The Doctor's Buggy

Fifteen years ago February we signed the papers for our little piece of love in Clara.  Our love for Clara began 50 years ago when my youngest brother bought land and built a camp. A few years later my oldest brother bought the camp and made it their home.  Our kids along with cousins played in Clara Creek, wiffle ball and road bikes.  As they got older it was fishing and hunting.  Here we are so fortunate to be back.

There was an ad for an auction at the Paul Pierce home in Shinglehouse.  Paul worked for Horace Wolcott for as long as I can remember.  The Wolcott residence was sold to Fred Hewitt which he then built on a wing to the big, beautiful home and it became Hewitt Manor Nursing Home.  The Manor provided work for many people in our area and was a nice family atmosphere for the patients.  After Mr. Wolcott died Paul moved across the road, the house set back in with a big red barn up front next  to the road.  During preparation for the estate sale the barn doors were open.  Every time I drove by I could see a horse drawn sleigh.  Yes, I wanted it, unfortunately we wouldn't be able to go to the auction.   Amber was going so I told her if you can get the sleigh for around $300. I want it.   The first thing I saw pulling in our driveway  was a horse drawn buggy!  I fell in love with visions of refurbishing it and the husband's beautiful black horse taking us around the "back roads".

♥ The Dr's Buggy that made it's way back to Clara, 1900-2014 ♥

There was a package in the back of the buggy, it was wrapped in brown mercantile paper and tied shut with twine.  On the package was printed Elizabeth S.  which was a mystery name to us.  About a week later George Donovan called to tell me he had bought a chest at the auction with many papers and documents in it.  George was interested because he had bought the beautiful Wolcott home.  The buggy which is a Doctor's Buggy had belonged to Dr. Stevens and Horace Wolcott had obtained it when she died.  Dr. Edith Stevens had adopted a young mentally disabled girl and named her Elizabeth.  Mystery solved on who the blanket belonged to.  Horace Wolcott and his wife agreed to take care of Elizabeth when Dr. Stevens died along with Dr. Steven's belongings.  Very interesting but it gets even better.  At least for us.  When we bought the land a search was done and of course I read every last detail.  Our land was owned by.............Dr. Stevens!  Her and Elizabeth lived in a two story house which was across the creek from where we built ours.  All of this I found through documentation in the book, "A Journey in Time" Part II.  Their barn was on our side of the creek just above the Old Hathaway home.  The foundation can still be seen if you look for it.  This is such an amazing story for me.  After buying our land in February of 1999 we would walk every foot of it daily.  I still have a hard time believing it is ours.  Some know where we lived in Shinglehouse, the lot was tiny and required little mowing.  Now when I look out my windows I am in awe at all the land I see.  My grand daughter and I found daffodils growing across the stream.  I told Kamrie at the time how odd, it looks like someone planted them in a row.  Well that is where the Dr's house was as I was to find out by pictures of it.  Yes, I have pictures and what a surprise they were.  Dick found a couple old medicine bottles along the creek edge a few years back.  They were the kind used by hypodermic needles.

One cold winter day I got a phone call from Mr. and Mrs. Lambert from Coneville.  Mr. Lambert wanted me to come up and visit plus he had something for me.  Pictures of our land, the house and barn!  His parents owned the land at one time and the farm next to it where they lived.  He was a young boy at the time but had fond memories of the beautiful spring and putting in hay from the fields.  This is a true "Pass it On".  I asked Mr. Lambert, "are you sure you want to give away your pictures"?  He said, "yes, I am old and won't be needing them and want you folks to have them".  He died shortly after, he was taking care of what was important to him.

The buggy has come full circle and I am happy it's finally home.  Though we have not refurbished it and I doubt we will.  There is a need to leave the prints of the past in tack.  It means more to me seeing where the Dr. would rest her foot or where she would lift her bag over the board into the back.  It rests in a quiet spot in the barn with an occasional egg laid in it.

Another strange encounter that provided more stories of our land when  I was in the waiting room at the eye dr. in Olean.  A very elderly couple sat across from me and of course doing what Cheryl does quite often I struck up a conversation.  They were more than happy to tell me their stories.  They were from Hebron, how about that?  Just over the hill from us.  I told him where I lived and he said when he was little he would go with his dad and  drive their team of horses over the hill to get hay from Dr. Stevens fields.  He remembered Elizabeth too.  Dr. Stevens brought them strawberry jam sandwiches from the berries she picked around her house one time.  He also got a dreamy look and said I can still smell that jam smell coming across the fields while we worked.  Last year the wild strawberries were plentiful, Dick and I picked enough for 2 batches of jam.  Nothing like the burst of flavor in those tiny berries.  Of course you know who I thought of while picking,  Elizabeth and Dr. Stevens.  He  mentioned a large white pine tree that grew in the pine stand (next to our house).  Many people would refer to the enormous pine tree when giving directions.  When we moved here just the outer shell of the stump remained and we were amazed at how big the tree must have been.  Dick had the Amish come in to cut enough of the big pines, saw them into lumber and then Dick, Bart, Beau, Jim and Larry built our horse barn.  That is a great memory for us knowing loving hands came together and it will be standing for a long time.

The metal tag is still on the back of the buggy from the company that built it from Ohio.  I wrote to the Chamber of Commerce in Ohio where it came from.   They sent me information on it and also expressed interest in obtaining it for their museum.  I wish I could let them have it but for reasons I can not explain, I truly believe it belongs here.  Maybe someday I will be able to "Pass it On".