C2o—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, August 30,1980 BY SHEILA MILLER LEOLA When you think messes these were the about carriages and horse hay-days for carriage drawn vehicles, scenes of makers, right? yester year are conjured up If you talk to people in the minds of most people. familiar with the carriage Landed gentry and business, you’ll find that noblemen riding elegantly most of the vehicles that are down roads that at a rolling down the highways moments downpour turn into these days are restored muddy quagmires and cover antiques, like the ones the piano-fuush shines on bought at Saturday’s Martin luxurious cabriolets and sale. But, what of the hor- A dining room is transformed into a workshop in the Herman home. Shafts and box, wheels and running gear are propped against wainscoating awaiting their final assembly and transformation into a carriage. One of Bob's creations is this Gentleman Farmer's cart which took fifth place in the 1978 Devon Show. Hermans make buggies their business phaetons into bespattered At Lancaster Carria sernan who doesn’t want “last year’s” model? Where can you buy a brand new buggy? Believe it or not, there is a place in Lancaster County where carriages are made from scratch. The place Lancaster Carnage, of course. This unique business is the enterprise of Robert and Sandra Herman, Leola, which wa c established in 1971. .According to Bob, their’s is a unique carriage shop because he designs and builds new carriages. “There is only one other carriage maker of this kind in the world, and he’s in Vienna, Austria. That carriage maker is a decendent of a line of carriage makers who built vehicles for kings and queens,” he said. How does someone in the twentieth century become interested in building brand new carriages? Settling back into his chair, Bob said he owes his interest to his childhood upbringing. “I was raised to be inventive, and carriage building involves creativity and imagination. I enjoy working with my hands and three-dimensional objects,” he explained, adding that model-building was one of his favorite childhood hobbies. After graduating from Conestoga Valley High School, where he took first place in the science fair for three years. Bob went on to Lehigh University in Bethlehem where he received his Bachelor of Science Degree in physics. frJ Still not tired of school, Bob continued his education at Lehigh and studied for his Master’s in psychology. He laughs as he recalls how one day he ran across a note on a professor’s desk that said ‘The more education a person receives, the harder it will be to find em ployment’. That settled it, he chuckled, and that day he quit graduate school. As fate might have it, Bob said he returned to Lan caster County, primarily because he always liked the area. Out of school and unemployed, he had to come up with a means of sup porting himself. So, he started a business of driving tourists around the Amish farmland. “I needed to get out and be with people because I had been raised in an isolated environment,” he said. Bob recalled taking his idea to a local bank, laying out his plans for making a living driving tourists. At the time, he owned no horse, no buggy, and he didn’t know the first thing about driving. “I found a motel where I could' park while I was waiting for the tourists,” he said, “and I located an Amishman that had a carriage and horse that I could drive.” It was a four mile drive from the Amishman’s farm where Bob stabled his horse to the motel. It was on his daily commute, he said, that he learned the rudamentsof driving. “It was a wacky enough idea,” he declared, “and it worked.” When the business was at its peak, Bob said, he employed 5 drivers, had 6 horses, and owned 3 carriages. How did he get into building carriages? Bob recalled that when he’d get home to a second floor apartment on North Duke Street, he’d sit around and talk horses with his landlords, Mr. and Mrs. Thorpe. “For something to do, I started dragging carriage parts upstairs it was the start of my first courting buggy. When I finally finished it, it had so many mistakes.” Sandy, his right-hand assistant and partner in the business, came into Bob’s life in 1977. She worked at a (Turn to Page C2l) Jt*-' Bob works on painting body loops and springs for a surry he is building. In the background is a spring wagon he built and uses when driving Amish country tours. y ~^zzsansss£* Bob and Sandy Herman are the proud owners of Lancaster Carriage, manufacturers of original design horse drawn vehicles located in Leola. Sandy concentrates on sanding a pair of shafts. Until they are ready for their first coat of paint, at least five coats of primer are sanded to a smooth finish by hand. 8 Jihli to - - <-
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers