Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania: The Birthplace of Commercial Ice Cream Production

Have you ever heard of the town of Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania?  You have never heard of the town of Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania?  Unless you live in York County in South Central Pennsylvania, you more likely never heard of this place.  Pennsylvania Route 616 is the only main route to pass through this town as it is far from any major route.  It is not a touristy town.  It does have one claim.  What is that claim?  It was in this town where ice cream was first produced for commercial production.

South Central Pennsylvania is known for its dairy farms, and York County still has many farms in operation today.  A man by the name of C. Jacob Fussel took advantage of these farms and built and ice cream factory in the town.  Being an out-of-the-way town, you must wonder how the rest of the world was able to get his ice cream.  It is a town that is not on a major highway, but it was a stop on the Northern Central Railroad.  The ice cream was shipped to markets in Baltimore.  Sadly, for the town, the operations were later moved to Baltimore where it continued into the 1940’s.

So, as you can see, the railroad was a major contributor to commercial ice cream.  Although the section of the Northern Central Railroad in the state of Maryland was destroy by a hurricane in 1972, a single track in the Pennsylvania section remains.  Do trains run on this track?  They do.  ‘Steam Into History’ runs occasional excursions to Seven Valleys.  Unfortunately, the old ice cream factory was demolished, but at least you can ride a section of the old Northern Central Railroad Line where ice cream was taken for many others to enjoy.  You can get the schedule at http://www.steamintohistory.com.

I scream.  You scream.  You can ride the steam for ice cream.