MORE ABOUT THE AMISH

   Another aspect of the Oswegatchie River Lodge is that it is located very close to the large Old Order Amish community. In many ways, this is like taking a vacation or a time machine back to the 18th or 19th century. This very friendly society of extremely hard working folks warms my heart up every time I drive through it, and see scenes of 5 in hand work horses plowing the fields, or entire families working bare feet in their gardens. And of course, there are also many road side farm stands that sell everything from fresh vegetables and berries, butter and cheese, pies and pastries, jellies and jams, to quilts, baskets, and other assorted crafts done by hand. I feel privileged to live amongst these wonderful folks who seemingly somehow knew (over 200 years ago) the devastating effects that modern civilization would have on our earth and had the courage and conviction to maintain a simple life style that is friendly to our planet. These Amish are my new heroes.

   We have several Amish friends who have helped to work on this property. Jacob Shetler is my age (early 60s) and has 9 children and 29 grandchildren. His brother has 89 grandchildren if you can imagine! He says he has to write their names down to remember them all. When I told Jacob that I have one grandchild he looked at me with a smile and said -- "Dale, this is good!" He looks and reminds me of Jerry Garcia, rimmed glasses and all! Go figure!! Jacob built our shed and sells them locally if you want an extremely well built shed for a very reasonable price. His daughter has one of the produce stands you will find in the area. We find the Amish folks to be simply amazing. Here you will find more information about the Amish.

BUGGY RIDES AND SLEIGH RIDES

   I have made arrangements with one of the local Amish men, Sam Shetler, to provide our guests with horse and buggy and sleigh rides through the Amish area. He would be happy to take you to some of the Amish road side stands, including his, and will be happy to chat with you about Amish life on the farm. He will also take your picture in the buggy, but has asked that you not take his. I am sure you and your family would enjoy this unique opportunity. He has indicated he would do these rides for a fee of $50 and you can pay him directly. He would prefer to do these in the evening so he could attend to his chores during the workday, but is somewhat flexible depending on the season.

   Sam is a very handsome, sincere and gentle young man and has two horses that are "very safe" as he puts it. Of course the Amish are real horsemen and when you see their horses drive by big trucks and over iron grate bridges and back out of parking spaces you will see their abilities in action. We encourage all of our guests to support some of the local Amish folks here through doing some shopping at their road side stands and perhaps enjoying a buggy ride as well. If interested, please contact me with as much notice as possible as Sam does not have a phone and I will have to make arrangements with him in person. We were not sure that they would be willing to do this, and neither was Sam, but after thinking it over and conferring with some of the elders, he has agreed to give it a try. We are just delighted to be able to offer you this opportunity.