This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: wallace1986 Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.pennsylvania.counties.york/15073/mb.ashx Message Board Post: I was reading a Revolutionary War Pension and a person mentioned living in the Barrens of York CO., PA. What is that? Does anyone know what twp. this was or how I can find out? Thanks, Brenda Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

Hi I happen to know a little about them. Years ago I did a thesis on the barrens of Pennsylvania. The results of that study suggests that they were areas of grass or brush with limited or no trees present. They were typically found on shallow limestone soil areas with a very large area (20,000 acres) in the Allentown-Bethlehem area. Another large area of about 3,000 acres was located near State College. Reviewing old documents suggests that they were fairly common throughout the limestone areas of the state. Early settlers gave them the name barrens as they though they were poor soil areas and not good farmland. These areas actually are highly productive although because of their shallow nature may have limited moisture available in dry years. I was doing some research of old land warrants in Lancaster County just this week and mistakenly pulled up one for York County and it referenced a barren adjoining the property. Unfortunately I did not make note of where it was located. If I find it again I will let you know. Jack On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 4:05 PM, gc-gateway@rootsweb.com < gc-gateway@rootsweb.com> wrote: > This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. > > Author: wallace1986 > Surnames: > Classification: queries > > Message Board URL: > > > http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.pennsylvania.counties.york/15073/mb.ashx > > Message Board Post: > > I was reading a Revolutionary War Pension and a person mentioned living in > the Barrens of York CO., PA. What is that? Does anyone know what twp. this > was or how I can find out? > Thanks, Brenda > > Important Note: > The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would > like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and > respond on the board. > > > > > > > ********* > Visit the threaded archives of this list: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PAYORK > ********* > Messages posted to the RootsWeb/Ancestry PAYORK Message Board are gatewayed > to this Mailing List. Remember that the author of gatewayed messages may > not be a list subscriber so please reply to gatewayed messages by clicking > on the link and replying on the board. > ************ > Visit the York County, Pennsylvania USGENWEB Project at: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~payork/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > PAYORK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >