Suburban living in the village of Valley Green near I-83 and golfing
Valley Green is a small village in northern York County, its gently rolling hills as verdant as its name suggests. “Valley Green is a quiet, wooded neighborhood. It’s right off of Interstate 83, though, so you’re about an hour from Baltimore, passing right through York,” says Shannon Kincaid, a Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway HomeSale Realty who’s specialized in central Pennsylvania’s Capital Region for 13 years. “You’re 25 minutes from Harrisburg and Mechanicsburg, but you feel like you’re very much in the country.” Warehouses and strip malls near the interstate have introduced employment centers and commercial conveniences to a pocket of countryside now crossed with cul-de-sac streets as well as creeks. Today, this formerly rural milling village called Yocumtown and Etters is colored by many shades of Valley Green: the well-kept lawns of suburbia, crops flourishing in fields and the greens of the Valley Green Golf Course.
Subdivisions of townhouses and detached homes in the York County count
Yocumtown Road passes by hilly farmland in Valley Green, sprouting into woodsy, suburban subdivisions. Many of the single-family housing developments in the area were laid out in the 1970s, characterized by classic ranch-style and bi-level homes. New Traditional houses were built in the 1980s and 1990s. While architectural styles vary, homes are typically on less than an acre of land and surrounded by grassy lawns fringed by mature trees. Detached single-family homes sell for around $230,000 to $530,000. Townhome communities were also developed toward the end of the 20th century, where homes cost around $160,000 to $220,000. Those living in the Village of Valley Green community pay less than $50 per month to access a shared outdoor swimming pool, playground, tennis and basketball courts and clubhouse.
Career education at West Shore School District
Valley Green is served by the West Shore School District, which scores a B from Niche. Red Mill Elementary School earns a B-plus, and Crossroads Middle School gets a B-minus. B-rated Red Land High School encourages career exploration and connects students to internships through the Personalized Academic and Career Education Roadmap program, or PACER. PACER covers six broad career fields, including health science technology and human services.
Swinging at the Valley Green Golf Course and other nearby recreation
Woodsy patches and distant forested hills frame the public, 18-hole Valley Green Golf Course. Residents without homeowners’ association-funded playgrounds and athletic courts might drive five minutes to Woodbridge Park or 10 minutes to Newberry Township’s much larger Shelley Park. Although Fishing Creek meanders through the community, it’s narrow and often located on private property within Valley Green. To trout fish or wade in the stream, locals head to Lee Fishel Community Park of Goldsboro, a few miles away. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission Goldsboro Access launches boaters into the Susquehanna River nearby. Two regional recreation destinations, Gifford Pinchot State Park and Roundtop Mountain Resort, are about 10 miles from home.
Shopping and dining off I-83 and Old York Road
Big box stores line Interstate 83 and Old York Road within a few miles of Valley Green. “Walmart moved in a little over a decade ago, which is so convenient. There’s a newer Tractor Supply, and a Wawa is moving in. All the infrastructure is there, so it’s like an up-and-coming area,” Kincaid says. Karns Foods anchors the Newberry Commons strip mall near the Red Land Community Library. Diners can find several locally owned restaurants between national fast food chains and the York County favorite, Maple Donuts. Hogan’s Bar and Grill is the Valley Green Golf Course’s eatery, which offers indoor and patio seating. Long before the Blue Sky Tavern became a favorite spot for pub grub, it was one of York County’s many productive grain mills. Blue Sky's basement became the barbecue and bourbon-centric Red Mills Ribs & Whiskey in 2025.
Commuting to Harrisburg, York and Baltimore
Interstate 83 offers a roughly 15-mile drive to the state capital of Harrisburg and the city of York, seat of its namesake county. Penn State Health Holy Spirit Medical Center and UPMC Memorial are about 15 miles away, while WellSpan York Hospital is closer to 20 miles away. Commuters headed to York or Harrisburg can catch infrequent rabbittransit buses at the Yocumtown Park and Ride. Longer-distance commuters have a nearly 70-mile drive to Baltimore. Harrisburg International Airport is about 15 miles from home.
Holiday traditions at Valley Green Golf Course and local churches
The rolling greens of Valley Green Golf Course are a backdrop for local get-togethers throughout the year, from festive, team-based Halloween and Santa scrambles out on the course to Friday night live music at Hogan’s Bar and Grill. Residents might attend services at several nearby houses of worship, including Yocumtown Church of God, which also hosts a trunk or treat and many other community events.
Living within miles of Three Mile Island
The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, which had a partial meltdown in one of its generators in 1979, is within several miles of Valley Green. While its inactive status means the community is not currently inside a 10-mile-radius evacuation zone, the station's second reactor is expected to reopen in 2027. York County handles local emergency preparedness planning.
Written By
Julia Szymanski
