There was no name that I know of for this farm (the one being demolished) on the left side of Cold Spring Creamery..... I had entered the farm from Burnt House Hill Road which was behind me as I faced the house and barn.

Large tract with stone farm house and silo and barn to be developed off Cold Spring Creamery and Burnt House Hill Road, approximately 1992. Before the demolition.

A panoramic view of the farm to be developed in 1992. Note the silo, shown in close-up on following photograph. Cold Spring Creamery Road follows the tree line in the background to the right. Click on image to enlarge.

In the process of being demolished, approximately 1992.

"Progress."

Continuing to be demolished for a new development, approximately 1992.

New houses on the tract and developer's "command center" beyond the utility pole.

"The End". Note large, looming "arm" of earth moving equipment near the trees. This picture was taken near the corner of Cold Spring Creamery and Burnt House Hill Roads. Cold Spring Creamery Road is past the trees at the right a short distance.

I, for many years, did house portraits....Mr. Barness's home being one...he has the original...I don't know if he is still alive......one of my relatives there may know....

He developed land in Warrington after World War II...A little development of homes after the intersection on 611 south of Doylestown (where there is/was a large inn on the left), going south. I can't recall the name of the major road that crosses 611 there....in fact he may have even built that shopping center, as his business office was in one of the buildings in that center....I took my artwork to him there....

Wonderfully though, in that little old development, I understand each house included a chicken coop in the back yard....those were the great days when one could legally raise chickens for meat and eggs right at home, without having to be on a farm....

I don't even remember what Mr. B. looked like....he was a pleasant man to me....nor do I recall his wife....don't know if they had children.

His property was immense and beautiful...and one could see all across the fields and golf course there 'forever'....a real loss to the area.

Mr. Barness had a beautiful private golf course on his farm. My daughter, Kristen, got a job there the summer of 1986. Her main duty, besides feeding the chickens, was to ride the very large mower-tractor and mow the golf course! In the above photo you can see her on the tractor, the farm foreman Dick Snyder and my youngest sister Jessie. Mr Barness's home/farmhouse is in the distance to the right and Cold Spring Creamery Road parallels the tree line, with Doylestown several miles to the left. Photo taken in August 1986. Click on image to enlarge.

Mr. Barness's private golf course. Can you see Kristen and the tractor?

The Barness Farm and Estate, 1992. Dick Snyder's fieldstone house on Mr. Barness's farm. Mr. Snyder was the farm manager. The house is still still there, houses crowding up to the side yards and across the street that was once his little driveway.....sigh!!! * Please note the name "Barness" at the bottom right of the developer's sign in the above photo and see the comments at the bottom of this web page for more information about the development of the Barness Farm.

The Herbert Barness Farm and Estate, 1992. One last look, before the farm is no more.

The Barness Farm and Estate, 1992. Cold Spring Creamery Road, looking towards route 413 at the end. This was close the end of Cold Stone Creamery up at the Route 413 intersection. Before the construction. Barness land is on the right side of the road with the hedgerow and trees. Note farmland on left is still holding on--for dear life. This piece of land is still, to my knowledge, a FARM.

The Barness Farm and Estate. Cold Spring Creamery Road, with the Barness Farm on the right side. During the construction, before the houses were up.

Herbert Barness Farm land. Route 413 is on the right. Cold Spring Creamery follows the tree line at the edge of the beige field in the distance. June 1992. Note the three silos in the distance to the left which are the same as the ones in the photo above. This photo was taken from the driveway in the photo below and is looking Northwest. Click on image to enlarge.

The Barness Farm, driveway to Dick Snyder's farm house (the farm foreman's house) seen from route 413, June 1992.

The Barness Farm, corner of Route 413 and Cold Spring Creamery Road, before the houses were put in. Note the developer's signs and Dick Snyder's house in the distance at the tree line.

The Barness farm, before it was lost to construction. Dick's house (the farm foreman's house) is at the very left of the panorama. Note three three silos. The road in the foreground is Route 413 and the corner with Cold Spring Creamery is to the right. Click on image to enlarge.

Former foreman's driveway, now obliterated. His home is where the trees are behind the new houses.

Same basic view as could be seen in panorama with the caption that begins, "Herbert Barness Farm land". Route 413 is to the right. Just the beginning stage of total landmass concealment by condos and houses of limitless number.

Barness land being developed, at Route 413 and Smoke Road. Route 413 is going across the photo from left to right. Long Lane, seen just barely in the right of this photo, is to the right. Click on image to enlarge.

Barness farm. Route 413 goes across this panorama from left to right. Cold Spring Creamery is far to the right, off the edge of the photo. Click on image to enlarge.

BEFORE. Near end of Cold Spring Creamery Road (looking towards Doylestown) on farmland across Cold Spring Creamery Road from old Barness farmhouse. Note developer's red sign.

AFTER. Near end of Cold Spring Creamery Road (looking towards Doylestown) on farmland across Cold Spring Creamery Road from old Barness farmhouse.

My interest in these black and white photos, besides for my memories, is that they show the change of nature (trees) that can take over in time...which can be good, or can close one 'in' a bit too much. BUT ALSO the encroachment of developments across the lake and on the hill past the barn......and maybe somebody from Central Bucks High School (as it was called then) may recognize my sister, Charlotte ("Sha"), and me.

To reach our school bus in 1954-56, my sister and I had to walk up the long dirt road, Sauerman Road, to the very top of the hill at Edison-Furlong Road. I ask you know--how many children would do that today, in 2007?! Of course safety is a big issue now, then it simply was not, 53 years ago!

Lastly, one Halloween evening, my parents and a couple they were close friends with staged a very scary nightime tour through the grounds around the house via a rope that led us all over the place outside--from tree to tree, etc.--ending in the cold storage underground outside the kitchen door. It was lit by only one candle, my parents' friend lying "dead" on a stone slab that was built on the wall, originally as a large shelf. When each group of us (our school friends) entered the very dark underground cold storage "room", he would open his eyes and slowly sit up, moaning loudly. We were all panicked of course! Dad did his part for us all in the basement--in nearly total darkness--passing out "body parts"--peeled grapes and the like. I met a friend in the 1980s who said she still remembered with glee this Halloween event at our farm. Those were the days when we thought Halloween benign and innocuous. I don't think we would stage anything like that today, knowing better.

Our Sauerman Road Farm, 1954-1956, Edison. View #1. Lynn (with cat) and sister Charlotte ("Sha") standing. Our last name was "Crowder". To the right, beyond the fence was a dirt road. The field beyond ("above") the lake was a farmer's cornfield. It was sold and a development stretches to the top of the near hill and completely all the way to the left where trees are now (see view #2).

Our Sauerman Road Farm, view #2. Taken in the early 1990s. The road beyond the fence to the right is now paved. Click on image to enlarge.

Our Sauerman Road Farm, 1954. Note classic (now!) old car at the barn. A little tale: My 9 year old sister Charlotte, one early Christmas morning before the rest of the family was awake, stole out by her lone self in her brand new ice skates out onto this "frozen" pond--and to her surprised horror heard many cracking and whipping sounds from the ice! She did make it to the house, lesson learned.

Our Sauerman Road Farm, mid-1990s. The same view as in the above photo, but Nature has taken over here! More tress, more bushes. Our dear father, William Crowder, made a very fast and slick sled run for my two younger sister and me from the hill behind the farm, down past the house and out into and down to the edge of the pond. For the summertime he built us a large raft out of tree trunks and old boards. Our dad also made a clothesline pole holder of cement for our mother, with the inscription in the cement: "This is where the Crowder girls hang out". Funny!

Lastly, one of my favorite shots of the Delaware River and Canal at Lumberville, 1974.

-- February, 2007

Herbert Barness died in 1998 at the age of 74. He was a very prominent man in the area and served in many local and national leadership positions. He was named to the President's Commission on Housing by President Ronald Reagan in 1983. He also served as president of the Barness Organization, a real estate development company which developed a significant amount of land in the Bucks County area.

The loss of his farmland was unfortunate, but the story behind how it was lost is even sadder. As was told to me in words that are best left unedited, "in the ultimate act of self-canibalization, Herbert Barness developed his own 300 acre 'homestead' on Cold Spring Creamery Road & 413 and turned it into DOZENS of houses."

He paved over his own farm.

We may never know why he chose to develop his own farm and turn it into a housing development. He did not fit the sterotype of the farmer barely scratching out a living from his land trying to make ends meet.

His development organization, The Barness Organization, was sold to the developer Deluca Homes of Yardley in 2005. His name lives on in the street "Barness Court", part of the housing development on his former farm, as well as the General Assembly of Pennsylvania Senate Resolution 229 from 1998 which honored him for his achievements.