered.

……….To get credit for this cache:

…....1. Answer via E-mail to the cache owner the following:
……………A. What is the altitude at the listed coordinates?
……………B. How does altitude relate to the uniqueness of Happel's Meadow?
……………….(Hint: When the Rt. 16 causeway was added, terra cotta pipes along the road were used to
..................help drain standing water).
……………C. Even if you can not see standing water now, list at least 2
...............pieces of visual evidence that Happel’s Meadow is a
.............. wetland.
……………D. Evaluate the surrounding area and in a sentence or two,
………….….…formulate a hypothesis as to why or how a wetland can be
……………..…sustained in this unique location.