Ghostly Ruins by the Blue Route? That is the big question.
During the winter one can see ruins off the Blue Route. These ruins were once the Cleftrock Spring Water Bottling Works. Located on Avondale Road in Wallingford near the Blue Route overpass it provided bottled water from 1945 until the 1960s.
The company was owned and operated by Y.S. Walter Simmons and his brothers Samuel and Wentworth. Yet the water bottling came to an end due to the water being contaminated by pollution.
I was recently there taking pictures of these ruins. While there it seems more was caught than just pictures of the ruins. What is shown in these pictures I leave to your judgment. Ghostly Ruins by the Blue Route?
How do i get to these ruins i wanna go
This has been part of the ‘creepy ride’ for me and my friends that started in 1997. We’d drive around the haunted areas for fun, then down Rose Tree road to the house from Night Stalks The Mansion. Read that book. It tells you a lot about the area. And it’s a good book. Once, we saw a figure standing in the doorway. We didn’t go back for a while after that. 😳
From Media: Providence road to East Rose Valley Rd to Avondale (Right after going under Blue rt.
I would love to go on a tour
Avondale road in Wallingford pa
Where is this place at want to see them and what state
I would like to take tour
It would be interesting to see these ruins .
Just wondering how I get there ?
Jtmt576@icloud.com
In 1975-1977 if was definitely our go to party place. Very fun!! We got chased a few times by the cops, but they knew we were just having fun!! Good memories…The Ruins!!!
I worked as an apprentice framer for Walt Simmons at Avondale Galleries in my high school and college days and knew Sam and Went. The Cleftrock Bottling Company was still in business. I can still picture the 5 gallon glass bottles in their protective wooden crates waiting on the loading dock to be picked up for delivery. The Simmons brothers were real gentlemen and helped take care of the valley that belonged to historic Thomas Leiper, whose summer mansion still stands and is registered as one of the most beautiful entrances in Delaware county. That valley has been (and still is) my favorite source of inspiration for my watercolors. I wish everyone could have experienced that valley and those who visited it. That’s why talk of ghost offends me. This was a thriving spot of history that has gone unnoticed by most but I and those who know it differently will return on occasion and find it still our respite.
Hi Dennis.
I occupy the space now that once was Avondale Galleries. I have a wellness center in there, called Indigo Healing Arts Collective. My interest in the ruins and springs at Cleft Rock is ravenous. I’d love to hear anything more you know about the site. It’s been difficult finding info online. Thank you!
This has been part of the ‘creepy ride’ for me and my friends that started in 1997. We’d drive around the haunted areas for fun, then down Rose Tree road to the house from Night Stalks The Mansion. Read that book. It tells you a lot about the area. And it’s a good book. Once, we saw a figure standing in the doorway. We didn’t go back for a while after that. 😳
Back in 1983 we used these ruins as a construction office to build the homes that currently sit above. Avondale Springs.
There were times I would sit in the upper level with brothers Sam, Wentworth and Walter Simmons, light the old fireplace and just listen to the stories about the quarry, the great flood and the people who lived and worked in this valley.
It was fascinating. What a great group of guys.
I remember there used to be a stainless steel retention tank in the lower level that constantly had water running through it left from Cleft Rock.
We didn’t have public water service at the time and what’s a construction office without coffee. So we used the water from the tank.
To this day when you drive or walk by these ruins you will always see a stream of water crossing the roadway. That’s water from the original spring.
Great memories.
For geocashers there’s a good hide here…but can be tricky to reach when the building floods.
That’s incredible.
I grew up near by in Swarthmorewood. Back in the early sixties the company was still in operation. Across the creek I believe is where the very first railway in the US started. The Lieper quarry transported ston to the Delaware river to be shipped.