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514 East Main Street |
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Snavely’s Truck Farm |
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The property at 514 was first used as a “truck farm,” a term that occurs as far back as 1785—long before motor trucks were even dreamed of—to mean vegetable gardens whose produce was transported for sale in the markets (from Old French troque meaning “barter,” from Greek trocoV meaning “wheel”). During the Great Depression, Mr. Charles Snavely farmed the property by hand. Under an agreement with the owner, Mr. Snavely grew and peddled the produce through the town on a hand cart and was permitted to keep half of the earnings. The home was built in 1938 by Dr. K. Otis Spessard and his wife Rosalie. Dr. Spessard was pastor of the Christ Reformed Church (now Christ UCC, 200 South White Oak Street). Saylor’s Lumber Company built the home, with the trim produced in their planning mill by Riley Berry. A Bartlett pear, a tall cedar tree, white peonies and a lovely white rose remain from Dr. Spessard’s gardens. At the time there was an unpaved section between the front sidewalk and Main Street. The deed notes that the first 25 feet of the property was given over to the trolley line. When the rails were removed around 1948, the curbing for the property was installed as was Annville’s sanitary sewer system. In June of 1959, the home was purchased by teacher/artist Mary Lou (“Sukey”) and engineer/manager Richard Harris at a public sale held from the front porch, with bidders standing on the front sidewalk. The Harrises have renovated the kitchen and baths and added a fireplace. Dr. Spessard’s downstairs study is used today as an office/library for Sukey and Dick. The main bedroom on the second floor was divided into two bedrooms with closets for the Harris’s four children. In the 1970s, Dick planted the property with many miniature and slow-growing conifers that have now become of exhibit size. The yew hedges that line the sides of the property were started from cuttings by the Harris’s. Sukey has always been an avid gardener and has maintained beautiful rose and extensive annual and perennial plantings. In recent years Sukey has enjoyed creating topiary from the boxwood bushes that were started from cuttings from the farm where she grew up in Northern Lebanon. Sukey’s grandparent’s raised her mother, Edna Yake, across the street at 511/513 East Main Street. |
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