Gray Goose Manor, 18th-century house, for sale in York County: How it got its name and more

An eclectic complex of historic buildings and newer apartments known as Gray Goose Manor are for sale in Springfield Township.

The main stone house is a well-known southern York County landmark in Springfield Township along the Susquehanna Trail.

Gray Goose Manor was originally built in 1798 by Thomas and Rosina Ehrhart, according to a date stone at the south facing peak of the house.

According to Michelle Evans, who is the 5th-great niece of Thomas Ehrhart, he died a year after building the house and had eight children. The couple are buried in Seven Valleys. Evans has uncovered a few bits of history about the house through ancestry research.

Bonnie Ness, who owned the property with her husband Kenneth from 1982 to 2002, said the property got its name from the gray geese the couple raised there.

Ness said, "We had gray geese. One in particular followed my husband everywhere, even climbing onto his chest while he was working on a truck We called him Harry, changing it later to Harriet when learning of our error. Harry even followed my husband into the house several times. Thus, the name Gray Goose Manor."

There was a Tack Shop run by Bonnie Ness connected to the barn from 1994-1999.

Ness said that the couple made many changes to the house including moving the main staircase which was just "a narrow winding stairs".

The current owners, Michael O'Shea and Jim Anton, purchased the property in 2000. They fell in love with the large barn to store boats and cars, O'Shea said.

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The main house is a large living space with a total of 10 rooms, three bedrooms and two baths on two floors and an attic. There are two separate basements after a 1985 addition, according to a cornerstone on the addition.

Two apartments are attached to the main house and accessed from the rear with private entrances.

A building attached to a 5,400-square-foot barn houses four more apartments. That building was used as White's Tack Shop prior to the 2000 purchase. A sign for the tack shop is still visible on a door. There is also a 30-by-30-foot storage building.

The property, on 2.3 acres, is for sale for $425,000. For more information, contact O'Shea Lumber Co Inc. at 717-235-1992.

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