Beaver Valley and the Butter Belt

A farm woman churning butter.

Woman Churning Butter, Jean-François Millet, 1855-56, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Public Domain

When the Quaker settlers first arrived in Beaver Valley, they were confronted with dense woodlands, which they proceeded to clear by gridling the trees over many years. After clearing the trees, they found very arable land and farmed a variety of crops, but by the last quarter of the 18th century, butter quickly became the single most important commodity produced by farmers in the Valley. Butter was a highly shipped agricultural product in the region. In 1770-1771, 47,860 pounds of butter were shipped from Philadelphia to the West Indies, and in 1770-1772, 146,265 pounds of butter were shipped from Philadelphia to other ports and cities along the Atlantic seaboard. The Beaver Valley's butter was prized not only locally but in the other colonies and abroad. The many springs flowing out of the hills within the Valley provided the right environments for spring houses in which the early settlers stored butter and other daily products. The cold spring water flowing through the middle of the springhouses kept dairy products from spoiling in warmer weather. Several springhouses and/or their ruins remain in the Valley, including at 138, 211, and 162 Beaver Valley Road.

The rise of the "Butter Belt" led to a substantial reorganization of female domestic labor. As they found themselves excluded from harvest work, which previously had been considered part of traditional feminine work, the farm women became the primary butter makers in the household.

As important as butter production was in the Beaver Valley, demand for butter began to wane in the mid-19th century, replaced by milk production.