Bridge work schedule adjusted to help local farms
Imagine the surprise Bennett Orchards owner Henry Bennett felt when he learned that Armory Road (Route 20), the road providing access to the family farm outside Dagsboro, was going to be closed during the growing season through mid-July for bridge rehabilitation.
Besides sales in local stores and farmers markets, the farm offers you-pick and pre-picked blueberries and peaches on its 50 acres on both sides of Armory Road. Parsons Produce, another longtime family farm on the same road, also offers you-pick fruit as well as a large farmers market.
Bennett found out about the closure in a press release and immediately went into action and contacted local legislators, ending with a meeting with new Delaware Department of Transportation Secretary Shante Hastings.
Residents also helped by sending emails to officials. The outreach worked, and DelDOT adjusted its schedule to begin Monday, Feb. 24. The targeted completion date is now Friday, May 16. Bennett said he contacted Paul Parsons as soon as he found about the road work. “He was unaware of the project until we reached out to him, and he reached out to local legislators as well,” Bennett said.
“Mid-May would work for us and our community, as it would be done before busy Memorial Day traffic on Armory Road,” Bennett said. “Blueberries start anywhere from June 1 to June 15, depending on the spring. We just hope they stay on schedule with the mid-May reopening.”
Farm dates back to 1867
The Bennett family has farmed the land since 1867, growing chickens and grains. Their father and mother planted 25 acres of peaches in 1980, and opened one of the first you-pick operations in the area in 1987.
Today, they grow more than 17 varieties of peaches as well as a variety of nectarines.
The Bennetts and Parsons are among the only peach growers in the region, which is a throwback to a crop that once was plentiful.
In the late 1800s, the county was known as the Peach Capital with more than 800,000 trees. Nearly every tree was destroyed when the peach yellows virus hit the area.
