Helmke Industries

About Helmke Industries

Orangeburg is a place of long straight roads and old ground — Route 303 running past the fairways of Blue Hill, the fields that once held Camp Shanks, Sparkill Creek slipping east toward the Hudson. Helmke Industries works both halves of the calendar here. In winter the plow goes down before the commuters wake, driveways opened, walks shoveled and salted along the way. In summer it is cutting and trimming, the grass held even from the road to the back fence. The pleasure of the work is in the contrast: one morning a clean black driveway against white, another a clean green yard against blue.