Yoder Cleaver Farmstead: Dairy Tradition Carried on Today

In this installment of ‘History Off the Beaten Path,’ we discover a creamery thriving in an 18th-century fieldstone barn off a quiet Pennsylvania country road.

Stephanie Angstadt prepares cheese in the Yoder Cleaver Milkhouse. Courtesy of Valley Milkhouse Cheese

On a still, hot summer day, with vast cornfields lining both sides of a long stretch of a rural roadway in Berks County, Pennsylvania, a hand-painted sign at the entrance to an old farm piqued my interest. It read: “Covered Bridge Farmstand, Open Year-Round, 10-6; Artisan Cheese, Fresh Produce, Pasteurized Meats, Specialty Mushrooms, Sourdough Bread, Organic Eggs, Local Honey.” 

The sign for the Covered Bridge Farmstand is a welcome sight to hungry travelers. Courtesy of Valley Milkhouse Cheese