Every day as I drive around south-central Pennsylvania and also during occasional trips into Maryland and Northern Virginia on business, I am reminded at how much of this area’s once beautiful pastoral countryside is being swallowed up by new housing developments. The area around York and Gettysburg just a decade ago still had some faint resemblance to what the troops might have seen as they marched through here, but now, even on out-of-the-way back roads used by the marching armies, thousands of houses are springing up on what has been farm fields for 200 years.
To get to Gettysburg from my home near York, I tend to follow the back roads used by Jubal Early rather than drive on congested U.S. 30. However, that peaceful rural drive (with very little traffic other than the occasional tractor or school bus) is also changing. Several new housing developments are going in or are planned along Route 234 (Berlin Road), especially near U.S. 15. North of Gettysburg on the Old Harrisburg Pike, a major new development is going in on the Plank Farm, and traffic will surely increase.
Before too many years, the back way to Gettysburg will be slower, albeit not as bad as Route 30.For the past 5-7 years, York and Adams counties have exploded with growth as Marylanders move across the Mason-Dixon Line to take advantage of Pennsylvania’s lower prices and taxes. More than 15,000 new homes have been built in five years, 75% of them to Marylanders. This is slowing down a little with the crisis in the mortgage industry and builders are starting to offer incentives to prospective buyers, who can be choosier.
Still, the long-term threat to the Gettysburg area is quite real. While the casino proposal drew considerable public attention and debate, the seemingly out-of-control suburban sprawl has received far less notoriety. Roads, schools, the water supply, infrastructure, traffic patterns, and sadly, the peaceful scenery, are all being affected. Someday, the battlefield will be an oasis surrounded by bustling subdivisions, and it will more closely resemble northern Virginia.
Are there similar issues in your area with urban sprawl swallowing up history?
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