Fences for the Oley Valley: stone farmhouses, hedgerows and the National Register

Oley doesn't look like the rest of our service area, and that is the point. Settled from 1725 by German, French Huguenot and Swiss families, the valley kept its farms. Pennsylvania Dutch was the main local language until World War II. In 1983 the entire township was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Oley Township Historic District. That is rare: most historic districts are a few blocks, not a whole township.

If you own a farmhouse, a farmette or a newer house on a former farm lot in Oley, Spangsville, Pleasantville, Oley Furnace, Limekiln or Yellow House, here is how we think about fencing it.

Does the National Register listing restrict my fence?

It's a fair question in a township that is one big historic district. National Register listing is generally an honor and a planning tool, not a local permit process of its own. Local rules come from the township's zoning ordinance. The catch in Oley: its zoning ordinance isn't on the online code libraries where we read most township codes, and we couldn't confirm its fence provisions from the township website. So we haven't verified Oley's permit requirement, fence heights or whether any design review applies to fences.

What we do instead: before we quote, we call the township and ask three things. Does a fence need a zoning permit? What heights apply in front and rear yards? Does anything about the historic district change that? We write the answers into your quote. If a rule changes the design, you hear it before you sign, not after the permit comes back.

What fence suits a stone farmhouse?

Oley's more than 150 farm complexes are built around limestone houses. Against that much stone, most modern fence products look out of place up close. Three kinds of fence look right on these properties.

Split rail and post-and-rail

Split rail is the default rural fence in southeastern Pennsylvania for good reason. It's open, long-lasting and quick to run along a lane or field edge. Split rail fencing may have come to America with Forest Finn settlers of the 1600s New Sweden colony along the Delaware, and the zigzag "worm" version needs no posts at all. Straight post-and-rail is the more practical modern form. For dogs, we add welded wire on the inside face, where it nearly disappears from the road.

Board fence

Three- or four-board fence, painted white or black or left to weather, frames a pasture or a lane up to a barn. It reads as horse-farm country, and it suits Oley's working farms.

Picket around the house

A painted wood picket kept low and close to the house, around a dooryard or kitchen garden, gives a farmhouse a finished front without walling off the fields. In front of a stone facade, a simple flat or pointed picket looks better than an ornate one.

What we'd steer you away from near the house: tall solid vinyl privacy panels and bright galvanized chain link. They work, but they're the two things that most often look wrong in front of a 200-year-old stone house. If you need privacy, put it behind an outbuilding or toward the back line, and keep the road side open.

Hedgerows and old boundary lines

Oley's hedgerows and stone rows are part of what made it a historic district. Hedgerows and boundaries on many properties date back to William Penn-era land grants. Those old lines are worth keeping, but they aren't always where your deed puts the property line.

• Metes-and-bounds deeds on older farms may describe the line by trees, stones or long-gone neighbors, with no pins in the ground.
• A hedgerow can drift from the surveyed line over a long run, as trees seed in and old fences rot out.
• Pennsylvania's adverse possession period is 21 years (42 Pa.C.S. §5530). Courts have counted ordinary acts, such as keeping a lawn mowed up to a fence, as possession.

If you plan to run a new fence along a hedgerow, have the line surveyed and set the fence a little inside it. That gives you room to maintain the fence from your side, and it avoids arguments over a strip that might not be yours. Our answer on whether the hedgerow is the property line goes into this. Boundary disputes are a legal question; for your specific deed, talk to a Pennsylvania real-estate attorney or surveyor.

The ground under Oley: rich soil over limestone

Oley has more Class I farm soils than any other municipality in Berks County, which makes for easy post-hole digging. Under that soil, though, is carbonate rock. The township's regional plan describes dolomite and limestone through the center of Oley and Cambrian limestone along the east and northeast edges with "many surface depressions and sinkholes."

For a fence, that means:

1. Walk the line first and avoid bowl-shaped dips, wet holes and spots where water disappears after a storm.
2. Don't route downspouts or field drainage toward fence posts. DCNR notes that concentrated stormwater speeds sinkhole formation.
3. Stop and flag any post hole that suddenly opens up. It gets checked, not filled with concrete.
4. Check DCNR's PaGEODE viewer for mapped karst features on your parcel before planning a long run.

Manatawny Creek drains most of eastern and northern Oley, and Monocacy Creek drains the southwest. Fences crossing either creek's low ground should stay open so floodwater and debris pass through. During Ida the Manatawny near Spangsville recorded its fourth-highest flow on record.

Line fences between farms

If your farm adjoins another working farm, Pennsylvania's 1905 Fence Law can make the owners of improved, occupied farmland share a line fence. It doesn't apply to ordinary residential lots. Our plain-English guide to the Fence Law covers who pays, the winter exemption and loose livestock.

Planning an Oley fence with us

Long rural runs price differently from suburban backyards. More of the cost is in corner and gate bracing and less in panels. Split rail is one of our lower-cost options per foot, and board fence and wire backing add to it. See fence cost for current ranges. When we come out, we'll walk the line with you, note the hedgerows, outbuildings and any soft ground, and come back with a layout that fits the farm.

Common questions