Pennsylvania's Once-Thriving Quarry In Lancaster Is Now A Scenic Gem With Riverfront Hiking Trails

The remnants of America's industrial revolution create a series of destinations along the Rust Belt's spine. While the White Cliffs of Conoy site is lesser-known, it may well be one of the most fascinating. Located 40 minutes away from Pennsylvania's capital, Harrisburg, the once-thriving quarry is now a scenic gem with riverfront hiking trails on the northwestern edge of Lancaster County.

The cliffs were once part of a thriving limestone and dolomite quarry that started in the middle of the 19th century. The stone extracted from the site helped drive the steel production boom during World War I, and demand grew so quickly that a company town called Billmeyer arose next to the quarry. By the 1950s, that demand had waned. The company, J.E. Baker Company, went under. Its workforce, which once numbered 700, disappeared, and the quarry pumps, which kept operations humming, shut off, filling the dig site and forming what has been open to travelers since 2018.

The cliffs themselves are one vestige of that industrial demise. Miners used the adjacent Susquehanna Riverfront as a dumping ground for waste from their dolomite mining operations. Though visually arresting and fun to explore, the White Cliffs of Conoy are, in the end, big piles of industrial limestone and dolomite byproduct (and were appropriately bought by a local waste management authority in 2015). It's in this peculiar "one man's trash is another's treasure" scenario that the cliffs surpass their inherent otherworldly beauty and present an awkward conundrum: to make something beautiful, the Earth had to be carved like a roast and processed, the resulting stone used to make the steel, which at one point fueled a bloody global war. When walking alongside the cliffs or climbing them, travelers may be fooled into thinking they're seeing Mother Nature's natural beauty, rather than the byproduct of man's most base instincts. Regardless, it's worth a day trip.

The quarry's ghostly-white remnants rise to 30 feet above the Susquehanna River, its steep inclines and rock faces cutting an imposing figure on the terrain, creating a lunar landscape west of major Dutch County's historic villages. Its name is a nod to a similar, much better-known destination across the pond in England, though about 320 feet in height separates the Conoy's White Cliffs from Dover's. The quarry waste that formed the cliffs has been slowly eroded by rainfall and floods (the piles have shrunk over time). 

Resulting gullies and gashes in the cliffsides only add to the sense of otherworldliness that overcomes visitors. "What a unique place to visit," one local wrote in a review on Google. "If you love river views and interesting places, go here." There are also remnants of industrial work buried in the chalk-colored cliffs, with rusty detritus and ropes popping out of them; exercise caution when walking in the area.

Reaching the former quarry requires a hike (or bike ride) along bucolic riverfront trails. Travelers have two options. The first is a 1.5-mile trek southeast from Koser Park; the other is a three-mile jaunt west from Riverfront Park. Both trips hug the Susquehanna River. Visitors suggest climbing the cliffs to get a breathtaking view of the river, following the Northwest Lancaster County River Trail. The trip there, for some, is as good as the actual cliffs. "The view is beautiful, the walk to this location is all paved and mostly flat," one local wrote in a review on Google. You can extend the riverfront views and hiking by crossing the Susquehanna at Columbia and escaping to the hiking trails and scenic views of the Susquehanna Riverlands State Park, a mere 25 minutes away by car from the White Cliffs of Conoy.

The town of Billmeyer may have collapsed alongside the quarry, but its remnants still stand next to the White Cliffs. Its rapscallion employees, who played as hard as they worked, are long gone. The company's longest-living worker and last remaining former resident visited the site in 2016 when he was 101 years old. Remaining structures, including buildings, industrial equipment, and quarry pits, are slowly being engulfed by nature, now free to retake the land. The rusted husk of a 1940s Pontiac barely peeks out of the increasingly green surroundings. That ghost town is an attraction of its own, one which travelers must see if only to serve as a stark reminder of how quickly fortunes can change.

Though the White Cliffs of Conoy offer a unique destination, they're not nearly gargantuan enough to merit a flight and multi-day trip. They're best left as a day trip from a nearby destination, or a local oddity for those within driving distance. There's also plenty to see nearby. The quarry's proximity to Pennsylvania Dutch Country makes it an ideal detour while checking out Shrewsbury's delicious farmers' market with the freshest finds about 45 minutes away. You can throw in a trip to Strasburg, Pennsylvania, 40 minutes away, for its antiques and scenic train rides.

The weather in Lancaster can range from quite chilly to toasty, but this does not affect the cliffs, short of the erosion caused by rainfall. There's technically no wrong time to visit the White Cliffs of Conoy, though you should always bring your best hiking boots and watch your footing during rainy days. Though you may technically be standing on industrial waste, avoid vandalism and be protective of the surroundings.