New Garden Township

During its first 200 years, New Garden Township's settlers and citizens reaped the bounty of its natural resources. Granite veins within its the northern ridge, clay deposits under its southern plain, and waterpower coursing through its pitched hills surrounded a fertile central plateau. Toughkenamon, Kaolin, and Landenberg rose to industrial eminence while the village maintained its Quaker and agricultural influences. When the 20th century rendered the creek's mills, mines, and quarries obsolete, New Garden's population and promise shrank with its industry. Then mushroom farming bloomed, and Quaker ingenuity and immigrant ambition built a new, multimillion-dollar agricultural enterprise. New Garden Township provides a visual record of vintage photographs accompanied by archival research and narratives from lifelong residents to intimately depict the township's transformations through the generations.

Keith Craig holds a master of fine arts degree in nonfiction writing from Vermont College and a bachelor of arts degree in media communication from Florida State University. A composition and literature adjunct for both Delaware County Community College and Lincoln University, he also works as a correspondent for the Chester County Press.