Barrel-Making

Henry Musser, Sr., and his son Isaac, came from Berks County in 1846 and settled on the land now known as the Musser Fruit Farm. Their reason for purchasing this property was the vast amount of white oak timber located there which they used to make barrel staves. Some of the tools used to make these were: a special saw, a Cooper plane, a Copper adz, a hoop driver and wooden mallets. Some of these tools are still at the Musser farm.

The staves were stacked, then hauled by wagon to New Bethlehem. They built a raft of white oak logs and once a year they loaded the raft with staves and floated them down the Redbank Creek and Allegheny River to Pittsburgh. There they were sold, along with the logs from the raft. The men then had to walk back to their homes.

On some special occasions Henry assembled some barrels and filled them with cider from the orchard he established. Two of the original apple trees still stand and bear fruit -- one of these being a Northern Spy.

Isaac was the father of William Musser. William kept the fruit orchard going until his death, when his son Arthur took over. It is now owned by Robert Musser, a son of Arthur, who continues to grow fruit which is sold to customers who come from near and far each year at picking time. Five generations of Mussers have worked this farm. From 1910 to 1945 William Musser bottled milk and delivered it along with eggs, butter, and his "well known" buttermilk. He was known as "Buttermilk Bill."