I REMEMBER
THE WILLIS AND SUE WISSLER HOME
It Became The Candlehouse Inn B. & B.
|
|
The photos and a small portion of the lead to this article is adapted from the former page of the Candlehouse Inn B & B's web advertisement on HotelsTravel.com.
This extraordinary house evolved during the early 1920's when my uncle and renown Professor, Willis Wissler, husband of one of my mother's sisters, my Aunt Sue, began construction on their summer home. The style is Old Country English with warm open beams and oak/chestnut furniture. The house is located on 40 acres of secluded woodland with 3 ponds supporting many birds, ducks, and swans. Tennis, canoeing and nearby golf were some of the many activities available to guests of the B & B Inn. It is also near to historic Mt Gretna, PA and there are many hiking trails. The Inn is 3 stories and has 6 guestrooms. Although built in 1920 it was renovated in 1995. The Inn had been for sale and we are not aware of it's current status.
The original beams were mostly from the property and cut and shaped with the help of his Father-In-Law, my Grandfather Jeremiah Witmeyer, who with his son, Aaron, had a portable saw mill. The original stain was from soaking the beams in a solution made by steeping cured tobacco in a mixture of turpentine and linseed oil. Not only did this provide a rich brown color but it also protected the wood from carpenter ants and termites!
The home served as the summer residence for my uncle and aunt and cousins, Willis Wissler, his wife, Sue Witmeyer Wissler, and their three sons, Willis, Jr., Ray and Kenneth and their daughter, Betty Anne. I quote my cousin Betty Anne about the home. "We didn't stay in the 'candlehouse' (which is what it was called legally when my Father thought of running an eating place there) in the COLD winter! Of course, we had zillions of fireplaces and kerosene Aladdin lamps and a kerosene stove to cook on. When we finally got radiators in, it wasn't really too efficient! Each summer we would return to our home in Lancaster County and in the winter to wherever he was job situated. I'm not really sure if Mother and Father stayed there in the winter after we had all 'left the roost', but I DO know that Father stayed in the house the winter after Mother died."
Seems that I also remember a big black wood or coal range in the kitchen as well!
Betty Anne also told me that when they finally had indoor plumbing installed her brothers were so overjoyed that they burned down the outhouse! She said their father wasn't too happy about that because he had wanted to have a formal ceremony of de-commissioning!
My cousin tells me that their winters were generally spent in the cities or at the colleges where Uncle Willis was teaching or working for the US Government at the time. He taught two subjects: English Literature and Business Administration. I believe his work for the government was as an economist. These included such diverse places as Columbus, OH while he taught at Ohio State University, Cincinnati Ohio, where she believes he worked for the government., and Lancaster, PA. while teaching at Franklin Marshall College. During the war years, his teaching at Franklin Marshall came to an end due to the young men being away in the service and he got a temporary job with Hamilton Watch ~ in what capacity, Betty Anne couldn't remember! While living there Aunt Sue housed some of the Franklin Marshall students. Betty Anne recalls, "She also donned pants for the first time in her life ~ "overalls" and had a job working in a munitions plant. (Rosie the riveter.) She LOVED it!" It was probably also at Hamilton Watch Co. since they switched to making artillery shell components during WW II.
Betty Anne goes on to say, "I think the next move was to Harrisburg where I attended high school up until graduating. His occupation at that time was again, I believe, with the Government. Next maybe ~ State College, Pa ~ teaching there for several years, then Huntington College ~ my Mother had died and I drove him there. Somewhere in that time span, he taught at Juniata College. He also wrote a book on "Business Administration" and one with a co-author but I don't remember the name of book? One other stint at teaching for a short while was in Harrisburg ~ a Penn State Extension course at a local High School. He also went to San Herman(?) Island for a stint after mother died ~ but not for a full year."
I remember visiting them in the summertime at the Candlehouse and staying for a week or so at a time. They had a library filled with all types of books. The ones I remember most were the Oz books by L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) and a lot of my time there was spent with my nose in those books. I also remember, with not as much pleasure, helping to pull the suckers at the edge of long rows of sweet potato plants in their garden, which to me seemed immense. Another memory is eating cooked whole grain wheat as cereal for breakfast - of course in those days it was organic! Aunt Sue would start it the evening before and let it simmer all night long. (That's why I remember the coal stove!)
The adjoining farm was owned by Aunt Sue's and my mother's only brother and my uncle, Aaron Arndt Witmeyer, the only surviving male of the children of Jeremiah Hummer Witmeyer and Elizabeth Arndt Witmeyer, thus the only blood Uncle that I had. The farm was home to Uncle Aaron and his wife, Mary Boyd Witmeyer and their eight children. Of course I also spent time with these cousins on their farm. I can recall one time I was helping to gather eggs. Their hens were not very selective and would lay eggs just about anywhere it suited them - one of their favorite places was in the hay mow of the barn. I recall coming down the "barn bridge" see below from the hay floor. I was not too careful and fell while carrying the basket of eggs. Needless to say the egg "crop" was a little small that day!
Typical examples of Pennsylvania bank barns.
In regions strongly influenced by Pennsylvania German culture, a new form of barn, some made of wood, stone or even brick, and inspired by traditional Swiss farm buildings, flourished in the Mid 19th Century. Frequently built into hillsides, these 'bank-barns' allowed wagons loaded with straw, hay or grain to be driven into the second story threshing floor. Hay was stored in the third level. A basement level with stone walls provided a stable for the animals, which was sheltered by a cantilevered projection of the second story known as the 'forebay'. The earliest barns were log but these were replaced by more sophisticated wood framed structures that often featured stone exterior walls. Both the examples above show the typical 'barn bridge' leading down from the second floor.
Unionville (Penryn), PA - 1875
