Olivia Heilemann Justin Staggers
Editor in Chief Managing Editor
Nestled in Conoy Township, just a drive up the river north of Millersville, lie the remnants of an abandoned company quarry town.
Once a thriving hub for limestone and dolomite extraction, the town of Billmeyer has quietly decayed into Lancaster County history. Few structures remain standing, and much of the land has since been converted into the scenic Enola Low-Grade hiking trail.
Yet, scattered across the grounds are constant reminders of the town’s once industrious past – cement foundations, remnants of homes, and even a rusted 1940s Pontiac all serve as silent storytellers of a mostly forgotten town with a rich history.
Originally founded by John Haldeman in the 1840s for limestone extraction, the quarry’s early life saw it leased out to a variety of different organizations, eventually finding a long-term suitor in John Baker’s Wrightsville Lime Company in 1896. Named after his wife Mary Billmeyer, it was at this time that the town truly began to take shape.
World War I led to increased demand for limestone and dolomite, integral resources in steel production. The calcium-rich limestone was also used in the agricultural industry, as it was able to be burned and sold as fertilizer. Some of the stone was even used to build the Shocks Mill Bridge, which still stands over the Susquehanna River.
The boom in demand made it necessary for homes to be built along the quarry, and before long a small company town would begin to form. Complete with boarding houses, a school, a chapel, and even a company store, the town of Billmeyer quickly became a vital resource for the war efforts in the United States and housed approximately 1,000 residents at its peak.
The town’s residents mainly included immigrants from Europe and the South, as well as regional residents. Many descendants of these residents still live in the central Pennsylvania area, some less than a mile away from old Billmeyer.
For as hard as the employees at the Billmeyer quarry worked, records show they liked to have fun just as much.
“The work was heavy, dirty, and dangerous, with long hours and low pay. The workers notoriously liked to blow off steam with the use of alcohol,” said Megan Salvatore, the Visitor Services Manager at Susquehanna National Heritage Area (SNHA).
With the popularity and convenience of alcohol in the town, things eventually got out of hand.
“There was a quarry across the river from Baker [In York] and the guys would take a boat over on paydays to drink in the bar, ” said Gina Mariani, a descendant of a family who owned a boarding house in the town.
“But there were so many fights the quarry owners decided to pay on separate weeks so they don’t all have money at the same time.”
The hard work of the employees was heavily appreciated by John Baker, guiding him to purchase multiple plots in the Bainbridge Cemetery to honor each worker and their families after they had passed.
As the war came to an end and the resources the town was producing were out of demand, Billmeyer soon faded into a ghost town. What is left of the area is the historic Haldeman Mansion and the White Cliffs of Conoy hiking trail, where the remains of houses and businesses of Billmeyer lay untouched.
Among the abandonment lies a rusted 1940s Pontiac in the middle of the woods next to the foundation of a structure that appears to have once been a house. There is no information on the owner or structure, but it is believed that it was left behind when the town was vacated and left to crumble.
While the trail is open to the public, access to the abandoned structural foundations is prohibited. For more information on the trail and its rules, visit lancastercountydayhikes.com/whitecliffsofconoy.
