Delta's roofs give it away before anything else does. Walk the historic district and slate shingles show up again and again — not as decoration, but because this corner of York County spent a good chunk of its history quarrying the stuff.

For decades, Delta was one of the busiest slate towns on the East Coast, and the quarrying families built accordingly: Victorian houses with slate roofs that have outlasted the quarries themselves, a few surviving stretches of slate sidewalk still underfoot on the older blocks, and gingerbread porch trim built by people who worked with stone all day and wanted something prettier at home.

The quarries are gone, but the housing stock they paid for is still standing and still solid. Delta sits right at the Maryland border, rural and a little out of the way, which tends to suit buyers looking for exactly that. Core Partners Realty can point you toward what's available.