This is the first in a multi-part series of entries about the ongoing construction of the Turkey Hill Experience – a 26,000 square foot attraction that will open in the spring of 2011. The Turkey Hill Experience, based in Columbia, right here in Lancaster County, will pay homage to Turkey Hill’s history while highlighting its ice cream and iced tea-making processes. The Experience will include interactive exhibits (including a chance to make your own ice cream flavor), a café, a gift shop and lots of other fun things for the entire family!
We mentioned in our first entry about the Turkey Hill Experience that it’s being built in an historic silk mill that will be renovated after being empty for more than 25 years. The use of an existing historic building as the location for the Experience is good for Turkey Hill because we’re strong advocates of preserving the history and culture of Lancaster County and if not for the Turkey Hill Experience, this historic location might have gone unused for many more decades or, worse yet, been torn down altogether.
The mill was originally built in 1899 and was known as the Ashley & Bailey Silk Mill. The Ashley & Bailey company, which also built a silk mill in nearby Marietta in 1897 and owned several other mills around the country, used the mill to support the growing demand for silk products in the 19th and 20th century. The mill used raw silk imported from China and Japan and weaved it into thread and cloth to create all sorts of silk-based goods. At its peak, the mill employed several hundred members of the local community.
Over the years, the mill would change hands several times (silk giant Schwarzenbach-Huber purchased the plant in 1913), before being abandoned not long after the Tidy Products company stopped using it as a sewing factory in the late 1970s. The decades that followed took its toll on the silk mill but, rest assured, our construction team is prepared to restore it to its original integrity — and then some!
A RECENT PHOTO OF THE ASHLEY & BAILEY SILK MILL(Source: Lancaster Building Conservancy)
AN ARTIST’S RENDERING OF THE ASHLEY & BAILEY SILK MILL BEFORE THE TURKEY HILL EXPERIENCE RENOVATIONS (Source: Lancaster Building Conservancy)
AN ARTIST’S RENDERING OF THE FUTURE TURKEY HILL EXPERIENCE
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If you’ve got a technical question about the ice cream making process or some other inquiry about the nuances of America’s favorite treat, chances are Ernie has the answer. He might not be able to answer all questions, but he’ll try his best and some may be featured on the Ice Cream Journal.