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
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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
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