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October has once again gracefully eased into our lives; it brings with it the realization of the perpetual change of the seasons. Those of us in advanced years tend to dream backwards in time, backward to the turn of the twentieth century when the events in our lives and the duties thereof were slower paced. The winter holidays brought excitement to the younger ones that rubbed off on their elders. There were shorter days, longer nights, earlier bedtimes, larger families, slower news reports; fairyland snow scenes and warm coal stoves.
Spring would finally come with the delightful sight of "greening up" time. The panoramic view of the Old Economy fruit orchards with their spring blossoms was awesome. There were sweet apple, pear, cherry and peach trees. Warm breezes would waft waves of delicious aromas from the blossoms to nearby streets causing passersby to stop; and who, with closed eyes and deep breaths, would get "giddy" on the fragrance.
One orchard was planted along the hillside of Beaver Road. It extended for five blocks, from Eighth Street to Thirteenth Street. On the first tier of low hills from Beaver Road was the 66 crab apple orchard". These poorer apples were used in making apple cider and in jellies with which the Economites supplied the Pittsburgh and local markets.
The Harmonists' elite orchard in Old Economy covered a very large area. It extended for four blocks from Twelfth Street southward to Bryden Road (now Eighth Street in Ambridge). The width was from Merchant Street to the bank overlooking the Ohio River. In this orchard was an open space containing a highly respected Indian Mound. It was a relic of the pre-historic "Mound Builders." Those early natives buried their dead in these mounds. Hundreds of them still remain along the Ohio River and other waterways in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In Ambridge its location was at about Tenth Street and Kennedy Drive. Its size, as annalized from early photos, appears to be an oval plateau about one hundred feet in diameter and four feet high. The Harmonists revered and preserved this Mound. A picket fence surrounded its perimeter. The photos show a large arched stone gazebo built in the center of it. We have read that the musical director John S. Duss took his Economy band there and gave concerts. Park benches were provided.
Some living old timers remember playing on the "mound".
The Indian mound was opened by archeologists from Camegie Museum in Pittsburgh. They uncovered male, female and children's skeletons; cooking utensils, tools and implements. Some of these relics are on exhibit in the Anthropology Department of the Carnegie Museum. The mound was dismantled and leveled sometime after 1913.
At the north end of the orchard was the Harmonists' cemetery. The cemetery is located at today's Eleventh and Church streets. About five hundred members of the society including Father Rapp, his wife, his daughter Gertrude, Fredrick Rapp, all of the trustees and John S. Duss and his wife Susanna, are buried there. Susanna preceded John in death by several years in Florida. John then moved back to Economy and brought back with him the urn containing the ashes of his cremated wife. Jolm died Dec. 14,195 1. The urn containing Susanna's ashes was placed inside his casket and buried with him at the extreme north central section of the cemetery.
Dr. Benjamin Feucht was involved as a rival with John Duss over Society affairs and management in the 1890s. He and his family are buried in the southwest comer of this cemetery. Their graves have headstones. This was a flagrant departure from Harmonist tradition. In two other Harmonist cemeteries, grave markers were not permitted.
In 1905, Susanna Duss became the last trustee and she order the dissolution of the Society.
In 1913, Old Economy merged with the fast growing new town of Ambridge. The abandoned, implanted grain fields between Eight Street and Sherman Street were laid out in lots, sold and were soon built upon. The orchards in both locations faded away.
I was born in Ambridge May 10th, 1906, so I have personally experienced much of what I have written about here. As a youth, I served the townspeople delivering milk house to house, and later, as a radio repairman, I was required to go to all sections of the town.
So, today, I could take you to back yards where I know some of these early orchard trees still survive.