January 2012

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FREEas the wind

JANUARY 2012

CORNELL’S SAPSUCKER WOODS

GUTHRIE’S NEW WEIGHT LOSS CENTER

BOBBIE BURNS: A POET’S FEAST

By Michael Capuzzo

As the gas industry changes Wellsboro and the world, the remarkable Ken Davidson is charged with keeping everybody –and everything–safe

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7The Last Great PlaceBy Mike CapuzzoAt last, a place of simple pleasure here in Arcadia.

8Doings ‘Round the MountainWhat are you doing this month? Mountain Home introduces “Doings ‘Round the Mountain.” ‘Nuff said.

22Looking BackBy Joyce M. TiceMail-order homes by Sears and Roebuck had Some Assembly Required.

24Deer CampBy Jerry and Roberta CurreriThere’s more than one way to skin a buck in Veteran’s Day.

26Reading NatureBy Tom MurphyHard times will come again After the Drill is Gone.

28Help is on the WeighBy Anne CalvinA loss is a win when Guthrie’s Dr. Alley helps trim pounds from patients.

The Human FactorBy Michael Capuzzo As the gas industry changes Wellsboro and the world, the remarkable Ken Davidson is charged with keepingeverybody–and everything–safe.

Volume 7 Issue 1

Cover image by Ken Meyer

Cover art by Tucker Worthington

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On the Lamb in ScotlandBy Patricia Brown DavisHighlights of Wellsboro’s annual dinner celebrating Bobby Burns’ birthday.

Burn Down the Cabin!By Gayle MorrowBlacksmith Doug Firestone forges some hot items for your home.

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Mountain Home is published monthly by Beagle Media LLC, 39 Water St., Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, 16901. Copyright 2010 Beagle Media LLC. All rights reserved.

To advertise or subscribe e-mail [email protected]. To provide story ideas e-mail [email protected]. Reach us by phone at 570-724-3838. Each month copies of Mountain Home are available for free at hundreds of locations in Tioga, Potter, Bradford, Lycoming, Union, and Clinton counties in Pennsylvania; Steuben, Chemung, Schuyler, Yates, Seneca, Tioga, and Ontario counties in New York. Visit us at www.mountainhomemag.com.

Get Mountain Home at home. For a one-year subscription to Mountain Home (12 issues), send $24.95, payable to Beagle Media LLC, to 39 Water St., Wellsboro, PA 16901.

P u b l i s h e r

Michael Capuzzo

e d i t o r - i n - C h i e f Teresa Banik Capuzzo

A s s o C i A t e P u b l i s h e r George Bochetto, Esq.

Dawn Bilder

M A n A g i n g e d i t o r

Roberta Curreri

C o P y e d i t o r Pete Boal

C o v e r A r t i s t Tucker Worthington

P r o d u C t i o n M A n A g e r / g r A P h i C d e s i g n e r Amanda Doan Butler

C o n t r i b u t i n g W r i t e r s Sarah Bull, Angela Cannon-Crothers, Jennifer Cline, Matt Connor,

Barbara Coyle, Kevin Cummings, Georgiana DeCarlo, John & Lynne Diamond-Nigh, Patricia Brown Davis,

Lori Duffy Foster, Audrey Fox, Donald Gilliland, Steve Hainsworth, Martha Horton, Holly Howell, David Ira Kagan, Adam Mahonske, Roberta McCulloch-Dews, Cindy Davis Meixel, Suzanne Meredith,

Fred Metarko, Karen Meyers, Dave Milano, Gayle Morrow, Tom Murphy, Mary Myers, Jim Obleski, Cornelius O’Donnell,

Thomas Putnam, Gary Ranck, Kathleen Thompson, Joyce M. Tice, Linda Williams, Carol Youngs

C o n t r i b u t i n g P h o t o g r A P h e r s Mia Lisa Anderson, Bill Crowell, Bruce Dart,

Anne Davenport-Leete, Ann Kamzelski, Ken Meyer, Tina Tolins, Sarah Wagaman

s A l e s r e P r e s e n t A t i v e s Earle Aumick, Christopher Banik, Alicia Cotter, Brian Earle,

Sadie Mack, Richard Widmeier

s u b s C r i P t i o n s

Claire Lafferty

b e A g l e Cosmo

A s s i s t A n t t o t h e b e A g l e Yogi

34The Better WorldBy John & Lynne Diamond-NighArt & Soul and the convergence of the twain.

36Through the Looking GlassBy Angela Cannon-CrothersThe Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca’s Sapsucker Woods is an adventure land for nature lovers and bird enthusiasts alike.

46Mother EarthBy Gayle MorrowShow me the honey! Bees are busy even during winter engaging in Insider Trading.

48Finger Lakes Wine ReviewBy Holly HowellWine festivals warm up your spirits in Ice, Ice Baby.

50My Favorite ThingsBy Teresa Banik CapuzzoCelebrate Bobby Burns day with A Wee Bit o’ Scotch.

62 Shop Around the CornerBy Martha HortonMeet the Sole Proprietor of Limoncelli Shoe Repair.

66Back of the MountainWe are In Motion as we roll into the New Year.

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I t ’s A Love Affair , That’s Why

You read us, and you write us. Mountain Home has won an unprecedented 33 statewide Keystone Press Awards for journalism excellence in writing, photography, and design in just five years, and special recognition for attracting the most new readers (100,000) in the state. From Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association says nobody does it better than our writers and readers.

fi r s t Pl A C e, b e s t ni C h e Pu b l i C A t i o n i n t h e s t A t e o f Pe n n s y l v A n i A , Mo u n t a i n Ho M e St a f f , 2011

fi r s t Pl A C e, sP o r t s st o r y, Ma t t Co n n o r , 2011

se C o n d Pl A C e, fe A t u r e be A t re P o r t i n g, Da w n Bi l D e r , 2011

se C o n d Pl A C e, PA g e de s i g n, aM a n D a Do a n-Bu t l e r , 2011

se C o n d Pl A C e, fe A t u r e Ph o t o, an n Ka M z e l S K i , 2011

se C o n d Pl A C e, Ph o t o st o r y, an n Ka M z e l S K i , 2011

ho n o r A b l e Me n t i o n, bu s i n e s s/Co n s u M e r st o r y, Ma t t Co n n o r , 2011

ho n o r A b l e Me n t i o n, fe A t u r e Ph o t o, Ci n D y Da v i S Me i x e l , 2011

ho n o r A b l e Me n t i o n, fr o n t PA g e de s i g n, tu C K e r wo r t H i n g t o n , 2011

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Real change spins ’round us bewitchingly sheathed in winter glory. Bears slumber, woodchucks dig deeper, folks layer on wool and eggnog. It’s the coldest of times and the warmest, as we wintering

animals fall into survival rhythms and stories, headlong into the most desperate, sweetest stories. Together, no matter our flag or faith, we form hushed audiences to mark the death and rebirth of the world. These are mercurial days when a sermon by Wellsboro Presbyterian pastor Glen Hallead—accompanied by Vivaldi’s Gloria, the song the angels sang to the shepherds, recorded in St. Luke’s account of Christ’s birth—can change a single heart, and thereby all existence. It’s the time when Peggy Dettwiler raises her baton to direct the “Winter Wonderland” concert at Steadman Hall, and transforms into a white-robed goddess summoning voices from Mansfield University students and the grave (Debussy, Irving Berlin, a 17th Century song from King Arthur).

In the January spirit of change—we invoke here the Roman god Janus, the two-faced one who looks back and ahead—Mountain Home this month explores the earth-shattering change wrought by the Marcellus Shale. When in history has so small a place (Wellsboro, pop. 3,245) been the fulcrum of so vast an array of forces? The fate of the planet and millions of people, the energy we use or don’t, the geopolitics that shape war and peace, the fate of an historic president this fall all hinge in some way on the success or failure of the fracking a mile beneath our feet.

And not just beneath Wellsboro, of course, but the Twin Tiers and beyond. In this month’s Marcellus cover story you’ll meet Ken Davidson, a new sheriff in town of sorts. Full disclosure: I met Davidson as my wife and I leased our house to his safety technicians, and if that implies a conflict, he was too good a story to pass up. His remarkable tale is the closest I could come to peering through the eyes of Janus for the readers of Mountain Home.

Mountain Home also introduces for 2012 expanded event and cultural listings, “Doings ’Round the Mountain.” Email me at [email protected] with listings. Meanwhile, put Wolfram Jobst’s travel photography exhibit on your calendar, Jan. 8-29 at Gmeiner Art & Cultural Center, 134 Main St., Wellsboro. Beauty, Faith and Power is the title of the exhibit, and I can tell you Wolf ’s vision possesses all of those things, so apt for these coldest and warmest of days.

The Last Great Place

In the Spirit of JanusBy Michael Capuzzo

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DoIngs ’rounD the MountaIn

January

BooksOne Man’s Great Idea

“All Nora Hawks and her husband wanted was to raise horses on their New Mexico ranch. But Butch Wheeler and his 11 outlaws murdered her husband, raped Nora, set their house on fire and left her for dead. She survived and returned, hiring retired bounty hunter Peter Clawson to teach her how to track and kill...When the day came that Nora was ready, the deadly 12-member gang was no match against

the fury of one woman’s vengeance.” That’s the plot of Mansfield University PR director Dennis Miller’s new novel, One Woman’s Vengeance. Get one at From My Shelf Books in Wellsboro, Cappy’s in Elmira, the e-book online, and a free chapter at www.onewomansvengeance.com. (Miller and pipe in the photo above).

Music The Chris Jácome Flamenco Ensemble

The Wellsboro Community Concert Association serves up “the fantastic artistry of flamenco….a magical collaboration commanded by the guitar wizardry of

Chris Burton Jácome and enhanced by a vocalist, three flamenco dancers, a bassist and percussionist.” See www.wellsborocca.org, www.chrisburtonjacome.com. (Jan. 19, 7:30 p.m., Wellsboro High School Auditorium).

WineriesSeneca Lake Bargain Bash

The annual January Bargain Bash is Seneca Lake’s “big, Trail-wide spring cleaning, garage sale!” At least thirty-two wineries clean out their wine, glasses, clothing, and other retail inventory at discounts up to 75 percent. It’s Jan. 7-16, during each winery’s regular business hours, no ticket required. See

www.senecalakewine.com for participating vineyards.

The AlmanacKill Groundhog Day

Ever wonder why Puxatawney Phil ducks back into his burrow on Groundhog Day, Feb. 2? Consider: when the Pennsylvania deer season (archery and flintlock) ends Jan. 16, the brief moratorium on taking woodchucks (groundhogs) ends, and it’s open season on the squirrelly seers until the next deer season, no limits, except Sunday, the day of rest. It’s also time to take another PA icon, the state bird, the ruffed grouse, Dec. 26-Jan 28. See the Almanac, p. 9.

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The TheaTer

13, 14 Winnie the Pooh. While Hamilton-Gibson Productions takes a breather before jumping into a packed 2012 schedule, you can still enjoy live theater. The characters from the “100 Acre Wood” romp through this delightful musical put on for the public by HG’s winter drama camp with elementary school students. (Jan. 13, 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 14, 2:30 p.m., Mansfield High School). HG’s middle school drama campers will perform Once Upon a Mattress Jan. 27 & 28, 7:30 p.m., and Jan. 29 at 2:30 p.m at The Deane Center, Warehouse Theater, Central Ave., Wellsboro. (www.hamiltongibson.org, 570-724-2079).

17, 18 In The heights. The Tony-Award winning best musical About Home, Family & Finding Where you Belong in Manhattan’s Washington Heights throbs with dancing and the timeless conflict between tradition and change. Jan. 17 & 18, 7:30 p.m. (The Clemens Center, 207 Clemens Center Parkway, Elmira, NY, 607-734-8191).

24 Charlotte’s Web. Clemens Center Mary Tripp Marks School-Time Series presents the miraculous Charlotte and the lovable Wilbur in E.B. White’s classic tale of bravery, selfless love, and the true meaning of friendship. Jan. 24, 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. (The Clemens Center, 207 Clemens Center Parkway, Elmira, NY, 607-733-5639 ext. 248).

27 The Color Purple. This soul-stirring Broadway musical, with a Grammy-nominated score, is based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize novel and the Steven Spielberg film. The inspiring story of a woman named Celie, who finds her unique voice in the world. (Jan. 27, 7:30 p.m., Williamsport Community Art Center, 220 West Fourth Street Williamsport, PA, 570 326-2424)

acting Up! Hamilton-Gibson’s informal reader’s theatre for seniors, hosted by literary and acting mavens Larry and Barbara Biddison. “No audience, no line memorization, no stage-fright…just good fun and friends” who gather to read stories, plays, and poems to each other. Come and read as you are! (September-May, from 2-3 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at the Hamilton-Gibson House, 29 Water St., Wellsboro, PA).

MUsIC

21 Winter Dinner Dance. Rick Doganiero and his X-Ray Band will perform Jan. 21 at the Tioga County Fairgrounds. It’s a dinner dance fund-raiser, catered by the Edu-Caterers, for the Hamilton Gibson Children and Youth choirs. HG is seeking unused toys, books, and household items for a Silent Auction/Raffle. (Whitneyville fairgrounds, Charleston Rd. For reservations, call 570-724-2079).

27 Orchestra of the southern Finger Lakes Chamber series. Principal Trombone Norm Wilcox features his group, The Brass Menagerie, in a Musicians’ Choice Concert at the Rockwell Museum of Western Art, Visions of the West Gallery. Players will talk about their instruments and the music’s connections to Western art. For tickets, call 607-936-2873 or visit www.osfl.org. (Jan. 27, 7:30 p.m., Rockwell Museum, 111 Cedar St., Corning, NY).

COMeDy

14 The Gizmo Guys. Allan Jacobs and Barrett Felker are The Gizmo Guys, a comedy juggling act that tours the world with dazzling repartee, evoking side-splitting laughter with “virtuosity with a touch of lunacy,” (New York Times). (Jan. 14, 11 a.m., The Clemens Center, 207 Clemens Center Parkway, Elmira, NY, 607-734-8191).

MUseUMs & LIbrarIes

rockwell Museum of Western art. From a 13th Century All American warrior to a modern Choctaw Wonder Woman, American Indians created the dazzling comic strips and comic books featured in a traveling Santa Fe exhibit, “Comic Art Indigène.” (Comic art of natives). The renowned museum of American Western and Native American art also includes a last glimpse at western wildlife art in “Wild West: Beauty of the Beast,” until January 2, 2012. Open 9-5 daily, free Sundays through April, age 19 and under free. (111 Cedar St., Corning, NY, 607-937-5386, www.rockwellmuseum.org).

Corning Museum of Glass. Although the world’s finest glass museum contains thirty-five centuries of glass artistry, American studio artists seldom worked with hot glass until Harvey Littleton, born in Corning in 1922, and Dominic Labino refined and introduced the concept in a Toledo, Ohio studio in 1962. Both artists are celebrated in twin CMOG exhibitions honoring “Founders of American Studio Glass,” until January 2013. The popular “Glass Wonderland” exhibits, including a glass snow family and Giant Ornament Trees, are on view until February 29, 2012. CMOG features live glass blowing demonstrations by master artists, make your own glass snowman, and many family events. Open 7 days, 9-5, ages 19 and under free. (1 Museum Way, Corning, NY, 800-732-6845, www.cmog.org).

Thomas T. Taber Museum. The Thomas T. Taber Museum will present the exhibit, “Dear Santa, Please Bring Me a Doll: An Exhibit of Dolls, Miniature Furniture and Doll Houses.” The exhibit will be on display through Jan. 27 and will feature intricately constructed dolls from the 19th century to the early 20th century, including porcelain and china dolls. (858 West Fourth St., Williamsport, PA, 570-326-3326, http://www.tabermuseum.org).

Tioga Point Museum. “George Catlin: From the Endless Mountains to the Wild West.” Discover the famed Indian painter’s connection to Bradford County, explore his travels and art journals and examine a collection of 14,000 Indian artifacts. The eclectic museum features an unusual range of historical, art and archeological artifacts from Athens, Sayre, and around the world. Open noon-8 Tuesdays & Thursdays, 10-1 Saturdays, admission free. (Spalding Memorial Building, 724 S. Main Street, Athens, PA, 2nd floor, 570 888-7225, www.tiogapointmuseum.com).

FOOD & WIne 27, 28 Wine On Ice. Wine tastings from over

seventy Finger Lakes wineries, live music, and regional food and crafts warm up the First Arena’s covered ice rink for two days for the popular Wine On Ice event. (Jan. 27-Jan. 28, First Arena, 155

North Main St., Elmira, NY, 607.739.3636, www.wineonice.com).

28 between the Lakes. From the west side of Cayuga Lake to the east side of Seneca Lake, zig-zag your way through a winter day of Finger Lakes wine tastings with free delectable bites. Jan. 28, 11-5. The 27 participating wineries range from A (Atwater Vineyards) to Z (Zugibe Vineyards). (For more information contact Knapp Winery, 2770 County Road 128 (Ernsberger Road), Romulus, NY, 800-869-9271, www.knappwine.com).

Live Music series at Ventosa Vineyards. The Seneca Lake vineyard presents a free concert each Saturday in January, 3-6 p.m, with wine tastings and Café Toscana open. The Dirtybirds (Jan. 7th), Castle Street Band (the 14th), and Carstents and Pray (the 21st) feature popular covers of rock, folk, and pop. Johnny Russo and the East Hill Trio (the 28th) performs classic jazz. (Ventosa Vineyards, 3440 Route 96A, Geneva, NY, 315-719-0000, www.ventosavineyards.com).

OUTDOOrs

6 Moonlit snowshoe hike. Explore the park trails by moonlight. Bring a headlamp or small flashlight, but plan on navigating with the light of the moon. This 1.5-mile snowshoe hike may not be suitable for beginners. Meet at the Hills Creek beach area parking. Trail conditions and updates at wellsbororecreation.org, and 570-724-4246. (Jan. 6, 6-7:30 p.m., Hills Creek State Park, 111 Spillway Rd., Wellsboro, PA, free).

7 ski & snowshoe Mini-clinic. Start with a short, free mini-clinic, then head out by cross-country ski or snowshoe to explore the park trails on a guided tour. Meet at the beach parking area at either 10 a.m. or 1 p.m. More information at wellsbororecreation.org, and 570-724-4246. (Jan. 7, Hills Creek State Park, 111 Spillway Rd., Wellsboro, PA).

21 Winter Fest. Free family fun includes XC ski, snowshoe, ice skate, ice fish, sled, kids’ crafts, installing wildlife nesting boxes, learning about nature in winter, identifying trees, wild turkey management, watching an ice-rescue demonstration or historic ice harvesting, and hot chocolate and hot dogs. Skis, snowshoes, and skates provided or bring your own. Don’t forget your sled. (Jan. 21, 10 a.m.-3p.m., Hills Creek State Park, 111 Spillway Rd., Wellsboro, 570-724-4246).

28 Winterfest and Vintage snowmobile show. West End Trail Blazers Snowmobile Club hosts the 10th Annual Winterfest and Vintage Snowmobile Show at Kaples Farm. “Snow or no snow, join in the fun!” (Jan. 28, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Kaples Farm, 242 West Main St., Roulette, PA, www.westendtrailblazers.com).

aLManaC

Weather. The National Weather Service climate prediciton outlook for January calls for enhanced chances of above normal temperatures for most of the Appalachians, the southern and middle Atlantic Coast states, and the Gulf Coast states. For you snowbirders, the warming trend excludes Florida.

skywatch. Look for the Quadrantids Meteor Shower Jan. 3-4 after the first quarter moon sets shortly after midnight. Up to forty meteors per hour radiate from the constellation Bootes. Admission free.

DoIngs, cont.

10

Welcome to Mountain HomeWe’re grateful that you’ve already welcomed us onto your porch and into the living room.

Thanks to you, Mountain Home, the Twin Tiers lifestyle magazine, has 100,000 readers from the Finger Lakes to the Susquehanna River. Locally owned and based at creek-side offices in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania—population 3,245—we tell local stories by gifted local writers, artists, and photographers (see our awards on page 6). You can get a subscription, but most folks pick us up, “Free as the Wind,” at one of 279 distribution points, represented on this original map by artist Tucker Worthington. Please support our advertisers and distributors—on page 38, we’ve published a complete list by town of the businesses, from Wegman’s to wineries to the corner store, where you’ll find Mountain Home. Call us at 570-724-3838 to chat, tell a story, or advertise. Meanwhile, happy reading!

Teresa & Mike Capuzzo, Wellsboro, Pennsylvania

HOME TERRITORYhunting. In addition to January’s archery and

flintlock deer seasons, and the state’s official Kill Groundhog days, see p. 8, it’s time to shoot a bobcat, just one. The Pennsylvania Bobcat season runs Jan. 17-Feb. 7; minks & muskrats until Jan. 8. For license and limit info, go to www.pgc.state.pa.us, or call the regional game commision office in Jersey Shore, 570-398-4744.

Fishing. For ice fishermen, the crappies and yellow perch are in Hills Creek Lake, the trout in Hamilton Lake, for starters. For early birders, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission booth will sell fishing licenses and boat launch permits at the Pennsylvaia Farm Show in Harrisburg Jan. 7-14, and the Early Bird Sports Expo in Bloomsburg, Jan. 26-29.

LOOkInG aheaD

Mansfield U. Jazz Ensemble Concert. Directed by Michael Galloway, with special guest artist Wayne Bergeron, the jazz ensemble performs at Steadman Theater, 8 p.m. Feb. 5. Bergeron will conduct a clinic in Butler Center at 1:00 PM. Also performing: local favorite, the X-Ray Big Band. Free and open to the public at Mansfield University, 570-662-4844.

Winter Jazz Fest. Don’t-miss-him Bram Wijnands performs a Jazz Piano Concert 7:30 p.m. Saturday Feb. 25 in the Penn Wells Hotel in Wellsboro. He’s the headliner of the former Mountain Home Winter JazzFest, now the Winter Jazz Fest, a special fund-raiser put on by the Endless Mountain Music Festival. Check out the jazz jam session 5-7 p.m. Saturday in the Penn Wells hotel lobby, and the Sunday Feb. 26 brunch at the Penn Wells Dining Room featuring the Three River City Jazz Band. Overnight hotel package including room, concert, dinner, and brunch available. For more information, call 570-787-7800

Romeo & Juliet. Russia’s renowned Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Theater adapts William Shakespeare’s classic tale of star-crossed love as a ballet in three acts with music by Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953). (Feb. 2, 7:30 pm, The Community Arts Center, 220 West Fourth St., Williamsport, PA, 570 326-2424, www.caclive.com).

howie Mandel. America’s Got Talent judge and actor Howie Mandel (St. Elsewhere, Bobby’s World) returns to his standup comic roots with a show at the Clemens Center. See HowieMandel.com. (Feb. 8, 7:30 p.m., The Clemens Center, 207 Clemens Center Parkway, Elmira, NY, 607-734-8191, www.clemenscenter.com).

Cheese & Wine Lovers Weekend on keuka Lake.Plan a get-away around the The Keuka Wine Trail’s Cheese & Wine Lovers’ Weekend Feb. 11-12, featuring thirty-two Finger Lakes wines paired with local cheeses and savory dishes. (Keuka Lake Wine Trail, Keuka Lake Wine Trail, Penn Yan, NY 800.440.4898, www.keukawinetrail.com.

Great Lakes brewing Company beer Tasting. Sample beers from the Great Lakes Brewing Company at the Ox Yoke Inn. (Feb. 1, 29 US Hwy 6 W, Galeton, PA, 814-435-2515, www.ox-yokeinn.com).

DoIngs, cont.

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As the gas industry changes Wellsboro and the world, the remarkable Ken Davidson is charged with keeping everybody–and everything–safe.

By Michael Capuzzo

Human Factor

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It was Sunday, December 18, 2011, a week before Christmas. I’d just left the Warehouse Theatre, where a gifted young man played Jimmy Stewart/George Bailey in the Hamilton-Gibson production of It’s a Wonderful Life. It was easy to believe that Wellsboro was Bedford Falls, an idyllic American town little changed in two hundred years, or at least since a WPA travel writer recorded in the 1930s: “Wellsboro, an old, quiet, and attractive town on a high plateau, is visited summer and winter because of Pine Creek Gorge and good hunting.”

Yet at sunup Monday, a startling new town, a second and parallel Wellsboro, emerged. Dawn revealed the quiet hills dotted with towering rigs like so many Apollo launch pads. A thunder of trucks roared the little town awake—water trucks, sand trucks, chemical trucks, waste trucks pounding the rural roads to dust. On the edge of town, the long-dormant Tioga Central Railroad clattered like the Union Pacific, hauling enough sand for the fracking to fill the Pyramids at Giza. In offices on Main Street and out on Route 6, lawyers, landmen, drillers, chemists, and hundreds of others filled the air with southern twangs and a new urgency. As far as the eye could see, rutted country roads disappeared under thick, glossy ribbons of new asphalt as Shell Oil workers laid down new highways with the efficiency of a civil army preparing for something big.

In the historic blink of an eye, the small town has been transformed from a sleepy Brigadoon crowned by mountains that walled it off since it was settled by friends of George Washington to a major commercial crossroads of the Marcellus Shale. At a scale far beyond the 19th Century coal rush and even timber, there’s Texas gold in them thar’ hills—the fuel-rich rock formation that underlies much of Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, and Ohio. True to the colonial geography of Pennsylvania, Wellsboro is a “Keystone” town, situated conveniently between northern and southern interests to become an unlikely center of a new world. It’s the small town sitting on the biggest natural gas cache in North

America, a ridge-running Riyadh, with an even greater gas and oil cache waiting deeper down.

For years now locals kept hearing the world was coming to Wellsboro, just wait, just wait for 2012, and now, by God, it’s already here. Millionaire farmers are sprouting on every thousand acres; restaurants are booming, hotels expanding, houses being painted and adding wings and floors. The Acorn gas-and-convenience stores are growing both new and improved to meet demand. Wild stories—old ladies wheeling around in Hummers; “I saved up for a new house, why it took me three months”—are afoot. In distant Houston skyscrapers, oilmen fret that the small, hill-bounded runway out by the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon can’t fit corporate jets. It’ll have to be lengthened somehow.

In an America stuck in a 1930s-style recession rut exemplified by futuristic solar company collapses, Wellsboro, almost unique in the nation, is dancing to a 19th Century Gold Rush script, a new-technology, old-fashioned gas boom. It’s a remarkable story that ought to lead 60 Minutes, but remains largely a national secret in a media that regards Big Oil and Gas as cultural contaminants, if not pure evil (though recently The New Yorker did conclude gas is better than coal). Unemployment in Tioga County, once among the highest in the state, has fallen to happy lows. Men and women aren’t looking for jobs anymore so much as jobs are now out there looking for them—some 430 jobs are waiting to be filled at the employment office on Route 6.

Yet one of the poorest counties in the state doesn’t rocket toward becoming the richest without social upheaval. House and apartment rents have climbed New York City-high; hard-working families struggle to remain here, crime ticks up. The hospital’s emergency room expansion includes new facilities for dealing with industrial accidents, chemical poisoning, fires, and explosions—accidents that, while numerically rare, threaten natural beauty and peace of mind, if not water supplies. Boosters in the American hurly-burly tradition tout a new world; environmentalists

prophesy the end in the apocalyptic terms of fire-and-brimstone preachers. And it’s just beginning. A year from now, it is said, we’ll remember 2012 not for the Mayan New Year, but the Marcellus New World. It’s enough to make Nostradamus dizzy—and apparently did, as the 16th Century seer reported none of this.

I wanted to see for myself what the future held. I left the Green and walked down Pearl Street to Waln, where Wellsboro folks have often gone to learn the shape of things to come. For many years the small, two-story building at 11 Pearl Street held the popular Calico restaurant. Long before that the building was Williams Dairy, where in 1938 the milkman headed in one of Bert Williams’ two cold trucks with “A Cup Full of Cream in Every Quart.” But most recently, it was The Enchanted Boutique, a gift shop owned by a well-known card reader, a diviner of the future. Yet now the glass door that once gave a view of angels, Tarot cards, and runes was papered over with a poster of the grainy photograph of a gas rig. “Safety Management Systems,” the poster said obscurely, “Northeast Field Office.” The card reader had left this modest spot for a higher traffic location at East Avenue and Main Street.

In a small, Spartan office within, where once the seer sat, I found a remarkable man who quietly monitors the vast operations of Shell Oil and its thirty contractors in the Marcellus Shale. A man who has the power—if things show the slightest possibility of going wrong—to shut them down with a word, as does any member of his team. Kenneth (Ken) Davidson stands an athletic five foot seven, with a sweep of reddish hair and glasses, a wide forehead and preternaturally large blue eyes glinting with humor, and a drawl long and languid as the Louisiana coastline. Davidson, forty-nine, a former aviation prodigy, once flew Eastern Airlines jumbo jets from Atlanta to Los Angeles, once piloted seven acres of barges down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, and was the first civilian in the world recognized as an expert in the safety of both military and civilian crews performing some of the most hazardous work on the globe. He said

Night. A lonely valley, high in the Appalachians. Moonlight reveals monuments on the town green of Wellsboro, PA (pop. 3,245). The coal baron. The woodsman. The Civil War soldier honoring the county men “Who Died That The Nation Might Live.” The fiery Progressive newspaper editor who left for the city, a friend of Theodore Roosevelt’s.

There’s the Episcopal Church etched against the stars, and the First Baptist on the corner. The big pine tree, decorated with lights by the Chamber of Commerce every year, shines bright over the fountain statue of “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod,” with the Dutch lullaby carved in bronze. I crossed the Green and walked down Main Street, slumbering now, where Garrison still sells custom suits; Carson records loans in a ledger book, like his grandfather did; a Coolidge sits at the head of the bank while eight others lie in Cavalry Cemetery, back to farmer Amos, a pioneer in 1811.

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this perspective gave him a clear view of things for the next five years, with a good idea what’s to come right up to 2080 or so. He seemed right at home in an oracle’s parlor.

Davidson is operations manager for Safety Management Systems (SMS), and his job is to make sure things turn out for the better. From the modest Pearl Street offices, Davidson is in charge of technicians who monitor and ensure the safety and legality of all Shell Oil Co.’s Marcellus Shale operations, as well as the operations of thirty other contractors, from trucking companies to fracking companies like Halliburton. He’s responsible for making sure all truckers, drillers, roughnecks, field hands, and frackers follow all state, federal, and local environmental and safety laws, OSHA, EPA, DEP, etc., as well as SMS and Shell policies, permits, and licenses to the letter with no slip-ups, no misjudgments, no pipes fitted too tight or too loose, no memory lapses, indecipherable notes, or other human failings. He’s charged with preventing the totality of errors, accidents, and tragedies, explosions, truck head-ons, bald tire slippages, weary drivers, bad guesses, over-confident decisions, missed flight connections, drillers distracted by marriage problems—before they happen.

We don’t ask this much of God. Even He, while monitoring every sparrow’s wing, allows mistakes to happen.

It’s no wonder, then, that Davidson hardly ever smiles, at least on the job. He starts every day—before coffee, before The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Wellsboro Gazette, before talking to his employees or his wife or his grandchild or even his dogs—with a prayer to the Lord because he feels the world and all our safety is in his hands. And perhaps it is.

“When it comes to safety, nobody wants groundwater contamination of any kind,” he said. “No one wants to be on the front page of The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, or Fox News with a well control problem. The thing I want the people to know is there’s a major safety net out there working on their behalf, paid for by the gas companies. The only acceptable result is zero defects. We’re out there every day making sure no harm comes to people, to the environment, no harm to equipment, no harm to reputations. Any time that happens it’s potentially millions of dollars lost as well as harm to all the things that count.”

It’s 10 a.m. on a Tuesday, changeover day, and Davidson is sitting, but not for long, in his small office like a pilot snug in a cockpit, monitoring a dozen things at once. The operation manager’s office is big enough to

just hold his desk, a tight-fitting visitor’s chair, a bookshelf displaying his bronze Eastern Airlines pilot wings—the Wings of Man—the diploma identifying him as a world-class safety expert, a couple books on leadership. The small window frames a parking lot and a cold, gray December morning, but inside the heat is cruising above seventy—like many of his employees, Davidson is acclimatized to Lafayette, Louisiana, site of SMS corporate headquarters and “The Heart of Cajun Country,” and his former home sixty miles west, in Baton Rouge.

He whirls between his desk and computer, waiting for an email from Shell, the client, the new maker of the future in Tioga County, the oracle of a quickening pace. Outside his door, open most of the time, the 1,200-square-foot offices crowd with constant visitors.

Texas energy executives, local officials, Florida-based developers, architects, doctors, reporters. Lynette Lehman, his operations administrator and one of several Tioga County residents with key positions in the company, seems to do a thousand things at once. That includes booking some 200 monthly roundtrip flights and associated rental cars, hotels and rental houses required to shuttle more than 100 safety techs between Wellsboro and Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and other points south. It’s a gas play, land office, real estate office, travel agency, and fit-for-Broadway play they’re running here, and everywhere swarm the safety techs, men and women in SMS hard hats, safety glasses, blue jeans, blue SMS work shirts.

Like his techs, Davidson’s blue jeans and work shirt are both stitched with exterior FR (fire retardant) labels, protection for his trips in the field, where terrible things can happen but very seldom do, thanks in no small part to

safety professionals. Now he’s conferring with Lehman on housing problems in Pittsburgh with another big oil company, another potential Marcellus client. He’s got housing problems everywhere, trying to find room for the working armies of Gulf Coast Big Oil & Gas in Appalachia Small Town & Country. He’s meeting later today with architects and developers about a 10,000- to 12,000-square-foot northeast regional training center for SMS in Wellsboro, to meet the rampaging demand for oil and gas safety in the Marcellus Shale. In the middle of all that his mother, eighty years old and still commuting 100 miles a day to run the social activity calendar for a retirement home, calls from Arkansas and reminisces about the largest whiskey still in American history mysteriously associated in yonder Prohibition days with the Davidson clan. Their shared laughter is joyous, and the operations manager is patient with mom. But he’s in a hurry, and waiting on the three most important calls of the day.

In order of importance, the first always comes from Lane, his wife of eleven years, whom he’s especially worried about this morning. She lost her father, a prominent Brazilian rancher, in September. Now while adjusting to the new apartment in Painted Post, and the new home the couple is planning in Wellsboro, she’s enduring the pain of mourning away from the rhythms of home, the pieces of her heart and family down south. “Bye Love,” he whispers before hanging up.

The next important calls come from out on Route 6, where Shell Appalachia holds down the local fort for Shell Oil, the world’s second largest company, according to Fortune magazine. He’s waiting on a signal instructing him where in the Marcellus formation the

Ken and Lane Davidson with granddaughter Addyson and Chief.

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geologists and specialists have decided to drill next. It’ll be the exact latitude and longitude, within a seventy-five-mile radius around Wellsboro, where Davidson will send his crews to monitor the fracking process from construction of the well pad and rig to pipeline construction to sending “sellable gas” whooshing through the lines. If there’s a screw-up anywhere along the line from a mile deep in the shale to pumping into the pipeline the gas from the largest supply in North America, Davidson and his men and women in the field have the power to shut things down and get them right. The other call is a report card from the client, grading him on the past year’s safety performance.

It’s a future world of opportunity, risk, excitement, big change; it’s coming up from the ground and saturates the air, and it surrounds Davidson everywhere, even at lunch. Walking to the Penn Wells Hotel for a sandwich one rainy day, he mused on water pouring out of the ground. “All the money in the world is here (in Wellsboro),” he said. “Look, it’s just gushing out from the manhole covers.”

Now he’s expanding on those thoughts. “This is the biggest deal in the United States of America, right here. We’re not only the biggest gas deal in America today. It’s a long-term commitment. We’re here to stay. America needs this energy, and it must be done right.” He’s just warming up. “It’s going to change the lives of the people in this area for the better. It’s going to give people opportunities they have never seen. I believe if we achieve our targets for production and safety, there should be not a single unemployed person in the Twin Tiers who wants to work and is employable.”

Changeover day, every two weeks, is when the fresh crews fly up from the American south to Wellsboro, take the baton from the crews that have been working fourteen days, twelve hours a day, and the tired bunch fly south on home to rest up, or work other jobs, before the next changeover. Davidson wants to be home this evening with Lane, but changeover day is a key time to talk to his techs, the heart of the company, the make-or-break moments with his people, and he’s got a meeting with one crew at 6 p.m. at the Microtel in Mansfield, and another at 7 p.m. back on Pearl Street.

He’s planning to deliver good news—four promotions, a perfect safety record for one crew—and not so good, morale problems brought on by errant gossip. But it’s never bad news for Davidson. He started the day with a devotional, some passages by inspirational preacher Joel Osteen, and he wants to pass on his wisdom, especially

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to the young ones, that it’s a rough old world, the competition wants to beat you to death, but “don’t let anyone steal your joy.” He cherishes the impact on young lives his job gives him. “We’ve got young men who were unemployed and now they’re saving for a couple years so they can buy their first house, a young woman who was unemployed and is doing great for us, is getting married and buying a piece of land with her husband to start a real life together. You want positive change, it’s right here, right now.” He gets worked up like a preacher himself, wants to drill right down into their hearts. He tells his techs, “Don’t forget if you’re in a grocery store, you’re wearing your company shirt with the logo, and a woman in front of you drops something, pick it up, be a good person. Live a good and honorable life. Give people a chance to think something other than, ‘There goes another gashole.’ ” But all that’s this evening, and now there’s a problem.

Ron Furstoss pops in the door. He’s twenty-something, a big guy, an Ithaca College grad who was working with his father’s construction company in Horseheads when he joined SMS about a year ago. Outstanding in the field, he’s one of two supervisors of more than a hundred safety techs working out of the Wellsboro office. And now he’s frowning. Soon there are others in the room to discuss the matter. An employee, let’s call him Jim, has clearly violated policy, and it’s hurting his performance, hurting the company. The question is what to do? The mood in the room is that it’s ill-advised, manipulative behavior that calls for discipline. Davidson leans back in his chair, hands lacing his gut—the self-assured gesture of a Congressman meeting constituents—and slowly drawls, “I think we need to find out what’s going on in Jim’s life. We all know it’s hard flying back and forth, moving a family to a new culture, making changes in your life. Think about what we’ve had to go through to make ourselves feel at home, supporting each other. Maybe he’s got a problem at home, we just don’t know. We need to talk to Jim and let him know we care about him, if he’s got a problem just tell us, he doesn’t have to hide it and do something dumb.” Heads are nodding all around.

Protective instincts may be inborn, but a man’s life hardens them in the mold. Davidson remembers the last time he moved to Pennsylvania, to Cannonsburg from Arkansas, when he was in first grade, and found a world of hurt. Stranger in a strange land with a southern accent, “you know something’s wrong.” In Pennsylvania, his father left the family, and after a year his mother moved them back home to Little Rock, where he learned what the other side of the tracks felt like. “My grandpa was a highly respected man in a small town outside Little Rock, and on weekends when I visited I felt

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like I was somebody there. Back home in Little Rock, I was an only child of an only child that nobody knew. There were people in Little Rock who wouldn’t let me into their damn houses. I learned then that everyone needs respect.”

With his grandfather’s example driving him to succeed, the boy became an aviation prodigy. He started flying at fourteen. On Aug. 19, 1978, his sixteenth birthday, his mother drove him to the Little Rock airport, where he piloted a two-seat, fixed-wing Beechcraft by himself the forty-seven miles to Searcy, Arkansas, where his grandfather picked him up at the airport and drove him to the state police barracks to take his driver’s license test, which he passed. Grandpa then drove him back to the airport, the boy flew the small plane back to Little Rock, got in a car his mother left for him and drove home. At seventeen, he made headlines—“Ken Davidson is Flying High But Not On Drugs”—for flying fifteen different small planes in the Little Rock Airport, all in one day.

After graduation from the University of Mississippi, and five years as the university’s chief pilot, a career in aviation called. Davidson was an Eastern Airlines pilot, flying Boeing 727s, until the airline went out of business in 1994, and he went to Continental with the 727s and flew them under new colors. Based in Atlanta, he flew the first Airbus, a 250-seat wide body, on routes to San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Diego, and Los Angeles. After more than 7,000 hours in the air, Eastern’s collapse inspired him to jump careers. “I moved in faith and did something bizarre. I went to work for a barge line, the biggest in the country. I went from nine miles a minute to nine miles an hour.” He spent 348 days on the water, learning to pilot seven acres of barges on the Mississippi River-inland water system. As safety and training manager, he initiated procedures that improved the line’s safety record from “worst to first,” and helped boost it from bankruptcy to the most successful transportation sector IPO in 2006. A riverboat gambler, he convinced the company to move all its men and equipment out of danger in New Orleans three days before Katrina hit, saving millions of corporate dollars and untold numbers of lives. Then he commanded the company’s response to the disaster.

In 2008 he was recruited by SMS, the largest safety company in the United States, with some 600 health, environmental, and safety inspectors working on gas and oil rigs out of regional offices in Louisiana, Texas, Kansas, Wyoming, and North Dakota. In February 2011, he arrived in the Twin Tiers, and one of his first assignments was to open a northeast

U.S. office somewhere in the once-energy-poor states of New York or Pennsylvania, to plant a company flag on the Marcellus Shale. He picked Wellsboro, and quickly introduced himself to the community as a down-home Cajun storyteller and prophet of full employment and safe, shared boomtimes.

He spoke to the Wellsboro Chamber of Commerce, pleading for housing for sixty employees he was importing almost overnight. He put up twenty-seven of his people in the Microtel in Mansfield—at $3,600 apiece each month. He knocked on doors all over Tioga County to rent houses, more affordable at most any price. Startled by a chilly reception from a few anti-drilling folks in Mansfield—“first time I ever saw someone with an $800 mortgage turn down $4,000”—he felt welcomed in Wellsboro. He credits realtor Jean Cummings, who found a dozen houses for his techs as fast as humanly possible. “Jean took care of SMS, and was the person who made me feel at home in Wellsboro more than anyone else.”

But that was only the beginning. According to transportation planners at a recent Chamber holiday breakfast that Davidson attended, 800 wells were drilled in Tioga County last year. That number will exceed 1,800 new wells in 2012, and another 1,800-plus for each of the next four years.

Davidson, who provides all the safety technicians working for Shell Appalachia, has got to keep up. No sooner had the ink dried on his office lease at 11 Pearl Street than he was planning SMS’s new training center in Wellsboro. Architects sketched out a major building with parking for seventy-five trucks, and classrooms to train a hundred contractors at a time. He said the headquarters will be “one of the biggest buildings in Wellsboro,” and will hopefully be completed by summer.

In addition, Davidson plans to hire sixty to a hundred new safety techs in 2012. Preference will be given to candidates within driving distance of the Pennsylvania-New York region, especially those near Wellsboro. “We’d really like to get out of the airline and hotel business,” he said. “I’m looking for local people and short commutes. Long commutes degrade work performance.” Safety techs start at a salary of $72,300, and work two weeks each month—fourteen days straight, twelve hours a day—with two weeks off. Men and women twenty-something to seventy with the right “aptitude, attitude, and desire” can do the job, he said.

New hires undergo two to six weeks of safety training in Lafayette, Louisiana (classes that will be taught in Wellsboro, instead, later this year), training to master every relevant government and industry regulation as well as handle every imaginable industrial accident, including airborne pathogens, asbestos exposure, compressed gas, electrical safety, benzene, fall protection, and medical first aid, to name a very few.

How does one train a man or woman to prevent potentially catastrophic loss of life, damage to the environment, damage to billion-dollar equipment, a major blow to the world’s largest energy companies, to the region, the country, the course of events?

(Recall how one Deepwater Horizon explosion, one Exxon Valdez altered the shape of history).

“Everything depends,” Davidson says, “on the human factor. And what we’re imparting to our employees is simply the leading human factor teaching in the world today.” The U.S. Coast Guard is recognized as an international leader in crew safety, having developed a safety management philosophy and method to deal with its shipboard crew

Ke

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At SMS’s northeast regional headquarters: (left to right) Ron Furstoss, Field Support Supervisor; Lynette Lehman, Operations Administrator; Jennifer Edwards, Field Support Supervisor; and Ken Davidson, Northeast Region-Operations Manager.

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endurance and performance problems. Davidson helped write those Coast Guard standards, and in 2004 became the first civilian and one of only 111 people in the world certified as a master of them.

Turning to face his computer monitor, he calls up an Internet video animation of a famous plane crash. It’s a reconstruction by the National Transportation Safety Board of the last minutes of Federal Express Flight 1478, as the Boeing 727 cargo plane was landing in Tallahassee, Florida on July 26, 2002. And it’s a horror flick.

“Fed Ex is the finest, safest, best airline in the world, the best trained pilots, a remarkably safe airplane. It’s 5:30 in the morning, a beautiful, clear day,” Davidson says. “How could this happen?”

In the Internet video, the plane is on approach, fewer than five minutes from landing. The pilot, first officer, and flight engineer go through their safety checks. Everything’s fine—except the glide path instrument panel. Two reds dots, two white dots indicate the plane is on the proper glide path to land, but it’s clearly a visual alarm of four red dots. The plane is flying dangerously low. Somehow, incredibly, the three veteran

pilots don’t notice four red lights.A minute later, the 727 crashes into a seventy-

foot-high tree 3,100 feet from the end of the runway. The three men in the cockpit escape major injury, but the cargo jet erupts in flames and is destroyed. “What happened,” Davidson says, “is that the pilot and first officer didn’t get enough sleep. They were out late the night before. It’s what your mother told you, you need eight hours of good, restorative sleep to function properly. But it’s more important than that. At five hours sleep, you get a significant reduction in cognitive functioning.”

Davidson pauses. “I can take you through every major industrial accident in modern times, from airplanes and trains to nuclear plants and oil wells. In every one you can trace the root cause to a breakdown in the human factor.”

In classrooms in Wellsboro and Mansfield, Davidson preaches not only industrial safety methods, but living—and thinking—the right way. Safety techs are coached on sleeping habits. Before he rents a house, Davidson inspects to ensure his techs can get eight hours uninterrupted sleep. A quiet neighborhood, a comfortable bed, and window blinds are de rigueur. “You need a full night’s sleep for

physiological and psychological restoration, and the psychological part happens at the very end, near dawn. Every time you wake from light or noise the process stops and has to start all over again.” Techs are encouraged to eat right—low-fat proteins, plenty of vegetables and healthy grains.

Thinking right is a matter of learning “risk-based decision making.” It’s a technique that starts with an awareness of one’s position in the field, an awareness of everything going on and an ability to carefully gauge the risk of every decision. It’s also the knowledge that every accident is the result of a chain of at least seven irrational or mistaken choices, starting with a vague sense of confusion. There are always seven chances to make sure things turn out all right. Veterans are especially vulnerable to small, and ultimately tragic, mistakes. Like the Fed-Ex pilots who saw the runway suddenly coming at them too soon—“I’m sure it’ll be alright,” one said calmly, seconds before the crash—they’ve done it successfully a thousand times before.

“In the trickiest or riskiest operations, we always get it right because everyone is on their toes,” Davidson says. “The routine things are

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Starting in 1891 when the first Sears and Roebuck catalog was issued, a person could order almost any item ever thought

of or needed for the household or farm through the mail. Beginning in 1908 that availability even included the house or barn to put it in.

A beginning investment of a dollar would bring the blueprint. An additional $500 to $4,000 would pay for a kit with as many as 30,000 pieces of material delivered by railcar and ready to be assembled. This might include 750 pounds of nails, 27 gallons of paint, 28 doors, gutters, cabinet door knobs, and all the rest, excluding cement, plaster, or brick. By 1914 Sears shipped precut materials and began numbering for easy construction.

Before the days of heavy bulldozers or backhoes, basements were dug out with mules or horses pulling scoops. Some were even hand dug with the whole family, including children, participating. For $42 you could get a machine to assist in building your own cement blocks.

Over time the Sears offerings included chicken coops, barns, office buildings, apartment houses, even a two-story schoolhouse. Whole streets were laid out with Sears houses, and many thousands are still in use today. In 1918 the Standard Oil Company purchased 192 Sears homes for workers in southern Illinois. The cost was a million dollars and set the record for the biggest sale.

There were several grades of buildings in the Sears Modern Homes catalog. High end models were the Honor-Bilt line. The Econo Built,

later known as Standard Built, and the Lighter Built were lower grades. A buyer could even make modifications that Sears would adjust for them. They might combine features of two or more models. These are called Sears hybrids. If you can’t quite find a house in any of the examples in the books or on the

Internet, that might be the reason.There are many hundreds of these

Sears homes in our local area. You are probably driving by several daily without realizing it. I’d like to do a survey of them, particularly in the Mansfield area. If you own or know of a Sears home, please contact me. I’d like to know the address, the model, and date if you know them and have a photo.

Looking Back

Some Assembly RequiredPhoto and Story By Joyce M. Tice

Joyce M. Tice is the creator of the Tri-Counties Genealogy and History Web site (www.joycetice.com/jmtindex.htm). She can be reached at [email protected].

A beginning investment of a

dollar would bring the blueprint.

The house at 83 North Main Street in Mansfield is a 1917 vintage Sears home.

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O U T d O O R S

The second night in deer camp is always an interesting time. Fresh meat on the poles outside means great eating—

tenderloin and backstrap. Stories of hits and misses are swapped back and forth, and a couple of shirttails are bound to be hanging on the buck pole. As the week runs by, there’s a lot of coming and going; some of the unlucky ones can get only a day or two off from work and the youngsters have to go back to school. The old-timers stay out the season, and a few of us can close up shop for the entire week. Marty and I always stayed one week, so we could come back after Christmas for the flintlock muzzleloader season. Usually it was just Marty, me, and Uncle Warren in camp—him being permanent and all—for the smoke pole hunt.

“So, Uncle Warren, is it true you shot your first deer with a flintlock?” Marty grinned.

“That’s right, boy. That was right after I finished with a couple of King George’s finest in the Revolutionary War,” he replied, grinning.

“Stop joshin’, Uncle Warren,” I interjected. “Marty, you know it was after the Civil War. Right, Uncle Warren?”

“Laugh all you want boys, but I guess

we’ll know tomorrow who can shoot or not shoot these contraptions.”

And boy was Uncle Warren right!Marty and I spent breakfast

strategizing while Uncle Warren looked on. We both surreptitiously glanced over at him when we thought we had a good idea, knowing that Uncle Warren pretty much knew every nook and cranny on our 400 acres and the surrounding game land. Generally, he just grinned and frowned and grinned some more, and once he caught me looking and threw me a wink.

“You boys do all the planning and thinking you can,” he said finally, “but remember: these deer have been hunted for three months straight now and are liable to be anywhere and react in any way. It will be hard work that gets a buck today—a lot of sloshing through wet snow, pushing brush, and worrying about keeping your powder dry.”

“Well, do you have any ideas, Uncle Warren?” Marty asked.

“Seems to me those deer might be holed up in that gully down the way,” he said as he pointed out the cabin window. “You might think about figuring a way to get in there.”

“Awfully thick in there,” I said, already imagining picking thorns out of my legs and backside.

“That’s why it’s called huntin’,” Warren laughed.

So the gully it was. Of course, things started out badly and got worse. I started in while Marty hugged the top. Every fifteen minutes we’d switch, hoping to push one out in front. Once I thought I saw a flash of white, but it might have just been some snow sliding off a pine

bough. Now the third round, Marty pushed a big doe right down to me, but I was so snarled up in a tangle that I didn’t even get my flintlock up.

About two o’clock I met up with Marty in a big thicket, and we both were cold, wet, and miserable. Just then we heard a shot come from the direction of camp—that distinctive pop-boom of a flintlock rifle. Marty and I both looked at each other and grinned. Uncle Warren had shot another one, no doubt.

It took us twenty minutes to trudge through the slush and snow. When we reached the cabin Warren was already inside, and a nice seven-pointer was lying by the deer pole. Marty and I hooked it to the hoist, and up it went.

“Nice to see you boys, and don’t drip on the rug. And, oh yeah, thanks a lot.”

“For hanging the buck?” Marty asked. “No. For splashing and plowing around when you came up through the gully—just before you bounced that buck right up through the hemlocks beside the camp.”

“You were in the hemlocks?” Marty asked.

“Heck, no,” Warren laughed. “I was on my way to the outhouse and saw him coming. Ran back inside, grabbed my rifle, primed the pan. Stopped him with a grunt at fifty yards, and wham!”

“So you never went out?” I asked. “No. Only a damn fool would go out

today—or two damn fools. You know a fellow who fought in the Revolution as well as the Civil War needs his beauty rest,” he winked.

deer Camp

Veteran’s DayFiction by Jerry & Roberta Curreri

25

OUTdOORS

Visit the Woolrich Flagship store,located in the village where thecompany was founded over

181 years ago!

Take exit 116 off Route 220proceed 3 miles north,following the signs

570-769-7401www.woolrich.com

11_MountainHome:Layout 1 12/7/11 8:19 AM Page 1

26

Our dog, Terra, and I walked in our woods the other day while work at the well pad over the hill rumbled on.

As we passed the pink streamers marking where the seismic testing wires will run, I remembered a book I had read many years ago, John McPhee’s 1968 classic The Pine Barrens. I was struck by the contrast between the almost frenzied effort to get at the gas deep below us, and McPhee’s description of how all the fresh water just underground in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, so close to New York City and Philadelphia, has been left alone.

Like Tioga County, Pennsylvania, in the nineteenth century, the Pine Barrens were once an industrial site, alive with the gathering, smelting, and casting of bog iron during the eighteenth and into the early nineteenth centuries. But even when business was booming, the Barrens still projected a sense of wildness and isolation, again like Tioga County back in the lumber and coal days.

McPhee is a master at dramatizing statistics: New Jersey is the most densely populated state (in 1968 it was 1,000 people per square mile; today it’s almost 1,200), but in the Pine Barrens it was only 15 per square mile. The undeveloped area of the Pine Barrens is “nearly as large as Yosemite National Park. It is almost equal in size to Grand Canyon National Park.” Yet “the Pine Barrens are so close to New York that on a very clear night a bright light in the Pine Barrens would be visible from the Empire State Building.”

But McPhee’s character sketches are what make the book compelling as he carefully paints portraits of people

shaped by the challenging economic and social environment of the Pine Barrens. Fred Brown, who is seventy-nine when McPhee meets him, lives in Hog Wallow, has a name for every hill and crossroads in the Barrens, and can tell stories about experiences in towns that have melted into the ground. McPhee gets to know Bill Wasovwich—a self-reliant, shy, young man who dug his cranberry bog by hand—and McPhee talks about the

folks who gather at the Chatsworth General Store.

The more profound environmental threats of this new industrial boom dominate our concerns, but McPhee reminds us that gas development threatens not only the character of the place, but also of its people. That character is embodied in people who have been shaped by the scarcities in this area, who have had to depend

on their skills to make and fix things themselves, who patch together work doing this and that, who hunt and fish to feed their families—independent, self-reliant people who, like those who live in the Pine Barrens, have their roots stuck deep in the ground here. In fifty years after the boom has played out, jobs and businesses will disappear, and hard times will come again through which a new generation of people will need to relearn becoming native to this place. McPhee’s book reminds us of that link between people and place.

OUTdOORS

Reading Nature

After the Drill is Gone By Tom Murphy

Tom Murphy teaches nature writing at Mansfield University. You can contact him at [email protected].

The New York Times bestselling true crime book

is now in paperback

“Once again Michael Capuzzo shows he is one of our most brilliant

storytellers. The Murder Room is a gripping page turner, masterfully drawn and full of truth, dedication

and darkness.” —Michael Connelly,

New York Times bestselling author

on sale noW

The Murder roomThe Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve

the World’s Most Perplexing Cold Cases

by Michael capuzzo

27

OUTdOORS

28

Dr. Joshua B. Alley, Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, specializing in bariatric surgery (also known

as obesity surgery), is out to change the way people think about what they eat and how much they eat, one case at a time. With help from his staff at the Guthrie Clinic, he hopes to make a dent in the roughly 83,000 people in the ten-county area centered in Sayre, Pennsylvania, who are considered obese or overweight. Alley, originally from Virginia and most recently hailing from military service in Texas, will begin treating patients in a new $1.6 million bariatric/endocrinology building in January. This will be the first time in nearly ten years such a surgeon has been located at Guthrie.

“In our society we have a tremendous problem with obesity,” Alley notes. “About a third of our population is obese, a third is overweight, and a third is normal weight.” Obesity is based on a calculation of Body Mass Index, which uses a ratio of height to weight. “A BMI of greater than 30 is the beginning of obesity,” Alley says, adding that about 25 percent of the U.S. population has metabolic syndrome, associated with pre-diabetes. Since it began being used about forty years ago, around 200,000 Americans undergo bariatric surgery every year, Alley says. The average patient seeking bariatric surgery is a forty-four-year-old female with a BMI of about forty, he says, but younger patients often want to have the

surgery as well. “In our program eighteen years is the youngest and in the eighteen-to-twenty-five-year-old age group, we are more careful about who we will consider candidates, because they are still in the process of becoming adults.” There are three types of surgery being routinely performed today, Alley says.

They are laparoscopic gastric banding, which uses an implanted device to basically serve as a “speed bump” for food, enforcing smaller and slower meals; laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, which basically removes 80 percent of the stomach, leaving behind a “tube” of stomach tissue similar in size to the intestine; and laparoscopic gastric bypass, also known as Roux-en-Y, which

L I F E

Help is on the Weightrim Pounds and taste the good Life with guthrie’s Dr. alley

story and Photography By anne Calvin

Dr. Joshua Alley, who specializes in bariatric surgery, in front of Guthrie’s new weight loss clinic in Sayre.

29

LIFE

makes the stomach into a golf-ball-sized “pouch” and rearranges part of the small intestine to limit calorie absorption. “That one affects diabetes rapidly, and is the most effective, so it is used most often,” Alley explains, referring to the latter procedure.

The stories Alley hears—about how patients put on the weight—are as individual as the patients themselves. “Some suffered an injury, some it was pregnancy weight, some life changes.” The surgery isn’t for everyone. After being evaluated, some people do not meet the criteria to be eligible for surgery. Others don’t even want to undergo surgery, but for those who do consider surgery, they need to understand what is involved beforehand. The program at Guthrie is not just about surgery, Alley explains. “It’s very comprehensive and includes nutrition counseling, counseling with a bariatric dietician, an exercise specialist who will design a specialized plan for each patient, and sometimes mental health counseling if needed.” Alley says he wanted to dispel the popular notion that bariatric surgery is

a cure-all or magic bullet that will end all a candidate’s weight problems. “In reality you may be trading one set of hassles for another,” he says. Instead of the hassles involved with uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol or triglyceride levels, and sleep apnea which can cause heart arrhythmia and sudden death, there are the hassles of watching what you eat, eating less, and making exercise a regular part of your life, he adds. Making people healthier is more important to Alley than major weight loss, so if the patient goes from three high blood pressure medications to one, but takes longer to lose weight, he considers it a success. “Even if there were no effect on weight, it would still be worth it to make them healthier,” Alley says. Another misconception Alley hopes to dispel is the idea that bariatric surgery is not covered by medical insurance, when actually, in most cases, it is. “Insurance companies recognize the change that comes about is well worth the investment,” he says. “Our goal is adding quality life years.”

Family, Individual, and Senior Citizen Plans Available. Drop-In Fee $5/night. m State of the Art Equipment m Towel Service m Fitness Center Attendants m Friendly Atmosphere

Sat:7:00-11:00 a.m.

Mon-Fri:5:30-7:30 a.m.3:30-7:30 p.m.

Wellsboro High School, 225 Nichols St. Wellsboro

570-724-3547 www.wellsborosd.org (click on the Fitness Center tab)

It’s very comprehensive and includes nutrition counseling, counseling with a bariatric dietician, an exercise specialist who will design a specialized plan for each patient, and sometimes mental health counseling if needed.

Countryside Film Series

Victoria Theatre, Main St., Blossburg 7:00pm, the 3rd Wed. of the month

Segments of the Pine Creek Watershed Council’s oral history project will be

shown before the feature films

Visit www.tiogapartners.org for the lineup and details

31

Special advertiSing Section

Q: Why should I consider hospice care?

A: While hospice care is not a comfortable thing to talk about, we should talk about it. Complicated and pathological grief is the result of not coming to terms with death. Death can be traumatic for both the dying and the survivors, especially if they did not have time to work through their emotions when saying goodbye to loved ones.

Often, we need help finding the peace. It is very normal for people to have fears and questions when navigating the end of life. It can seem daunting, and our hospice care team wants to make it less overwhelming. Laurel Hospice’s healthcare team understands the complex dynamics of end-of-life care. We set out to comprehensively meet the needs of a patient physically, mentally, emotionally, interpersonally, and spiritually when a patient’s illness is incurable, shifting the focus of care to comfort and quality of life.

A lot of people want to know what to expect as life draws to a close. Our staff is honest and descriptive—they explain what is happening and help both patients and their families cope with the situation.

Laurel Hospice provides top-quality patient care (e.g., symptom management), personal care (e.g, hygiene, dressing), support for patients/family, bereavement counseling, and spiritual care. We manage equipment, prescriptions, and symptom control, so you can focus on spending time with your loved one. Laurel Hospice works with your physician, relaying information and facilitating physician orders.

Most importantly, we care. Our staff befriends patients and always treats them with professionalism and respect. We want people to feel comfortable calling and learning about hospice even if they are not currently in need of or ready for hospice care. We can help them figure out questions to ask their physicians, how to decide when it might be time to consider hospice, and how to prepare for something that is very hard to think about, let alone navigate.

For more information, call Laurel Hospice at (570) 723-0760 or visit www.laurelhs.org.

We can help them figure out

questions to ask their physicians, how

to decide when it might be time to

consider hospice, and how to prepare

for something that is very hard

to think about, let alone navigate.

H o s p i c e c a r e

Edmund P. Guelig, MDMedical Director for Laurel Hospice

eDucation Master’s degree in social work from university of Wisconsin

MeDicaL scHooLWest Virginia university

resiDencyGeisinger Medical center

certificationsamerican Board of family practice

named pennsylvania’s “family physician of the year” for 2011 by the pennsylvania

academy of family physicians

officeWellsboro Laurel Health center

103 West avenueWellsboro, pa 16901

after finishing his residency at Geisinger, Dr. edmund Guelig began searching for a community in which

to practice. on a snowy January day, he and his wife, Daria Lin-Guelig, followed winding, icy roads into

Wellsboro. the Gueligs took one drive down the snowy, gas light-lined main street and decided to cancel the rest of the interviews. in 1991, he and his family moved to Wellsboro, enamored

by the borough’s natural beauty, excellent local hospital and health

system, and the wonderful community in which to raise their four children.

32

Q: Why is a hysterectomy recommended for some women? Does Guthrie offer women the new minimally invasive surgery option?

A: Hysterectomies may be recommended for both benign and malignant diseases of the uterus. Examples of benign diseases are fibroids, which cause heavy abnormal bleeding and are very common, and adenomyosis, a condition that produces heavy periods and pain. An example of a malignant disease is cancer of the lining of the uterus, which is also very common, especially in the United States.

Guthrie offers a full range of surgical hysterectomy options including open abdominal, vaginal and laparoscopic including robotic surgery. Vaginal hysterectomies are done by going through the vagina without an incision and allow us to remove the uterus using a minimally invasive, low-impact method that would otherwise require opening the abdomen.

Laparoscopic hysterectomies can be done with or without the robot and allows us to avoid opening the abdomen. Both laparoscopic surgeries result in less pain so you can return home the same or next day often without pain pills. Robotic hysterectomy using the da Vinci Robotic System allows improved visibility of the abdomen and added precision. Both laparoscopic surgeries result in less pain so you can return home the same or next day often without pain pills.

p H y s i c a L t H e r a p i s t s

Chris D. Jones, PT, DPT, OCS, SCS

eDucationMasters Degree in physical therapy

university of DelawareDoctor of physical therapy

arcadia university

resiDencysports physical therapyuniversity of Delaware

certificationBoard Certified by the American Board

of physical therapy specialists as a specialist in sports physical therapy;

Board Certified by the American Board of physical therapy specialists as a

specialist in orthopedic physical therapy

Marc Riley, PT, OCS, ATC, CSCS

eDucationBachelors degree in athletic training/

exercise science, ithaca collegeMasters Degree in physical therapy

Gannon university

certificationCertified Strength and Conditioning

specialist, national strength and conditioning Association; Board Certified by the American

Board of physical therapy specialists as a specialist in orthopedic physical Therapy; Level 2 Medical Certification

through the titleist performance institute

feLLoWsHip orthopedic Manual physical therapy, Daemen college


Robotic hysterectomy using the da

Vinci Robotic System allows

improved visibility of

the abdomen and added precision.


office:285 south Main streetMansfield, PA 16933(570) 662-1400

o B s t e t r i c s /G y n e c o L o G y

S. Bryan Rouse, MDobstetrics/Gynecology

Guthrie clinic, Ltd., sayre, pa

GutHrie offers oBstetrics & GynecoLoGy

at tHe foLLoWinG Locations: Guthrie Big flats — 607-795-5100

Guthrie corning steuben — 607-973-8600 Guthrie ithaca — 607-257-5858 Guthrie sayre — 570-887-2530

Guthrie towanda — 570-265-6165 Guthrie troy — 570-297-4104

Guthrie Watkins Glen — 607-535-2403

Q: Can I participate in Aquatic Physical Therapy if I don’t swim?

A: One of the greatest misconceptions about aquatic physical therapy is that it is only for swimmers. Aquatic Physical therapy is physical therapy in the water. This consists of exercises for strength and endurance, balance training, and manual therapy. The specialized aquatic therapy pool at Elite Therapy, PC in Mansfield, PA is 4 feet 6 inches deep in the entire therapy area. For many patients, their feet stay on the bottom of the pool during the entire treatment. Aquatic Therapy has been available at Elite Therapy, PC since November of 2009. We have had patients participate at varying levels of comfort in the water. Some were prior competitive swimmers, and some had never been able to swim in their lives. A few patients even needed to buy a bathing suit specifically for participation in Aquatic therapy. Our aquatic therapy specialist, Tina Wilston, PTA, is able to give the necessary supervision and program design based on the physical therapy needs of the patient as well as their level of comfort and confidence in the water. She has used different floatation devices and varying levels of supervision, including being in the water with the patient during the physical therapy session, to make even those patients who cannot swim comfortable during their aquatic therapy sessions.

The Aquadynamics program at Elite Therapy, PC uses the unique properties of water to assist in the delivery of physical therapy to achieve the best possible outcomes for patients where traditional land-based physical therapy programs may not be successful or optimal for the patient. There are some contraindications to aquatic physical therapy; for example, seizure disorders, uncontrolled hypertension, incontinence etc. A review of precautions/contraindications for physical therapy is done at the initial physical therapy evaluation, and any concerns should be discussed with your primary care physician.

For additional information about aquatic therapy, please contact us at [email protected]. If you have any questions that you would like us to answer in a future article, please email the questions to Dawn Bilder at [email protected].

Aquatic Physical therapy is physical

therapy in the water. This consists

of exercises for strength and

endurance, balance training, and

manual therapy.

33

Q: Why is a hysterectomy recommended for some women? Does Guthrie offer women the new minimally invasive surgery option?

A: Hysterectomies may be recommended for both benign and malignant diseases of the uterus. Examples of benign diseases are fibroids, which cause heavy abnormal bleeding and are very common, and adenomyosis, a condition that produces heavy periods and pain. An example of a malignant disease is cancer of the lining of the uterus, which is also very common, especially in the United States.

Guthrie offers a full range of surgical hysterectomy options including open abdominal, vaginal and laparoscopic including robotic surgery. Vaginal hysterectomies are done by going through the vagina without an incision and allow us to remove the uterus using a minimally invasive, low-impact method that would otherwise require opening the abdomen.

Laparoscopic hysterectomies can be done with or without the robot and allows us to avoid opening the abdomen. Both laparoscopic surgeries result in less pain so you can return home the same or next day often without pain pills. Robotic hysterectomy using the da Vinci Robotic System allows improved visibility of the abdomen and added precision. Both laparoscopic surgeries result in less pain so you can return home the same or next day often without pain pills.

p H y s i c a L t H e r a p i s t s

Chris D. Jones, PT, DPT, OCS, SCS

eDucationMasters Degree in physical therapy

university of DelawareDoctor of physical therapy

arcadia university

resiDencysports physical therapyuniversity of Delaware

certificationBoard Certified by the American Board

of physical therapy specialists as a specialist in sports physical therapy;

Board Certified by the American Board of physical therapy specialists as a

specialist in orthopedic physical therapy

Marc Riley, PT, OCS, ATC, CSCS

eDucationBachelors degree in athletic training/

exercise science, ithaca collegeMasters Degree in physical therapy

Gannon university

certificationCertified Strength and Conditioning

specialist, national strength and conditioning Association; Board Certified by the American

Board of physical therapy specialists as a specialist in orthopedic physical Therapy; Level 2 Medical Certification

through the titleist performance institute

feLLoWsHip orthopedic Manual physical therapy, Daemen college


Robotic hysterectomy using the da

Vinci Robotic System allows

improved visibility of

the abdomen and added precision.


office:285 south Main streetMansfield, PA 16933(570) 662-1400

o B s t e t r i c s /G y n e c o L o G y

S. Bryan Rouse, MDobstetrics/Gynecology

Guthrie clinic, Ltd., sayre, pa

GutHrie offers oBstetrics & GynecoLoGy

at tHe foLLoWinG Locations: Guthrie Big flats — 607-795-5100

Guthrie corning steuben — 607-973-8600 Guthrie ithaca — 607-257-5858 Guthrie sayre — 570-887-2530

Guthrie towanda — 570-265-6165 Guthrie troy — 570-297-4104

Guthrie Watkins Glen — 607-535-2403

Q: Can I participate in Aquatic Physical Therapy if I don’t swim?

A: One of the greatest misconceptions about aquatic physical therapy is that it is only for swimmers. Aquatic Physical therapy is physical therapy in the water. This consists of exercises for strength and endurance, balance training, and manual therapy. The specialized aquatic therapy pool at Elite Therapy, PC in Mansfield, PA is 4 feet 6 inches deep in the entire therapy area. For many patients, their feet stay on the bottom of the pool during the entire treatment. Aquatic Therapy has been available at Elite Therapy, PC since November of 2009. We have had patients participate at varying levels of comfort in the water. Some were prior competitive swimmers, and some had never been able to swim in their lives. A few patients even needed to buy a bathing suit specifically for participation in Aquatic therapy. Our aquatic therapy specialist, Tina Wilston, PTA, is able to give the necessary supervision and program design based on the physical therapy needs of the patient as well as their level of comfort and confidence in the water. She has used different floatation devices and varying levels of supervision, including being in the water with the patient during the physical therapy session, to make even those patients who cannot swim comfortable during their aquatic therapy sessions.

The Aquadynamics program at Elite Therapy, PC uses the unique properties of water to assist in the delivery of physical therapy to achieve the best possible outcomes for patients where traditional land-based physical therapy programs may not be successful or optimal for the patient. There are some contraindications to aquatic physical therapy; for example, seizure disorders, uncontrolled hypertension, incontinence etc. A review of precautions/contraindications for physical therapy is done at the initial physical therapy evaluation, and any concerns should be discussed with your primary care physician.

For additional information about aquatic therapy, please contact us at [email protected]. If you have any questions that you would like us to answer in a future article, please email the questions to Dawn Bilder at [email protected].

Aquatic Physical therapy is physical

therapy in the water. This consists

of exercises for strength and

endurance, balance training, and

manual therapy.

34

Thanks to those of you who came to “Seeing Things,” the art and poetry “happening” at The Park Church in

Elmira. Some of you came a long way. I am grateful.

Not for me, of course, to say if the poetry and art were successful. More to the point of this column, however, was the extraordinary conversation that followed during the Q&A and that in some cases continued into the next day.

This was the first time that many in the audience had seen contemporary art in a church. This was also the first time that artists or art-lovers found themselves in the company of literary types. It’s just not customary practice for the former to attend a reading, or for the latter to show up at an art opening. But here they were, forced by their allegiance to one to have to “sit through” the other. They surprised themselves. They enjoyed it all; that much quickly became clear.

The questions were crisp, angular, provocative. We soon realized that a question directed, say, at the sculpture, pertained just as much to the poetry. And with a slight turn of the screw, that question pertained to life itself.

Take the art. Why is the sight of new art in a church so unusual—the ecclesiastical equivalent of Parmesan ice cream with chervil topping? (Doubtful at first, delicious on second bite.) Or has it always been so? Michelangelo, now your standard-issue Catholic artist, in his own time was seen as so subversive that his life, he felt, was in danger at the hands of the very Vatican folks he worked for. Pope Pius IV had ordered a lesser artist, Daniele da Volterra, to paint clothes on his nudes (known thereafter, poor chap, as “the trousers-maker”). Even more reactionary, the next pope wanted the whole Sistine Chapel white-washed. Enough of this flagrant Parmesan-ice-

cream art in church! These divisions—of taste, conviction,

tradition, or fear: ever wonder what twig draws them down the sand of our souls? When you actually sit people down in a congenial atmosphere and bring together two things usually deemed incompatible with, or even antagonistic to, each other—holy smoke—people are thinking thoughts and feeling enthusiasms they have never thought or felt before. Not always, but often.

An elderly aunt would squirm whenever I uttered the risky, target-practice thoughts kids think for fun, tut-tutting me for “being heathenish.” Thinking, itself, was vaguely heretical. Perhaps it still is. It is sad to think of how many “first times” are out there, waiting to kindle rich thought and fresh enthusiasms, but that are, by our prim-aunt conventions, simply out of bounds.

The Better World

Art and SoulBy John & Lynne diamond-Nigh

John writes about art and design. Lynne’s Web site, aciviltongue.com, is dedicated to civility studies.

LIFE

specializing in orthopedics, surgery, sports medicine, spinal care, physical medi-cine & rehabilitation.

Two locations: CCMH, 1001 E. Second St., Coudersport, PA

814-274-09003132 Route 417, Olean, NY

716-372-3212

CHAMPION ORTHOPEDICS &

SPORTS MEDICINEat Charles Cole Memorial Hospital

charlescolehospital.com

The New York Times bestselling true crime book

is now in paperback. “Once again Michael Capuzzo shows he is one of our most brilliant storytellers. The Murder Room is a gripping page turner, masterfully drawn and full of truth, dedication and darkness.” —Michael Connelly, New York Times bestselling author

The Murder roomThe Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve

the World’s Most Perplexing Cold Casesby Michael capuzzo

on sale noW“The book is at once terrifying and satisfying” —The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Compelling reading” —Booklist

“Real-life Prof. Plums and Miss Scarlets: Plot your dastardly deeds at your own risk.” —The Washington Post

35

ArnotHealth

Arnot Health will host a series of seminars in the Southern Tier about the life-changing bariatric surgical procedures it offers.

6 p.m., Wednesday, January 18 Hilton Garden Inn, Horseheads

6 p.m., Wednesday, February 8 Holiday Inn Riverview, Elmira

6 p.m., Wednesday, March 21 Ramada Inn, Painted Post

Register online at www.arnothealth.org/bariatricsurgery or by phone by calling Health on Demand at 607-737-4499.

Are you ready to learn more?

Bariatric Surgery

Like ArnotHealthBariatric on Facebook for news, updates

and information!

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36

A R T S & L E I S U R E

There is a place in the wooded hills of the Finger Lakes where one can go and listen to the sounds of North Atlantic Right

Whales off the coast of Boston, learn about the most recent studies on the phenomenal migratory patterns of Alaska’s godwit birds, and get involved in scientific research to help conserve the world’s biodiversity no matter who, or where, you are.

Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary, home of the nonprofit Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is a nature lover and bird enthusiast’s paradise. And while the four and a half miles of trails, boardwalks, pond, Treman Bird Feeding Garden, and Johnson Visitor Center capture a visitor’s sense of place, it doesn’t take long to feel its global importance as well. The Lab’s mission statement is “to interpret and conserve the earth’s biological diversity

through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds.”

From the parking area a mile off Route 13 North outside of Ithaca, New York, a winding trail crosses a bridge to the stone front of the amazing architecture that is Morgens Observatory. Here, a bird feeding garden and trailhead beg one to linger outdoors. Inside—where a wall of windows opens to Canada geese and ducks swimming by the glass while sounds of birds like chickadees and nuthatches outside are piped indoors—is a facility that greets over 60,000 visitors a year by door and countless more by outreach.

“Doc” Allen began the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in 1915 as one of the first graduates from Cornell University’s ornithology program. The fledgling spiral of his vision soars today with highly respected citizen science programs as well as a visitor

center containing remarkable hands-on interactive exhibits, a multi-media theater, spectrogram sound labs, movies, artwork, a library, displays, and a full staff of scientists, educators, and volunteers.

And admission is free. “You can’t change the world without getting them in the door,” says Charles Eldermire, manager of Sapsucker Woods and Johnson’s Visitor Center. “Everything the lab does is guided by science,” he adds. “But we’re not a political, policy-promoting organization, but rather an institution that works to provide accurate information and bring science to the table.”

Eldermire mentions that the lab also hosts probably one of the largest collections of bird art in the world, most notable: Louis Agassiz Fuertes, John James Audubon, James Gould, as well as many contemporary local artists and rotating collections. “While we have trails

Through the Looking Glassadventures in the Wonderland of sapsucker Woods

By angela Cannon-CrothersPhotography By nicole Bradley

ARTS & LEISURE

through open and mixed deciduous woods that are great for hiking or cross-country skiing, we’re also a great indoor destination,” says Eldermire, “and a visitor can see twelve to twenty different bird species on any given day—even in winter.”

The visitor center is primarily about birds: a colorful, musical theme that blends traditional natural history museum character with state-of-the art scientific technology in a world class facility. A good first place to stop is the multi-media theater show which sets the stage for the importance of the lab, of Doc Allen’s vision for citizen science, and of the beauty and personal enrichment we all share in a love for birds. Strolling around the building one is captivated by astounding artwork and a variety of kiosk interactive exhibits. Upstairs, near the extensive birding and conservation library, is a quiet nook with field telescopes overlooking the pond outside as well as a display case of Paulsen Wooden Eggs. A favorite spot is the sound lab where one can visually and tonally slow down the amazingly complicated song of a winter wren, listen to elephants, view the spectrogram for a

variety of musical instruments, animals—and of course—song birds. The sound lab is part of the Macaulay Library, a collection of sound and video documentation, much of which can also be linked to online. The lab’s bioacoustics program is also helping save whales from shipping accidents.

Downstairs computer exhibits help visitors identify bird calls, recognize species, and learn more about bird behavior. Best of all are the benches that invite visitors to sit and take in the view, watch the birds who

frequent the lab, and reflect on the wealth of knowledge being contributed here.

The lab also offers teacher curriculums and contributing scientist programs for school children. This past year they started a multi-country collaborative effort called Partners in Flight to help preserve migratory birds. Partners in Flight combines efforts with other conservation groups like Audubon, Rocky Mountain

See Looking Glass on page 40

Above: Guests look through the windows of the Morgens Observatory. Facing page: Writer Angela Cannon-Crothers looks out on the Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary.

38

ARTS & LEISURE

P E N N S Y LVA N I A

Tioga County

WellsboroNative BagelGmeiner Art CenterGreen Free LibraryWest End Market CaféSoldiers & Sailors MemorialHospitalLaurels Personal Care HomePark Hill ManorGoodies For Our TroopsTioga Office ProductsState Liquor StoreBalsam Real Estate SettlementPenn Oak RealtyUnited Country Real EstateStained Glass ReflectionsShabby RueDumpling HouseDunham’s Department StoreSteak HouseCanyon MotelTops MarketWeis MarketPudgies PizzaAcorn Market, Rt. 6Dunkin’ DonutsTony’s Italian CuisineKennedy Home CenterMcDonald’sTerry’s HoagiesThe Frog HutMountain Valley RealtyHorse Shoe InnGeorge’s RestaurantSteve’s BeverageRoute 6 LanesSherwood Motel

Penn Wells HotelPenn Wells LodgeCitizens & Northern BankPag-Omar Farms MarketWellsboro Chamber of Commerce

Mansfield McDonald’sTen West EspressoPapa V’s PizzeriaMarge’s Corner on CountryNight & Day Coffee CaféThe Wren’s NestBrookside HomesMicrotel Inn & SuitesLamb’s Creek Food & SpiritsComfort InnMansfield University, campusbookstoreMansfield University, cafeteriaMark’s Brother’s RestaurantPump N PantryU.S. Post OfficeAgwayGramma’s KitchenEddie’s RestaurantCummings Jewelers

stony forkStony Fork Campground/Store

blossburgU.S. Post OfficeBloss Holiday MarketAcorn Market

liberty Wm. P. Connolly Real RstateLiberty ExxonLanding Strip Family RestaurantSammy’s MarketBlack Creek Enterprises

MorrisBabb’s Creek Inn & PubPierce’s General StoreMorris Chair Shop

Middlebury CenterDonna’s Corner MarketOwletts Farm Market

tiogaTwin Lakes RestaurantTioga Post OfficeAcorn MarketPennsylvania Welcome Center

laWrenCevillePreston’s MarketRotsell’s Snack Shack

elklandPizza Barn & VideoP & Js RestaurantAcorn Market

osCeoloa (1)Osceola Big M

knoxville (2)U.S. Post OfficeGold Mountain Ice Cream & Deli

Westfield (5)Acorn MarketSchoonover’s RestaurantBig M MarketAckley & Son Sporting GoodsHome Comfort Restaurant

sabinsville (2)Kim’s Old Country StorePatterson Farms Maple Products

gaines (4)U.S. Post OfficeCall of the North Gift ShopSylvan Glen Land Co.Rough Cut Lodge

Potter County

galetonLarrys Sport CenterOx Yoke InnGaleton FoodlandU.S. Post OfficeBrick House Café & DeliNittany Minit MartTutors RestaurantAcorn MarketKlines Gift ShopNob Hill Motel & Cabins

ulyssesDandy Mini Mart, Harrison ValleyCorner CaféBlack Forest Trading Post

genesee Gold General Store

CoudersportTrail’s End RealtyCharles Cole Memorial Hospital

Bradford County

sayreDandy Mini Mart, N. Elmira St.P&C Foods, N. Elmira St.Tops, N. Elmira StTops, N. Keystone Ave.Best Western Grand Victorian InnGuthrie Clinic

ulsterDandy Mini Mart

albaDandy Mini Mart

toWandaLeRoys Gourmet SubsWeigh Station Café

Happy 2012 from Mountain HomeIn the New Year find our magazine at any of these locations, “free as the wind.” Please patronize our loyal distributors who make it possible for us to say, “Everybody reads Mountain Home.”

39

Endless Mountains VisitorsBureauRiverstone InnTowanda Motel & Restaurant

WysoxTops Market

troyBarnstead PantryTops MarketCoppertree ShopDandy Mini MartEighmey MotorsArmenia Mountain FootwearMartha Lloyd Community ServicesHoover Hardware/IndustrialSupply

CantonTops MarketD & H Keystone MarketAcornKelley’s Creekside RestaurantEndless Mountain Eyecare

sylvaniaSettlement House Post & BeamSylvania Citgo

gilletWoody’s Country Store

Lycoming County

WilliaMsportAll-State Rennie RodarmelBob Logue MotorsportsWools Decorative Concrete

Montoursville English’s Model Railroad Supply

MunCy The Olde Barn Centre

trout run Fry Bros. Turkey RanchBittner’s General Store

N E W Y O R K

Stueben County

CorningWegmansSteuben County Conference &Visitors BureauSchool House Country StoreRadisson HotelThe Corning Building Co.Staybridge SuitesDays InnComfort Inn

Fairfield Inn Corning RiversideVitrix Hot Glass Studio

painted postWatson Homestead Conference& Retreat Ctr.Hampton InnAmerica’s Best Value InnEcono Lodge

Chemung County

big flatsTops MarketDandy Mini Mart

HorseHeadsMill Street MarketHoliday Inn ExpressCountry Inn & SuitesElmira-Corning Regional AirportMotel 6

elMiraWegmansTops Market, Main St.Tops Market, Cedar StBeeman’s Country CookingFirst ArenaClemens CenterCappy’sGreen Derby CaféEcono LodgeNational Soaring MuseumOldies But GoodiesArnot Art Museum

elMira HeigHtsFirst Heritage Federal CreditUnion

WaverlyTed Clark’s Busy MarketO’Brien’s Inn

WellsburgStateline Dandy Mini MartState Line Mart

Finger Lake Area

Watkins glen Tops MarketWatkins Glen State Park GiftShopWatkins Glen Stae Park CampOfficeU.S. Post OfficeGlen Mountain Bakery &MarketHarbor HotelSeneca Harbor Wine Center

Glen Motor InnLakewood VineyardsLonghouse Lodge MotelSeneca Harbor StationMr. Chicken Restaurant

HeCtorHazlitt 1852 VineyardsU.S. Post OfficeChateau Lafayette Reneau

burdettAtwater Estate VineyardsFinger Lakes DistillingU.S. Post Office

Montour fallsClassic Chef’s RestaurantSchuyler Hospital, LobbySchuyler Hospital, ERSchuyler Walk-In ClinicMontour Coffee HouseNY State Fire Academy

odessaU.S. Post Office

dundeeInn at Glenora Wine CellarsFulkerson Winery

HiMrodShaw Vineyard

ovidBig M Market

lodiWagner Vineyards

roMulusSampson State Park Camping

beaver daMsKOA Watkins Glen-CorningResort

genevaBig M Madias MarketRamada Geneva LakefrontVentosa Vineyards

HaMMondsportKwik FillPark Inn HotelCrooked Lake Ice CreamParlorFive Star BankThe Village TavernHammondsport GroceryBully Hill VineyardsDr. Frank’s Vinifera WineCellarsLakeside Restaurant & TavernGreat Western WineryGlenn H. Curtiss Aviation MuseumHeron Hill Winery

penn yan Anthony Road Wine Co.

WalgreensTops MarketBest Western Vineyard InnMiller’s EssenhausSkyline Trading PostAntique Inn Restaurant

keuka parkEsperanza Mansion resortKeuka CollegeU.S. Post Office

batH Finger Lakes Wine & SpiritsOld National HotelDays Inn

HornellComfort Inn

Canandaigua Wegmans

naples Naples Town HallLuigi’s RestaurantArtizannsBob & Irv’s Shurfine Food ShopU.S. Post OfficeJosephs Wayside MarketBob & Ruth’s Vineyard RestaurantChina CityRedwood RestaurantThe Grainery RestaurantThe Naples LibraryMonica’s PiesPoor Richard’s RestaurantSawmill RestaurantArbor Hill Grapery & WineryBrown Hound Bistro

Cayuta Dandy Mini Mart

itHaCa Manos DinerHampton Inn IthacaThe Dewitt MallHoliday Inn IthacaCountry Inn & SuitesSix Mile Creek VineyardBest Western IthacaStatler Hotel at Cornell U.Courtyard by MarriottEcono LodgeSciencenterSuper 8 Ithaca

ARTS & LEISURE

40

Bird Observatory, CANABIO, Mexico, and Environment Canada, to better understand the crucial need for global conservation in the preservation of species.

Last year Cornell celebrated the 25th anniversary of its association with the North American program Project FeederWatch. The project began at Canada’s Long Point Bird Observatory in 1976 with the establishment of the Ontario Bird Feeder Survey. Ten years later, hoping to expand the survey across the whole continent, Long Point reached out to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, with its cutting edge computer system and its network of thousands of committed birders.

Sapsucker Woods reaches near and far, at home, and around the globe. The lab offers guided hikes each weekend and feeder watch programs on-site as well as several virtual programs like e-news, Nestcams (with different species around the country), and several online social network sites. Over the years, Project FeederWatch has engaged over 15,000 individuals during the months of November through April. “Our biggest message began with the Cornell Lab’s founder Doc Allen,” says Eldermire. “It’s that citizens of all experiences and levels of knowledge can make a difference in the scientific process. Since Doc’s time, our citizen science programs now reach across the country and around the world.” Data from feeder watchers have helped scientists better understand issues involving everything from disease in purple finches, to predation, seed preference, climate change, and population declines in the Evening Grosbeak population.

Maybe instead of fretting about the environment today, we should all be full of joy—after all, we are living in the time of singing birds. Sapsucker Woods and The Cornell Lab of Ornithology inspires us all to enjoy our natural world, its sounds and sights and mystery, to study and protect it so that the time of singing birds will be here for generations to come.

Looking Glass continued from page 37

For more information on the many programs, virtual and otherwise, to get involved or to make a donation, check out www.birds.cornell.edu or visit them in person at:

Cornell Lab of ornithology159 sapsucker Woods rdIthaca, nY 148501-800-843-BIrD (1-800-843-2473)

the sapsucker Woods sanctuary is open every day, dawn to dusk.

Visitor Center hours:

Monday–thursday: 8:00 a.M.–5:00 P.M.Friday: 8:00 a.M.–4:00 P.M.saturday: 9:30 a.M.–4:00 P.M.sunday: 11:00 a.M.–4:00 P.M.

hours may change due to special events. Closed on some holidays.

Angela Cannon-Crothers is a freelance writer and outdoor educator living in the Finger Lakes region of New York.

ARTS & LEISURE

S T A Y I N T H E S P I R I T

Have friends and family home for the holidays? Enjoy their visit byhaving them stay with us! Call us today for our special rates andpackages available this holiday season.

CORNING-GAFFER DISTRICT • Radisson Hotel Corning125 Denison Parkway East, Corning, NY • 607-962-5000www.radisson.com/corningny • 800-333-3333

41

ARTS & LEISURE

S T A Y I N T H E S P I R I T

Have friends and family home for the holidays? Enjoy their visit byhaving them stay with us! Call us today for our special rates andpackages available this holiday season.

CORNING-GAFFER DISTRICT • Radisson Hotel Corning125 Denison Parkway East, Corning, NY • 607-962-5000www.radisson.com/corningny • 800-333-3333

42

F O O d & d R I N k

On the LambWellsboro’s “Rabbie Burns” Birthday Dinner Celebration

By Patricia Brown Davis

“eatin, drinkin, an cleanin needs but

a beginnin.” -Old Scottish proverb

Sometimes we all need “a beginnin.” One came in the form of a recently retired and relocated New Jersey lawyer of Polish descent, who

lived in a town full of Scottish descendents and sometimes officiated and dined in one of their local restaurants at a traditional dinner praising Robert Burns. (This is the same guy—Jim Tutak—who let his hair, beard, and moustache grow for a year in his own labeled “Scalp a Lawyer” Rotary project to raise money for Wellsboro’s annual Foster Children’s Christmas Party.)

If you know what a Robert Burns dinner is, you may already be hooked. If not,

and you attend, you may run into that possibility. And, if you miss one, you’ll have to wait until another year rolls around.

Robert Burns (1759-1796), the most famous Scottish bard—publicly voted in Scotland in 2009 as “The Greatest Scot Ever”—has been praised by convocations of fun-loving enthusiasts of poetry for years in honor of his birthday, January 25.

So, what is a “Rabbie Burns” dinner—one that is celebrated all over the world and in Scotland more than the Scots’ own national holiday? Traditionally, participants meet for a meal. The evening starts with a general welcome and announcements, followed with the “Selkirk Grace.” At this point, the sounds of a Highland piper—dressed in full regalia—are heard, and he

and the chef burst through a door bringing the centerpiece of the evening meal, the haggis, on a platter, often to the tune of “Scotland the Brave.” At the end of the reading of Burns’ poem, “Address to a Haggis,” the chef cuts the casing, allowing steam to burst forth.

While haggis and “neeps and tatties”—turnips and potatoes—are often traditional offerings, a regular menu is also included, closer to participants’ palates. And, of course, a toast of an excellent single malt whiskey is offered—but not required—by passing the “quaich” (a small shallow vessel) to those who have not experienced a Burns dinner.

See Scotland on page 44

44

Lest the word “haggis” turn you off, it tastes much better than it sounds. Parts of a lamb are minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt, mixed with stock and simmered in a casing for three hours. Traditionally, the Scots used a sheep’s stomach for the casing, but today in the United States it is commercially prepared in a casing under the scrutiny of the Food and Drug Administration. Its consistency on a plate looks much like loosely prepared sausage. It’s not consumed on a daily basis, even in Scotland, but more for festive and traditional occasions.

Often entertainment is included, and those doing the planning set the tone. Last year’s dinner in Wellsboro, begun by Tutak at Timeless Destination, requested all participants bring a poem to be shared—one by Burns or another poet, lyrics of a song, or an original of their own. Poetic offerings ranged from four-line originals, lyrics read or sung, humorous to heavy, and a bit of poetic prose, with much laughter squeezed between the words.

Some dinners with a large number of

participants hire entertainment for the evening. Wellsboro’s included Ciro Lopinto & Friends, a small Celtic combo, including hammered dulcimer and other folk instruments playing during mealtime.

A committee in Wellsboro, headed by Tutak, is making plans for Sunday, January 29, 3 p.m. at Wellsboro’s Moose Lodge. They are only serving forty dinners, so make reservations sooner than later. Attendants should bring a short poem. For more

information contact Jim Tutak at [email protected] or phone: 570-723-5049.

January tends to be long, cold, and dark. Fun-filled events like this go a long way to warm a winter’s evening, a willing heart, and an adventurous tummy.

FOOd & dRINk

Scotland continued from page 42

Patricia Brown Davis is a professional musician and memoirist seeking stories about the Wellsboro glass factory. Contact her at [email protected].

Piping in the Haggis at Wellsboro’s Timeless Destination in 2010.

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• A fine selection of wines• All our steaks are prime and choice cuts• Offers lobster tails and crab legs, along with Italian favorites

The first upscale steak and seafood restaurant in Corning, New York’s Gafford District

607.937.9277 www.tonyrssteakandseafood.com•2-6 East Market Street, Corning, NY 14830

FOOd & dRINk

Enjoy the region’s comprehensive restaurant listings. From our Finger Lakes wineries to Williamsport’s good eats to the fertile Pennsylvania heartland in between, we’re famous for our regional specialties and love to eat. For listing information please email Dawn Bilder at [email protected] or call (570) 724-3838. Also look for restaurant listings at www.mountainhomemag.com. Bon appetit!

PENNSYLVANIA bradford County

Cantonkelley’s Creek side restaurant Kelley’s offers $4 breakfast and $6 lunch specials every day, and they are open for dinner Wed-Sun. They specialize in home-style cooking like their prime rib and serve homemade desserts like chocolate peanut butter pie and muffins. (570) 673-4545, 1026 springbrook dr, www.urbanspoon.com

lycoming CountyTrout Run

bittner’s general store Hot and cold 18” subs, specialties are Italian and cheese steak. Pizzas, homemade salads, pastas, and hot foods. Fresh meats, cold cuts, and our own lean ground hamburger. Camping supplies and propane. (570) 998-8500, located at the junction of rt. 14 and rt. 15 in trout run, pa, [email protected].

fry bros. turkey ranCH Original turkey dinners & complete menu. Established business since 1886. Restaurant and convenience store. At the top of Steam Valley Mountain, elevation 1,704 ft. Open daily for breakfast, lunch, & dinner. Gifts and souvenirs. 27 rt. 184 Hwy, (570) 998-9400.

steaM valley restaurant Steam Valley offers good home cooking and daily specials. It’s open 7 days of the week. Gas, diesel, and convenience store coming soon! (570) 998-2559, 169 rt. 14 Hwy, p.o. box 157, Junction route 14 & 15.

WilliamsportWegMan’s Wegman’s Market Café features freshly-made foods ranging from quick grabs like pizza, subs, and Asian classics to comfort-food favorites, salads, and sandwiches. Come try our family-friendly foods at budget-friendly prices. 201 William st, (570) 320-8778, wegmans.com.

restaurants

To advertise in the food section call

570-724-3838

Full Service On Site Catering Available

Largest Black Angus Burgers in town!

Full Salad Bar 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.All Homemade Desserts

17 Pearl St., Wellsboro, PA 16901

Open at 5 a.m., we serve Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner all day until 9 p.m.!

570-724-3311Open 7 Days a Week

46

Y our hive or mine? Got a bee in your bonnet?

Probably not so much this time of year. With a chill in

the air and the opportunities for pollen-gathering negligible, honeybees are doing what we tend to do in the winter months—hanging out at home and trying to keep warm.

When the temperature drops, honeybees head for the hive, forming a wintertime “cluster” to keep themselves warm, explained Donna Dzoba, a licensed beekeeper out by Snyder Point, near the Leonard Harrison side of the canyon. The queen is in the middle of things, as you might expect, with the worker bees trading places, taking turns around the interior (warmer) and exterior (colder) parts of the cluster. The bees use their flight muscles to shiver, thereby generating and regulating heat in the hive.

Donna has four hives; each one needs about 150 pounds of honey for the bees to eat in order to survive the winter. They are fastidious little creatures (“Bees don’t pee or poop in their hive,” Donna said) and will periodically venture out of the hive for a “cleansing flight” when the thermometer creeps up. She keeps sugar water available for her bees for those times; obviously a wild hive would not have that perk. Sadly, miscalculation on the bees’ part sometimes results in an inability to make it back to the warmth of the hive. That accounts for the occasional dead honeybee you may see in the winter months. Some beekeepers will wrap hives or put up a windbreak to help bees make it through the winter.

Honeybees have a three-tier labor system. There is one queen per hive, who can live as long as five or six years. She mates with drones/male bees and is then permanently fertile. The fertilized eggs she lays—as many as 2,000 a day—become worker/female bees. Unfertilized eggs become drones. The drones’, shall

we say, usefulness is limited, as their job is basically to be on call for the queen. In the fall they are kicked out of the hive. There are not many free rides in nature.

Wild or “kept,” honeybees are an amazing and critical component of the natural world. What can humans do to encourage honeybees to come around?

“The more plantings, the better,” Donna said. “Anything that blooms—they love it. Even dandelions.”

Mother Earth

Insider TradingBy gayle Morrow

FOOd & dRINk

Gayle Morrow, former editor of The Wellsboro Gazette, cooks locally, and organically, at the West End Market Café.

The bees use their flight muscles to

shiver, thereby generating and regulating heat

in the hive.

47

tioga County Blossburg

MoMMa’s Momma’s offers a full menu and specializes in homestyle cooking. They have daily specials and the area’s best baby back ribs on Saturdays. Steak Night is on Thursdays. They also cater to rigs. (570) 638-0270, 102 granger st.

Liberty bloCkHouse CafÉ Blockhouse Café is open for breakfast and lunch and on Friday nights, serving homemade and home-style meals, including desserts. It’s a unique café with good food, great company, and a place where you always get your money’s worth. (570) 324-2041, 31 Willow st.

tHe landing strip faMily restaurant The Landing Strip offers home cooked foods, daily specials, homemade desserts, a clean, friendly atmosphere, on or off premises catering, and has a banquet or large party area. easy on/off route 15.. (570) 324-2436, routes 15 & 414 junction.

Mansfieldeddie’s restaurant Eddie’s offers home-style cooking with homemade daily specials. Their specialties include hot roast beef sandwiches and chicken & biscuits, both served with real mashed potatoes. They have homemade pies and serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (570) 662-2972, 2103 s. Main st.

laMbs Creek food & spirits Lambs Creek offers sophisticated, down-home cooking seven days a week. Every Tuesday there’s an Italian Night speciaI. Beautiful terrace overlooks gorgeous mountains. (570) 662-3222, 200 Gateway Dr, Mansfield, PA 16933, www.lambscreek.com

papa v’s piZZeria & restaurant Papa V’s offers a wide variety of hand tossed New York Style thin-crust pizza, a multitude of hot and cold sandwiches, fresh ½ pound Angus burgers, and delicious homemade Italian dishes for lunch and dinner. 12 n. Main st, (570) 662-2651, www.papavpizzeria.com.

Wren’s nest Wren’s Nest has live music every Wed. night from 6-9. Specialties include crab cakes, steaks, and pastas. They make homemade desserts including lemon meringue ice cream pie and crème brule (sampler). (570) 662-1093, 102 West Wellsboro st, www.wrensnestpa.com.

yorkHolo breWing Co. Offers a selection of dishes made up of local ingredients paired with Yorkholo’s own fresh brewed beer, including “Pine Creek” Raspberry Wheat, “Summer Love” Summer Ale, “Mountaineer” I.P.A, “Bungy” Blonde Ale, and 2 rotating selections. (570) 662-0241, 19 n Main st, www.yorkholobrewing.com.

Mansfield Fast FoodMCdonalds (570) 662-7077, 120 N Main St.

Wendy’s (570) 662-7511, 1580 S Main St.

kentuCky fried CHiCken (570) 662-2558, 1320 S Main St.

taCo bell (570) 662-2558, 1320 S Main St.

arby’s (570) 662-7626, 1672 S Main St.

Morrisbabb’s Creek inn & pub Babb’s Creek Inn & Pub specializes in Seafood and Prime Rib, which is available every night, except Tuesdays when the restaurant is closed. Reservations are appreciated for parties of 8 or more. located at the intersection of rtes. 287 & 414, (570) 353-6881, www.babbscreekinnandpub.com.

WellsboroCafÉ 1905 Classic coffee house located in Dunham’s Department Store. Proudly serving Starbucks® coffee, espresso, Frappuccino®, Tazo® tea plus delicious freshly baked pastries, homemade soups, artisan sandwiches and ice cream. Free wi-fi. (570) 724-1905, inside dunham’s department store, 45 Main st.

duMpling House CHinese restaurant Dumpling House specializes in Hunan, Cantonese, and Szechuan Cuisine. It’s family owned and operated and located on beautiful Main Street in Wellsboro. You may dine in or carry out. (570) 724-4220, 31 Main st.

dunkin’ donuts America Runs on Dunkin’. 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. (570) 724-4556, 7 Main st.

tHe frog Hut The Frog Hut serves favorites like Texas hots, fried chicken, and Philly cheese steaks. They offer homemade soups and salads, and for dessert, try their soft serve ice cream, Italian ice, sundaes, and other ice cream treats. (570) 724-4450, 132 tioga st.

Harland’s faMily style restaurant Open seven days a week at 5 a.m., serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner all day until 9 p.m., including the largest Black Angus burgers in town, full salad bar, and all homemade desserts. House-batter-dipped haddock fish fry every Friday. Full service on-site catering available. (570) 724-3311, 17 pearl st.

Mary Wells rooM and penn Wells lounge Located in historic Penn Wells Hotel, full service restaurant and lounge feature an extensive menu of fine steaks, seafood, pasta, gourmet sandwiches, fresh burgers, desserts. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and Sunday brunch. (570) 724-2111, 62 Main st, www.pennwells.com.

tHe native bagel The Native Bagel offers bagels made fresh daily, gourmet coffee, deli sandwiches, soups and salads, and homemade desserts. Bagels are mixed, kneaded, rolled, boiled, and baked onsite. All soups, breads, and baked items are “made from scratch.” 1 Central ave, (570) 724-0900, www.nativebagel.com.

pag-o-Mar Pag-O-Mar offers subs, salads, and deli sandwiches at the head of the Wellsboro Junction Rail Trail, across from the Tioga Central tour train station. They also offer soft custard and Hershey’s hard ice cream. And there’s a farmer’s

restaurants, cont.

FOOd & dRINk

To advertise in the food section call 570-724-3838

48

The nice thing about living near a great wine region is that there is always something fun to look forward to on the

calendar. It is true that January signals a time of rest and recovery from the holidays, and folks like to slow it down a bit. At the wineries, the tasting room staffs take a breather, and the winemakers focus on that recently harvested juice that is quietly fermenting in the cellar. But the festivals continue. And when it comes to dealing with the cold New York State winters, there is no better way to celebrate than with an event that includes the ice!

Just when I am starting to tire of my New Year’s resolutions, and I cannot eat another carrot stick, the Wine on Ice festival appears. Yes, the good folks of Elmira have perfectly timed their second annual event to take place on January 27 and 28 at the First Arena on North Main Street. Finally, I can get back to doing what I do best. With three different sessions to choose from, you will find a delightful assortment of regional wines to taste, gourmet cheeses to sample, and seasonal fare to savor from the local restaurants. Craft businesses and artisan producers will be on hand offering an array of unique gift items. And now that December is long gone, it is time to splurge on yourself, completely guilt-free.

Of course, you get a keepsake wine glass, which is my favorite part of the deal. Musical entertainment is included as well. The ticket prices for Wine on Ice range from $23 to $27. For more information, you can visit www.wineonice.com. Nice.

Barely three weeks later, the ice shows no sign of melting. So, Casa Larga Vineyards in Fairport will be hosting the fourth annual New York Ice Wine Festival on February 18. This is the heaven on earth for wine lovers with a sweet tooth. The winery, just

outside of Rochester, is home to one of the world’s most awarding-winning ice wines. These wines are made from frozen grapes, resulting in exquisite dessert wines. Casa Larga invites other ice wine producers along to offer up a taste of one of the region’s most luscious specialties. Add winery tours, ice-carving demonstrations, educational seminars, live entertainment, and gourmet food stations, and you’ve got a party. Bye-bye winter doldrums.

For more information on the New York Festival, visit www.casalarga.com.

And don’t forget to pray for snow!

FOOd & dRINk

Finger Lakes Wine Review

Ice, Ice BabyBy Holly Howell

Holly is a Certified Specialist of Wine (by the Society of Wine Educators) and a Certified Sommelier (by the Master Court of Sommeliers in England); email her at [email protected].

Fulkersonwinery

It’s a picture-perfect time to visit!

Warm smiles, friendly conversationand award-winning wines await you.

Come discover our reds,a great way to warm up your winter!

Open Year Round 10-55576 Route 14, Dundee, NY 14837

(607) 243-7883www.fulkersonwinery.com

49

market in season. (570) 724-3333, 222 butler rd. (just past junction of rts. 6 & 287).subWay “Eat Fresh.” (570) 724-1424, 63 Main St, www.acornmarkets.com.

tHe steak House The Steak House has been serving the finest steaks and seafood since 1957. Whether you want a black angus hamburger or a cold water lobster tail, there’s something for the whole family in a true Wellsboro atmosphere. 29 Main st, (570) 724-9092, www.thesteakhouse.com.

terry’s Hoagies Terry’s Hoagies makes the best hoagies in town. They specialize in both hot and cold hoagies, and bake their bread and potato, macaroni, and pasta salads fresh daily. Hoagie trays and meat & cheese platters available. (570) 724-7532, 7 Charleston st, www.terryshoagies.com.

tioga Central railroad All aboard Tioga Central Railroad! Take a scenic ride while enjoying dinner on Saturday night or Sunday brunch. Wine and beer available. See website for menu selection. (570) 724-0990, 11 Muck rd, www.tiogacentral.com.

tony’s italian Cuisine Come to Tony’s for homemade cooking and family recipes, fresh dough and homemade bread made daily, pasta dishes, and special pizzas like steak pizza, Sicilian pizza, and their 3-cheese pizza. It’s family-owned and run, and they offer lunch and dinner specials. (570) 724-2090, 3 Main st.

Wellsboro diner Wellsboro Diner, a famous Wellsboro landmark, serves sumptuous home cooked meals, fresh baked pies, cookies and cakes, and the very best prime rib on Saturday nights. They offer more than ample portions to all hungry guests. (570) 724-3992, 19 Main st, Wellsboro, pa 16901

West end Market CafÉ “Globally inspired, locally sourced.” A place of nourishment and respite, celebrating local food & creativity. We feature fresh, locally sourced ingredients whenever possible & Fair Trade coffee products. Monday-Friday 7:30 a.m. To 3 p.m. Saturday 8 a.m. To 3 p.m. (570) 605-0370, 152 Main st, www.westendmarketcafe.wordpress.com.

Wellsboro Fast Food

MCdonalds (570) 724-2151, 9 Charleston St.

WestfieldaCorn #10 featuring subWay “Eat Fresh.” (814) 367-2610, 465 E Main St, www.acornmarkets.com.

restaurants, cont.

FOOd & dRINk


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FOOd & dRINk

My Favorite Things

A Wee Bit o’ Scotch

By Teresa Banik Capuzzo

cocky Leeky Soup

1 small chicken and giblets (2½ – 3 pounds)

1 onion, chopped6 leeks, cut into inch-long

pieces2 oz. long grain rice 1 small carrot, grated1 tsp. salt3 pints water salt and pepper1 tbsp. chopped parsley

Place the chicken, giblets, and onion in a large saucepan. add the water (I always add extra to cover the chicken) and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 1½ hours until the chicken is tender. remove from the heat and skim off any white scum. take out the giblets and discard. take out the chicken and strip the meat from the bones. Discard the bones. return the meat to the stock. add the leeks, rice, and grated carrot. Bring back to the boil, cover and simmer for a further 30 minutes. season with salt and pepper to taste. add the parsley before serving. serves 4-6.

some hae meat and canna eat,and some would eat that want it;But we hae meat, and we can eat,

sae let the Lord be thankit.

-Robert Burns

We have a friend from Scotland who quotes the above before every meal. It’s warming in itself, but nothing compared to the soup he and his wife sometimes serve to follow it. They shared their recipe from Favourite Scottish Recipes, by Johanna Mathie, for Cocky Leeky Soup, which is a chicken soup to end all chicken soups. Simple and nourishing, sweetened by a half-dozen leeks, it is the perfect antidote to winter.

51

potter CountyGaleton

aCorn #25 featuring subWay “Eat Fresh.” (814) 435-6626, 3 West St, www.acornmarkets.com.

tutors restaurant Tutors Restaurant offers delicious home-cooked meals 7 days a week. Breakfast on Sat and Sun. Tues˜Italian. Wed˜Seafood. Thur˜Wings. Fri˜Fish Fry. Sun˜Brunch Buffet. (814) 435-3550, 75 germania st.

GermainagerMania Hotel The best burgers around. Wings, pizza, steaks, and seafood. Thursday Rib Night. Friday Broiled or Fried Haddock. Salad bar Thurs, Fri, Sat. Serving food 7 days a week, 12pm to12am. Legal beverages, rooms available, find us on Facebook “Germaniahotel Germania.” (814) 435-8851, rt. 44 (seven Miles south of galeton).

Goldgold general store Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Pizza and subs.Baked goods. Grocery items. (814) 848-9773, 2760 state rt. 49W.

NEW YORKsteuben County

AddisonaCorn #11 featuring subWay “Eat Fresh.” (607) 359-2603, 121 Front St, www.acornmarkets.com.

BathriCo’s piZZa Rico’s Pizza offers NY Style hand-tossed pizzas with a variety of toppings. The full menu includes appetizers, salads, subs, calzones, stromboli’s, and pizza by the slice. Dessert, beer, and wine are also available. (607) 622-6033, 371 W Morris st, www.ricospizza.com.

Corning tHe gaffer grille and tap rooM The Gaffer Grille and Tap Room offers fine dining, atmosphere, food, drinks, and friends! We serve lunches, dinners, meetings, or small parties up to 30 individuals. Visit us on Historic Market Street in Corning’s Gaffer District. (607) 329-9950, 58 W Market Street, www.gaffergrilleandtaproom.com.

HolMes plate restaurant Holmes Plate offers Rustic Semi-Al Fresco casual dining, specializing in the area’s largest selection of craft & micro-brewery beers. We prepare every dish fresh to order with the highest quality ingredients. (607) 377-5500, 54 West Market st, www.holmesplate.com.

radisson Hotel Corning Grill 1-2-5

serves creative regional specialties: small plates, grilled sandwiches, and tender filet mignon. The Steuben Bar offers appetizers, light meals, your favorite beverages, and is known for the best martini in the city! 125 denison parkway east, (607) 962-5000, www.radisson.com/corningny.

tHali of india Thali of India is the only Indian restaurant in the area. They serve exotic cuisine. They have a lunch buffet 7 days a week, and a dinner buffet on Monday nights. They also offer a very large menu and prepare special breads. (607) 962-1900, 28 east Market st, www.thaliofindia.com

tony r’s Tony R’s is the first upscale steak and seafood restaurant in Corning, New York’s Gaffer District. They serve the finest cuisine in the area and also offer a tremendous selection of the finest wines that you will not want to miss. (607) 937-9277, 2-6 east Market street, www.tonyrssteakandseafood.com.

riCo’s piZZa Rico’s Pizza offers NY Style hand-tossed pizzas with a variety of toppings. The full menu includes appetizers, salads, subs, calzones, stromboli’s, and pizza by the slice. Dessert, beer, and wine are also available. (607) 962-2300, 92 W Market street, www.ricospizza.com.

WaylandaCorn #16 featuring subWay “Eat Fresh.” (585) 728-3840, 2341 Rt. 63, www.acornmarkets.com.

Chemung CountyHorseheads

riCo’s piZZa Rico’s Pizza offers NY Style hand-tossed pizzas with a variety of toppings. The full menu includes appetizers, salads, subs, calzones, stromboli’s, and pizza by the slice. Dessert, beer, and wine are also available. (607) 796-2200, 2162 grand Central ave, www.ricospizza.com.

finger lakesHammondsport

Maloney’s pub Maloney’s Pub offers live music year round. Come show your talent or view other local talent at their open mics on Thursdays, or lounge around and play pool at their pool table. They also have pub merchandise available. (607) 569-2264, 57 pulteney st, www.maloneyspub.com.

Watkins GlenCaptain bill’s Discover the beauty of Seneca Lake. Dine afloat aboard the Seneca Legacy or on the waterfront at Seneca Harbor Station. Saturday night dinner cruises sail from 6-9 p.m. Open 7 days. (607) 535-4541, 1 n franklin st, www.senecaharborstation.com.

restaurants, cont.

FOOd & dRINk


52

In an earlier time, the village blacksmith was the hub (and a few of the spokes, too) of his community’s wheel. From the hardware that

held their cabins together to the weapons and other tools they required, American settlers were dependent on the local guy with the forge. Nails were so valuable that, in some cases, when settlers decided to move on, they would burn their cabins just to retrieve the nails. In fact, said Doug Firestone, a history lover and, you guessed it, a working blacksmith and gunsmith, when the country began expanding west, a blacksmith was so vital to success that wherever one settled the community formed around him.

The notion of community and his role in it is one Firestone cherishes and nourishes. It’s evident when you visit Firestone Forge, situated on Route 144 between Galeton and Germania. The business is a stop on the PA Route 6 Artisan Trail. During the summer months, it is a showcase for his own fun and functional forged creations—hardware, cooking implements, fireplace sets, gardening tools, all manner of hooks and hanging devices—as well as items from other PA Wilds juried artisans. Firestone admits a sort of bemusement at calling himself an artist, but the quality of his work calls for the label.

Firestone got his start early, hanging out at his uncle’s gunsmith/pattern-making shop. At one point, his uncle couldn’t find the flat springs used in old guns. “I made an impromptu forge,” recalled Firestone. He found a spring pattern in an old Popular Mechanics and began making the flat springs his uncle needed. After high school, he attended the University of Maine for a while, studying forestry.

But he was disenchanted when he realized that “all they were teaching me was how to cut down trees.” He went in a few other directions, including engineering, and then wound his way back to metal, blacksmithing, and gunsmithing.

“I caught myself on fire; I caught my barn on fire,” he said, laughing at his early efforts. He eventually discovered the rendezvous circuit—events that include living history, pioneering, and military reenactments—and realized there was a market there for household products as well as an opportunity to indulge his love of history. Local events include the Tioga County Early Days and the Cherry Springs Woodsman’s Festival. This time of year, if you stop in at Firestone Forge to purchase a music stand, candelabra, or something

Above: Blacksmith and gunsmith Doug Firestone makes products for home and hearth. Below: This hanging pot or basket holder and the snake ring holder (right) are examples of Firestone’s iron forged home items.

HOME & GARdEN

Burn Down the Cabin!Blacksmith Gets All Fired Up at Forge

story and Photography By gayle Morrow

53

as basic as a toilet paper holder, you may find yourself drawn to the warmth of the woodstove. A customer comes to pick up an 1880s-era gun Firestone has repaired. “No electricity was used to make that,” he noted. “It was guys with files.” A local couple drops in to peruse the resident bookshelf. Firestone’s wife, Chris, a botanist with the state Bureau of Forestry, brings coffee from the house and then she and their son, Dane, head over to Wellsboro to help package Goodies For Our Troops. Another neighbor turns the conversation to a topic on the mind of many residents these days—gas drilling. Firestone, a civil engineer in a previous life, is working on a limited basis with an engineering firm to offer assistance to municipalities dealing with the variety of situations arising from the gas industry. He explained that he thought he was retired from engineering work when he moved from Perry County to Potter County in 2003. He had been working at an engineering firm in Harrisburg but confessed to a change in priorities after September 11, 2001. “I realized my family wanted me and my

time more than the money,” he said. But over the past couple of years he also began to realize, with a little prodding from his wife, that communities—his immediate geographic community as well as other groups to which he feels a connection—might be in need of the services he could provide. So the village blacksmith, still, finds himself at the hub of a wheel.

Gayle Morrow, former editor of The Wellsboro Gazette, cooks locally, and organically, at the West End Market Café.

Shop: Firestone ForgeLocation: 1280 germania road, galeton, PaPhone: 814-435-8277Hours: vary with the seasonWeb site: www.firestoneforge.com

54

Real estate Real estate

Secluded country retreat on 20+ acres bordering thousands of acres of timber company land, with maintenance free home or camp. Ideal for horses or other livestock, wildlife all over and perfect for snowmobiling or 4-wheeling; in-place garden shed and workshop. OGM’s are owned, not leased, negotiable. MTH 120981 $239,000

Over 243’ of Pine Creek frontage, 3.4 acres with an in-ground perc. Enjoy fishing, rafting, swimming, canoeing, biking, hiking, snowmobiling, 4-wheeling, or just relax in your camper for a long summer’s worth of pleasure. Oil, Gas & Mineral rights negotiable. MTH 119173 $99,900

Great starter home, seasonal camp or full time residence. Nicely remodeled with newer kitchen and bath, and frontage on Oswayo Creek for great fishing. 4-wheel or snowmobile from this property. MTH 120988 $69,900

Great 3 BR starter home on 3.5 acres set up for a couple of horses with a 30x24 two stall horse barn. Like new 2009 mobile home with a stream is close to schools, yet very rural area. MTH 120495 $112,500

2 BR single wide w/recent renovations - new shingled roof, flooring throughout, electric range and refrigerator, fresh paint, most windows replaced. Updated electric, 1.5 baths - washer/dryer hook-ups. Located in Hillside View Park, 3 miles west of Mansfield on Route 6. Base lot rent is $240 - occupancy subject to park owner approval - park rules apply. BRO 121670 $15,000

Nestled among thousands of acres of public land is this completely remodeled 2 BR cabin on 7.43 acres. Close to Cherry Springs State Park and some of the best star gazing on the east coast. Everything is like new and if you are looking for peace and quiet, this place would fit the bill! MTH 121242 $99,900

Ideal location for a second home, family retreat, or if you like privacy and seclusion - full time residence. 78+ acres - mostly wooded - borders State Forest Lands. Trails to the top of the mountain, several natural springs, neighborhood consists of large tracts of wooded acreage and farm properties. Custom built home by owner - many features are hand crafted. Large covered wrap-around porch; OGM’s are leased, transfer to Buyer. MTH 121177 $739,000

Enjoy this mature, nicely developed subdivision of fine homes on one of the largest lots - a beautiful 3+ acres. This lot slopes gently up from the Township maintained Cherry Tree Lane, with an added feature of hi-speed internet service available. MTH 121700 $21,900

100+ acres w/exceptional log constructed home and large pole barn for equipment. Home features 3 BRs, great room w/cathedral ceiling and open loft area, stone hearth w/woodstove, tongue-in-groove ceiling and natural wood and stone accents, full basement with 2 car garage and finished living space. Long mountain views. MTH 119796 $749,900

Beautiful remodeled 5 BR farmhouse with a newer addition on 88 acres. Enjoy large stone fireplace in Great Room, beautifully landscaped grounds with 6 picture perfect out buildings, 1st floor BR and bath w/laundry; borders State Forest, some fencing. Excellent horse property or commercial possibilities; some timber value. OGM leased, may be negotiated. MTH 119077 $449,000

Wellsboro home challenges comparison, is located 2.5 miles from downtown on 6.23 acres w/phenomenal views. Entertainment-size family room overlooks pristine view of the countryside and accesses the spacious deck; basement is partially finished, featuring a theater room w/wet bar. Attached oversized 2 car garage and meticulous landscaping. MTH 121219 $345,000

We proudly support and contribute to “Goodies For Our Troops”

www.pennoakrealty.com65 Main Street, Wellsboro, PA 16901 l (570) 724-8000

PA Certified WBE

Ordinary People Providing Extraordinary Service!

Well Maintained Home in the Woods! Pride of ownership shows in this well maintained, 3 bedroom, 2 bath gem in the woods. Has privacy and seclusion yet close to town. Full finished basement will be a great hangout for all as well as the huge patio. Comes with many furnishings! REF#10404 . . . $250,000

Lake View Home! This 2 story, 3 bedroom, 1.75 bath home is a gem!! Hardwood floors, pocket doors and oak woodwork. Watch the famous Galeton fireworks over the lake or sit on your screened back porch. There is a stone patio and a two story over-sized garage with parking on the top floor. REF#10406 . . .$109,923

Cute Starter Home! Cute starter home or rental in the town of Coudersport at a great price. The home features 3 or 4 bedrooms, 1 bath, laundry hook ups, back deck and paved driveway to a 2 car garage. It is a convenient location to downtown. REF#10408 . . .$69,000

Lovely In Town Home! Very nice, move-in ready 3 bedroom, 2 bath home on a corner lot. There are two decks to relax on & unwind, a well-taken-care-of, 1.5-story garage with a workshop and lots of storage upstairs! The furnace is two years old. Washer & dryer are included. REF#10410 . . .$129,900

Immaculate Home! This immaculate 3 bedroom, 2 bath home radiates warmth and comfort with a kitchen opening into the family room that showcases a spectacular stone fireplace. It has a large finished basement room for more space too! The deck looks out onto the peaceful backyard. REF#10411 . . .$189,000

Lovely Country Home! Four bedroom, one bath, country getaway situated on Little Pine Creek near hunting, hiking, fishing, Rails to trails and state land. This lovingly cared for home is fully and tastefully furnished. Enjoy the views of Little Pine Creek from the great front porch! REF#10414 . . .$129,900

Classic frame farmhouse with a stocked pond, a creek and wooded hunting land. Make some repairs to the barn and bring the livestock. Deer, bear and turkey abound. Could be subdivided. REF#10416 . . .$309,000

Country Farmhouse! Farmhouse on 10 acres with fruit orchards in wonderful country setting. This recently restored farmhouse features plenty of living space, an antique clawfoot bathtub plus a 1 car attached garage and a 2 car, oversized, detached garage with electric. REF#10426 . . .$169,900

55


Secluded country retreat on 20+ acres bordering thousands of acres of timber company land, with maintenance free home or camp. Ideal for horses or other livestock, wildlife all over and perfect for snowmobiling or 4-wheeling; in-place garden shed and workshop. OGM’s are owned, not leased, negotiable. MTH 120981 $239,000

Over 243’ of Pine Creek frontage, 3.4 acres with an in-ground perc. Enjoy fishing, rafting, swimming, canoeing, biking, hiking, snowmobiling, 4-wheeling, or just relax in your camper for a long summer’s worth of pleasure. Oil, Gas & Mineral rights negotiable. MTH 119173 $99,900

Great starter home, seasonal camp or full time residence. Nicely remodeled with newer kitchen and bath, and frontage on Oswayo Creek for great fishing. 4-wheel or snowmobile from this property. MTH 120988 $69,900

Great 3 BR starter home on 3.5 acres set up for a couple of horses with a 30x24 two stall horse barn. Like new 2009 mobile home with a stream is close to schools, yet very rural area. MTH 120495 $112,500

2 BR single wide w/recent renovations - new shingled roof, flooring throughout, electric range and refrigerator, fresh paint, most windows replaced. Updated electric, 1.5 baths - washer/dryer hook-ups. Located in Hillside View Park, 3 miles west of Mansfield on Route 6. Base lot rent is $240 - occupancy subject to park owner approval - park rules apply. BRO 121670 $15,000

Nestled among thousands of acres of public land is this completely remodeled 2 BR cabin on 7.43 acres. Close to Cherry Springs State Park and some of the best star gazing on the east coast. Everything is like new and if you are looking for peace and quiet, this place would fit the bill! MTH 121242 $99,900

Ideal location for a second home, family retreat, or if you like privacy and seclusion - full time residence. 78+ acres - mostly wooded - borders State Forest Lands. Trails to the top of the mountain, several natural springs, neighborhood consists of large tracts of wooded acreage and farm properties. Custom built home by owner - many features are hand crafted. Large covered wrap-around porch; OGM’s are leased, transfer to Buyer. MTH 121177 $739,000

Enjoy this mature, nicely developed subdivision of fine homes on one of the largest lots - a beautiful 3+ acres. This lot slopes gently up from the Township maintained Cherry Tree Lane, with an added feature of hi-speed internet service available. MTH 121700 $21,900

100+ acres w/exceptional log constructed home and large pole barn for equipment. Home features 3 BRs, great room w/cathedral ceiling and open loft area, stone hearth w/woodstove, tongue-in-groove ceiling and natural wood and stone accents, full basement with 2 car garage and finished living space. Long mountain views. MTH 119796 $749,900

Beautiful remodeled 5 BR farmhouse with a newer addition on 88 acres. Enjoy large stone fireplace in Great Room, beautifully landscaped grounds with 6 picture perfect out buildings, 1st floor BR and bath w/laundry; borders State Forest, some fencing. Excellent horse property or commercial possibilities; some timber value. OGM leased, may be negotiated. MTH 119077 $449,000

Wellsboro home challenges comparison, is located 2.5 miles from downtown on 6.23 acres w/phenomenal views. Entertainment-size family room overlooks pristine view of the countryside and accesses the spacious deck; basement is partially finished, featuring a theater room w/wet bar. Attached oversized 2 car garage and meticulous landscaping. MTH 121219 $345,000

We proudly support and contribute to “Goodies For Our Troops”

www.pennoakrealty.com65 Main Street, Wellsboro, PA 16901 l (570) 724-8000

PA Certified WBE

Ordinary People Providing Extraordinary Service!

Well Maintained Home in the Woods! Pride of ownership shows in this well maintained, 3 bedroom, 2 bath gem in the woods. Has privacy and seclusion yet close to town. Full finished basement will be a great hangout for all as well as the huge patio. Comes with many furnishings! REF#10404 . . . $250,000

Lake View Home! This 2 story, 3 bedroom, 1.75 bath home is a gem!! Hardwood floors, pocket doors and oak woodwork. Watch the famous Galeton fireworks over the lake or sit on your screened back porch. There is a stone patio and a two story over-sized garage with parking on the top floor. REF#10406 . . .$109,923

Cute Starter Home! Cute starter home or rental in the town of Coudersport at a great price. The home features 3 or 4 bedrooms, 1 bath, laundry hook ups, back deck and paved driveway to a 2 car garage. It is a convenient location to downtown. REF#10408 . . .$69,000

Lovely In Town Home! Very nice, move-in ready 3 bedroom, 2 bath home on a corner lot. There are two decks to relax on & unwind, a well-taken-care-of, 1.5-story garage with a workshop and lots of storage upstairs! The furnace is two years old. Washer & dryer are included. REF#10410 . . .$129,900

Immaculate Home! This immaculate 3 bedroom, 2 bath home radiates warmth and comfort with a kitchen opening into the family room that showcases a spectacular stone fireplace. It has a large finished basement room for more space too! The deck looks out onto the peaceful backyard. REF#10411 . . .$189,000

Lovely Country Home! Four bedroom, one bath, country getaway situated on Little Pine Creek near hunting, hiking, fishing, Rails to trails and state land. This lovingly cared for home is fully and tastefully furnished. Enjoy the views of Little Pine Creek from the great front porch! REF#10414 . . .$129,900

Classic frame farmhouse with a stocked pond, a creek and wooded hunting land. Make some repairs to the barn and bring the livestock. Deer, bear and turkey abound. Could be subdivided. REF#10416 . . .$309,000

Country Farmhouse! Farmhouse on 10 acres with fruit orchards in wonderful country setting. This recently restored farmhouse features plenty of living space, an antique clawfoot bathtub plus a 1 car attached garage and a 2 car, oversized, detached garage with electric. REF#10426 . . .$169,900

56

Call the office at 570-723-8484 114 Tioga Street (Rt. 6 across from Pizza Hut)

Wellsboro, Pa. 16901www.mountainvalleyrealtyllc.com

Come hunt, fish, play, live ...

CAMP BORDERING STATE LAND-4.41ac Make this camp your own getaway or full time residence! 4.41 ac bordering state land in wooded setting offers 2 bdrms. with room for a 3rd. Cozy and delightful this home comes furnished. Easy drive down to Rt. 6 in Gaines Twp. Must see cabin! and nice wooded lot. #121855 $135,000

19.96 Wooded Acres Within Walking Distance to Schools - 19.96 wooded acres. Seller currently doing preliminary subdivision proposal to boro. Pertinent info available. This land is within walking distance to schools and beautiful downtown Wellsboro. Potential here for 7 lovely building sites. Frontage at English and Sears Sts. $222,000. #121568

SPACIOUS ATTRACTIVE HOME 1.07AC Outstanding opportunity if you are seeking a larger home for you family. 5 bdrms, 3 full baths, spacious kitchen/dining room and large cozy family room in lower lever with gas fireplace. Also offers an attached 2 car garage and paved driveway. All this on 1.07 in lovely neighborhood.$239,000.#121577

GRAND ESTATE ON 102 ACRES! This spectacular 7500 sqft classic is a timeless treasure! Rich architecture, exquisite details and luxurious ammenities, this 4+ bdrm estate offers uncompromising quality and style. 102+ acres with negotiable OGM’s. Also a 4000 sqft building, w/a 2bdrm, apt/inlaw suite on prop. $2,950,000 #121184

94+/- AC IN BORO OF WELLSBORO A substantial opportunity for development potential within the Borough of Wellsboro. Further & pertinent info is available. Access to Public sewer and water. $1,500,000 #120040

Efficient Classy Contemporary Home - Efficient classy small contemporary home on 1.06 ac ideal for starter home or buyer looking to scale down home size. 2-3 bdrm unique home provides cozy interior. Short drive to Rt. 15 near Blossburg exit. Seeking offer. $119,000. #121520

BEAUTIFUL CUSTOM CEDAR HOME 7 AC - Contemporary cedar home-7+ ac. Large covered back porch overlooks lovely landscaping. Inside, the home is warm and welcoming. Cozy home 5 bdrms, 2 story fireplace, large windows, and Amish blt barn/workshop with electric and heat. EZ to Coudersport,Pa. and Olean or Wellsville NY. $349,000. #121523

Great opportunity!! HOME AND BUSINESS Commercial property with 11 storage units, laundromat and residence that you could live in or lease for additional income. There are 2 billboards on property providing additional income. There is plenty of property for additional units or possible yard to lease to gas companies. $339,900 #121425

UNCOMPARABLE HOME-EXQUISITE DETAIL - Incomparable style in the countryside outside of Liberty, Pa. Unique amenities, suana, pool, spa, exquisite rare hardwood finishes throughout, 3 ac just over the Lycoming County Line offering easy drive to Rt. 15/I-99 to Williamsport, Mansfield, Wellsboro and beyond. Make offer! $410,000 #121168

Single Family Ranch Home with Large Back Yard - 3 bedroom ranch home offers very large backyard for the pets or the family. Attractive large kitchen/dining area and family room in basement for entertaining. Offers handicap ramp which can be removed if necessary. $142,000 #121578

LOT CLOSE TO NY BORDER - Build your home on this .57 acre lot close to the NY border! This lot is in a private location and is priced to sell. Possible owner financing available, and current owner may build to suit. $30,000. #121479

FOUR SEASON CABIN 8 PLUS AC. - Efficient, four-season cabin in the woods! Sitting on 8+ wooded acres with two tree stands, this property is ready for a hunters weekend retreat. Custom cottage has tongue and groove pine and hemlock interior with 3 bdrms. Relax and enjoy your own piece of Potter County. A steal at $102,000! #121549

Successful Tavern/Lounge/Bar with HOME and Campground - Successful opportunity! Excellent financials, turn-key operation with substantial regular customers. Bring your expertise and foresight. Full service kitchen with current equipment. Offers home to occupy or lease and small campground. EZ to Rt.15 OFF Ramp, NY or Mansfield! $679,000. #121497

20 ac Hobby Farm-360 degree views - Finish the interior of this lovely home to your taste. 20 ac ideal and set up for beef, horse, alpacas, etc. Living quarters currently in raised basement while you finish this unique home. Layout offers family room, lg spacious kitchen-din.,liv.rooms, 4-5 bdrms. 30x40 barn and more.$289,000 #121423

16 +/- LEVEL ACRES-COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL - Here is 16+ acres offers long frontage on Rt. 249. 2 existing driveways, 3 phase electric and natural gas at the road. Ideal for gas industry usage. This property is also FAA approved landing strip. $439,000. #120563

2 Story Custom Built Log Home - A lovely log home in Wellsboro on 15+ plus. Home offers stunning views from the large deck Ideal for your family with 4 bdrms, 2.5 baths, unique floor plan,spacious walkout basement featuring radiant floor heat and a patio beyond. Boasts a 3 car detached garage.Tioga County #121455 $499,900

6.02 acre lot with 100% OGM’s unleased! 6.02 acre building lot with 100% OGM’s unleased! Gorgeous bldg. lot already has well, holding tank for septic, electric and driveway is in. Private wooded setting and overlook your ponds. Walk to State Game Lands and Hills Creek Lake. May offer seller’s assist to a qualified buyer. $114,900 #121336

GREAT AFFORDABLE OPPORTUNITY TO MOVE RIGHT INTO...Affordable 4 bdrm, 2 bath home between Wellsboro, Mansfield and Blossburg.200 amp electric, new windows, doors and completely remodeled. Would make a great home for first time homebuyers! $87,000 #119594

Very Private Retreat or Permanent Home! This log home features a 2 sided wood burnung stone fireplace cherry steps to the second floor loft which also has 2 bedrooms and bath. The first floor has a 25’x30’ opened ceiling great room with a wood stove. Slate floors throughout the first floor, except mstr. suite. $449,000. #121313

SPACIOUS COUNTRY HOME! 6 AC - This three bedroom home sits on 6 acres conveniently located between Wellsboro and Mansfield. The back yard features blackberry and blueberry bushes as well as grapevines; two acres are wooded. The kitchen was remodeled in 2005 and features cherry cabinets and newer appliances. $175,000. #121166

Ranch home on 10 wooded acres! 3 bedroom Ranch home on 10 acres with 100% OGM’s conveying in Delmar Twp! Property sits in a very private wooded setting with a 3bd, 2ba cozy home along with a 3 car garage (being completed), and is in a gas unit. Make offer! $244,500. #120905

Ranch home, 4.4 ac, beautiful views, and pond! Ranch home with cherry stained maple cabinets, granite counter tops, ceramic tiled floor and stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, 13’ cathedral ceiling in great room,central air and much more. Seller is a licensed real estate agent. $349,500 #120843

2 HOMES ON A 53 ACRES! 53+ ac conveys 100% OGMs! 2 homes, 2 barns, 3 ac pond, peaceful tranquility, and privacy! Newer home features 4 bdrms, 3 full baths, sun porch, and is like brand new! Priced to sell. Property has just been completely unitized for potential royalties! $519,000 #120682

30.25 AC NEWER HOME CLOSE TO WELLSBORO - Lg stocked pond, 2-car garage, 2-story barn & 30.25 beautiful ac. Custom features! Breakfast nook w/built-in seating, formal dining room, & fireplace in living room. Backup generator, whole-house fan, coal or propane heat. Ideal family property-private country setting near Wellsboro.$399,000 #119992

22.54 ac-WOW the VIEWS...between Troy and Mansfield over the meadows & beyond! Meticulously maintained Lindel cedar log multi-level home. Raised basement for add’l living space. Elegant & rustic w/open flr plan. A/C, Harmon coal stove, lg.new garage, new well & spring, 22.54 ac open & wooded land. Corner property with long frontage. $385,000 #119956

AWESOME VACATION GETAWAY HOME ON 3.79 AC - close to Kettle Creek State Park & Creek. This newly constructed, log-sided two-story cabin is waiting for you! Enjoy the peaceful tranquility from the deck, nestled on a mountainside in the woods. Call today for details. $184,900. MLS#120482

100% OMGs- YOUR PRIVATE CASTLE ON 65 AC - Indescribable detail in this custom home w/unique post & beam design,open floorplan, cathedral ceilings,lg windows & double glass doors throughout.Access the lg deck from 4 rooms. Custom amenities including lavish master bathroom.65+/- acs offer future timber potential & 100% OGM rights. $769,000.

SUBSTANTIAL OPPORTUNITY...124 ac-100% OGMs - 124 gently rolling acres very close to Borough of Wellsboro. Property offers 2 homes, a pond, a stream, phenomenal views and sits in a quality country setting. 100% Oil, Gas & Mineral Rights will convey to the buyer. This is the heart of the Marcellus Shale Gas Exploration! $1,500,000 #120176

FULL TIME or SEASONAL HOME, 1.75 AC and a great detached oversized 2 car garage. Offers new roof and kitchen, 3 bdrm. home has hardwood floors throughout! Comfortable, cozy, efficient in a beautiful country setting, EZ drive to Coudersport in Potter County. $125,000. Motivated seller says make offer! #119270

WHAT A GREAT LITTLE LOG HOME. WALK TO PINE CREEK! 2 bdrm, 2 level living w/decks all around. Vacation rental or full-time living. 2-3 bdrm, 2 bath, laundry, 3/4 bath, den or master bdrm space with lg. stone fireplace. Rustic cathedral open flr plan for kit, din rm, liv rm. Walk to Pine Creek. Located Rt.6, Rexford. Make offer.$99,000 #119504

60 acres and a CLASSIC HOME The 17 x 25 eat-in kitchen has lots of cabinet space and opens out to the back deck, great space for family gatherings and entertaining. Beautiful woodwork and hardwood flrs. have been preserved in the home. Two large bdrms on the second floor share a full bath. Plenty of fencing. $275,000 #121318

CAMP OR FULL TIME RESIDENCE...in good condition on almost 7+/- acres that are partially wooded. New metal roof on camp. This property would be great for a camp or full-time residence. Great views for miles! Eulalia Township, Potter County. $75,000 #119026

Tioga County CAPE COD-5 acres - Hobby farmette or just a great extremely private setting. Ideal location for family home or getaway location. Home offers 3-4 bdrms, very large kit/dining rm, wraparound deck with long views, full walkout basement, very nice barn and large garage/workshop both with electric. $252,000 #121443

CONTEMPORARY RUSTIC HOME 4.52 AC- TIOGA COUNTY - Spacious home overlooking beautiful country and mountains beyond from lg wrap around deck. Spacious home, 3-4 bdrms, cathedral ceilings in kitchen/dining rm, ideal for entertaining. Raised walkout basement offers more living space and add’l views of the valley. #121440 $229,000

Land with Commerical Opportunity! 38.64 acres located near Y of Rt 6/660 with Commercial potential! This property currently has a 4608 sq ft barn, well, 200 amp electric and public sewer available. Excellent location. EZ access to Rt 15, Mansfied, Wellsboro in the heart of Marcellus Shale Country. $625,000. #121356

BEAUTIFUL 2 STORY CLOSE TO WELLSBORO! Excellent floor plan, large kitchen area is open to the family room, lots of closet space, and offers attached 2 car garage. Quaint porch to admire the beautiful landscaping and enjoy the large open backyard from the deck. OGM’s transfer to buyer. $225,000. #121354

developable lot

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57

Call the office at 570-723-8484 114 Tioga Street (Rt. 6 across from Pizza Hut)

Wellsboro, Pa. 16901www.mountainvalleyrealtyllc.com

Come hunt, fish, play, live ...

CAMP BORDERING STATE LAND-4.41ac Make this camp your own getaway or full time residence! 4.41 ac bordering state land in wooded setting offers 2 bdrms. with room for a 3rd. Cozy and delightful this home comes furnished. Easy drive down to Rt. 6 in Gaines Twp. Must see cabin! and nice wooded lot. #121855 $135,000

19.96 Wooded Acres Within Walking Distance to Schools - 19.96 wooded acres. Seller currently doing preliminary subdivision proposal to boro. Pertinent info available. This land is within walking distance to schools and beautiful downtown Wellsboro. Potential here for 7 lovely building sites. Frontage at English and Sears Sts. $222,000. #121568

SPACIOUS ATTRACTIVE HOME 1.07AC Outstanding opportunity if you are seeking a larger home for you family. 5 bdrms, 3 full baths, spacious kitchen/dining room and large cozy family room in lower lever with gas fireplace. Also offers an attached 2 car garage and paved driveway. All this on 1.07 in lovely neighborhood.$239,000.#121577

GRAND ESTATE ON 102 ACRES! This spectacular 7500 sqft classic is a timeless treasure! Rich architecture, exquisite details and luxurious ammenities, this 4+ bdrm estate offers uncompromising quality and style. 102+ acres with negotiable OGM’s. Also a 4000 sqft building, w/a 2bdrm, apt/inlaw suite on prop. $2,950,000 #121184

94+/- AC IN BORO OF WELLSBORO A substantial opportunity for development potential within the Borough of Wellsboro. Further & pertinent info is available. Access to Public sewer and water. $1,500,000 #120040

Efficient Classy Contemporary Home - Efficient classy small contemporary home on 1.06 ac ideal for starter home or buyer looking to scale down home size. 2-3 bdrm unique home provides cozy interior. Short drive to Rt. 15 near Blossburg exit. Seeking offer. $119,000. #121520

BEAUTIFUL CUSTOM CEDAR HOME 7 AC - Contemporary cedar home-7+ ac. Large covered back porch overlooks lovely landscaping. Inside, the home is warm and welcoming. Cozy home 5 bdrms, 2 story fireplace, large windows, and Amish blt barn/workshop with electric and heat. EZ to Coudersport,Pa. and Olean or Wellsville NY. $349,000. #121523

Great opportunity!! HOME AND BUSINESS Commercial property with 11 storage units, laundromat and residence that you could live in or lease for additional income. There are 2 billboards on property providing additional income. There is plenty of property for additional units or possible yard to lease to gas companies. $339,900 #121425

UNCOMPARABLE HOME-EXQUISITE DETAIL - Incomparable style in the countryside outside of Liberty, Pa. Unique amenities, suana, pool, spa, exquisite rare hardwood finishes throughout, 3 ac just over the Lycoming County Line offering easy drive to Rt. 15/I-99 to Williamsport, Mansfield, Wellsboro and beyond. Make offer! $410,000 #121168

Single Family Ranch Home with Large Back Yard - 3 bedroom ranch home offers very large backyard for the pets or the family. Attractive large kitchen/dining area and family room in basement for entertaining. Offers handicap ramp which can be removed if necessary. $142,000 #121578

LOT CLOSE TO NY BORDER - Build your home on this .57 acre lot close to the NY border! This lot is in a private location and is priced to sell. Possible owner financing available, and current owner may build to suit. $30,000. #121479

FOUR SEASON CABIN 8 PLUS AC. - Efficient, four-season cabin in the woods! Sitting on 8+ wooded acres with two tree stands, this property is ready for a hunters weekend retreat. Custom cottage has tongue and groove pine and hemlock interior with 3 bdrms. Relax and enjoy your own piece of Potter County. A steal at $102,000! #121549

Successful Tavern/Lounge/Bar with HOME and Campground - Successful opportunity! Excellent financials, turn-key operation with substantial regular customers. Bring your expertise and foresight. Full service kitchen with current equipment. Offers home to occupy or lease and small campground. EZ to Rt.15 OFF Ramp, NY or Mansfield! $679,000. #121497

20 ac Hobby Farm-360 degree views - Finish the interior of this lovely home to your taste. 20 ac ideal and set up for beef, horse, alpacas, etc. Living quarters currently in raised basement while you finish this unique home. Layout offers family room, lg spacious kitchen-din.,liv.rooms, 4-5 bdrms. 30x40 barn and more.$289,000 #121423

16 +/- LEVEL ACRES-COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL - Here is 16+ acres offers long frontage on Rt. 249. 2 existing driveways, 3 phase electric and natural gas at the road. Ideal for gas industry usage. This property is also FAA approved landing strip. $439,000. #120563

2 Story Custom Built Log Home - A lovely log home in Wellsboro on 15+ plus. Home offers stunning views from the large deck Ideal for your family with 4 bdrms, 2.5 baths, unique floor plan,spacious walkout basement featuring radiant floor heat and a patio beyond. Boasts a 3 car detached garage.Tioga County #121455 $499,900

6.02 acre lot with 100% OGM’s unleased! 6.02 acre building lot with 100% OGM’s unleased! Gorgeous bldg. lot already has well, holding tank for septic, electric and driveway is in. Private wooded setting and overlook your ponds. Walk to State Game Lands and Hills Creek Lake. May offer seller’s assist to a qualified buyer. $114,900 #121336

GREAT AFFORDABLE OPPORTUNITY TO MOVE RIGHT INTO...Affordable 4 bdrm, 2 bath home between Wellsboro, Mansfield and Blossburg.200 amp electric, new windows, doors and completely remodeled. Would make a great home for first time homebuyers! $87,000 #119594

Very Private Retreat or Permanent Home! This log home features a 2 sided wood burnung stone fireplace cherry steps to the second floor loft which also has 2 bedrooms and bath. The first floor has a 25’x30’ opened ceiling great room with a wood stove. Slate floors throughout the first floor, except mstr. suite. $449,000. #121313

SPACIOUS COUNTRY HOME! 6 AC - This three bedroom home sits on 6 acres conveniently located between Wellsboro and Mansfield. The back yard features blackberry and blueberry bushes as well as grapevines; two acres are wooded. The kitchen was remodeled in 2005 and features cherry cabinets and newer appliances. $175,000. #121166

Ranch home on 10 wooded acres! 3 bedroom Ranch home on 10 acres with 100% OGM’s conveying in Delmar Twp! Property sits in a very private wooded setting with a 3bd, 2ba cozy home along with a 3 car garage (being completed), and is in a gas unit. Make offer! $244,500. #120905

Ranch home, 4.4 ac, beautiful views, and pond! Ranch home with cherry stained maple cabinets, granite counter tops, ceramic tiled floor and stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, 13’ cathedral ceiling in great room,central air and much more. Seller is a licensed real estate agent. $349,500 #120843

2 HOMES ON A 53 ACRES! 53+ ac conveys 100% OGMs! 2 homes, 2 barns, 3 ac pond, peaceful tranquility, and privacy! Newer home features 4 bdrms, 3 full baths, sun porch, and is like brand new! Priced to sell. Property has just been completely unitized for potential royalties! $519,000 #120682

30.25 AC NEWER HOME CLOSE TO WELLSBORO - Lg stocked pond, 2-car garage, 2-story barn & 30.25 beautiful ac. Custom features! Breakfast nook w/built-in seating, formal dining room, & fireplace in living room. Backup generator, whole-house fan, coal or propane heat. Ideal family property-private country setting near Wellsboro.$399,000 #119992

22.54 ac-WOW the VIEWS...between Troy and Mansfield over the meadows & beyond! Meticulously maintained Lindel cedar log multi-level home. Raised basement for add’l living space. Elegant & rustic w/open flr plan. A/C, Harmon coal stove, lg.new garage, new well & spring, 22.54 ac open & wooded land. Corner property with long frontage. $385,000 #119956

AWESOME VACATION GETAWAY HOME ON 3.79 AC - close to Kettle Creek State Park & Creek. This newly constructed, log-sided two-story cabin is waiting for you! Enjoy the peaceful tranquility from the deck, nestled on a mountainside in the woods. Call today for details. $184,900. MLS#120482

100% OMGs- YOUR PRIVATE CASTLE ON 65 AC - Indescribable detail in this custom home w/unique post & beam design,open floorplan, cathedral ceilings,lg windows & double glass doors throughout.Access the lg deck from 4 rooms. Custom amenities including lavish master bathroom.65+/- acs offer future timber potential & 100% OGM rights. $769,000.

SUBSTANTIAL OPPORTUNITY...124 ac-100% OGMs - 124 gently rolling acres very close to Borough of Wellsboro. Property offers 2 homes, a pond, a stream, phenomenal views and sits in a quality country setting. 100% Oil, Gas & Mineral Rights will convey to the buyer. This is the heart of the Marcellus Shale Gas Exploration! $1,500,000 #120176

FULL TIME or SEASONAL HOME, 1.75 AC and a great detached oversized 2 car garage. Offers new roof and kitchen, 3 bdrm. home has hardwood floors throughout! Comfortable, cozy, efficient in a beautiful country setting, EZ drive to Coudersport in Potter County. $125,000. Motivated seller says make offer! #119270

WHAT A GREAT LITTLE LOG HOME. WALK TO PINE CREEK! 2 bdrm, 2 level living w/decks all around. Vacation rental or full-time living. 2-3 bdrm, 2 bath, laundry, 3/4 bath, den or master bdrm space with lg. stone fireplace. Rustic cathedral open flr plan for kit, din rm, liv rm. Walk to Pine Creek. Located Rt.6, Rexford. Make offer.$99,000 #119504

60 acres and a CLASSIC HOME The 17 x 25 eat-in kitchen has lots of cabinet space and opens out to the back deck, great space for family gatherings and entertaining. Beautiful woodwork and hardwood flrs. have been preserved in the home. Two large bdrms on the second floor share a full bath. Plenty of fencing. $275,000 #121318

CAMP OR FULL TIME RESIDENCE...in good condition on almost 7+/- acres that are partially wooded. New metal roof on camp. This property would be great for a camp or full-time residence. Great views for miles! Eulalia Township, Potter County. $75,000 #119026

Tioga County CAPE COD-5 acres - Hobby farmette or just a great extremely private setting. Ideal location for family home or getaway location. Home offers 3-4 bdrms, very large kit/dining rm, wraparound deck with long views, full walkout basement, very nice barn and large garage/workshop both with electric. $252,000 #121443

CONTEMPORARY RUSTIC HOME 4.52 AC- TIOGA COUNTY - Spacious home overlooking beautiful country and mountains beyond from lg wrap around deck. Spacious home, 3-4 bdrms, cathedral ceilings in kitchen/dining rm, ideal for entertaining. Raised walkout basement offers more living space and add’l views of the valley. #121440 $229,000

Land with Commerical Opportunity! 38.64 acres located near Y of Rt 6/660 with Commercial potential! This property currently has a 4608 sq ft barn, well, 200 amp electric and public sewer available. Excellent location. EZ access to Rt 15, Mansfied, Wellsboro in the heart of Marcellus Shale Country. $625,000. #121356

BEAUTIFUL 2 STORY CLOSE TO WELLSBORO! Excellent floor plan, large kitchen area is open to the family room, lots of closet space, and offers attached 2 car garage. Quaint porch to admire the beautiful landscaping and enjoy the large open backyard from the deck. OGM’s transfer to buyer. $225,000. #121354

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58


#139 GERMANIA FARM HOUSE – with large cherry kitchen, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, stone fireplace. In a picturesque setting. Many upgrades with original woodwork. Large barn, stream, small orchard on 2.18 acres. Listed at $119,900.00

#134 QUAINT COTTAGE STYLE HOME IN THE BOROUGH OF COUDERSPORT – this 3 bedroom, 1 bath home has a large family room, covered porch and second floor is unfinished but would make a great 4th bedroom or rec room. Great location near Carp Park. NEW PRICE $56,900.00

#135 POTTER COUNTY FARM – 232 acres with older farm house, 6 bedrooms, 1½ baths, great hunting and fishing. Stream runs thru property. NEW PRICE $400,000.00

#138 CAPE COD ON A CORNER TOWN LOT – many upgrades in a nice house. Just pack your suitcase and you can move right in. Newer roof and bathroom. Coudersport Borough. $115,000.00

Country Setting! This 3 BR ranch home features remodeled kitchen with plenty of hickory cabinets, living room, den, & large deck complete with hot tub. Attached 2½ car garage. Convenient to Mansfield & Elmira. Just $149,900 M10023

Fantastic Views! This 3 bedroom 2 bath cape cod style home situated on nearly 45 acres offers many amenities including hardwood floors, fireplace, maple kitchen cabinets, central air, finished basement, & attached 2 car garage. Paved drive, above ground pool, & lovely landscaping. Only $335,000 M10002

100% OGMS Convey! Newer 3 br, 2.5 bath ranch home situated on 33+/- acres. Covered deck to enjoy the quiet country setting. Basement garage. 32x40, 2 story barn. Property located next to the Cowanesque River offering a mix of open & woods and small pond. Just $419,900 M10011

100% OGMS Convey!! Country Living Close to Town! Check out this beautiful, custom-built, 4 BR home w/attached two-car garage and a detached shop/garage sitting on 28 ac. overlooking the pond minutes from Wellsboro. Features corian countertops, deck, walk out basement, whirlpool tub, master suite, hardwood flooring & more. Only $499,900 M10109

Spacious in town location! Newer 1900+ sq ft 5 bedroom, 2 bath multi-level home situated on 1.3 acres between 2 streams. Features 2 kitchens, family room, laundry room, & attached garage. Only $149,900 M10110

Large, landscaped in town lot. 2 BR home on 0.54 acres features living room, formal dining room, sun room, & family room with brick faced wood burning fireplace. 3 car garage. Just $139,900 M10074

100% OGMS Convey!! 360 degree views!! 74+ mostly open, level to gently rolling acres. 3 br home with spacious eat-in kitchen, den, & full bath. Currently operating 2 story dairy barn with milk house. Close to Rtes 14 & 414. Only $599,900 M10125

Elegant Home is a Delight! 1+ ac lot at edge of town. Updated 4 BR, 2 3/4 bath farmhouse offers charm & comfort w/plank flooring. Bright open kitchen w/ample counterspace, gas fireplace, & more. Only $185,000 M10006

Great Ranch Home! This 3 BR, 1.5 bath offers over 1500 sq ft on a level in town lot Features eat-in kitchen, enclosed breezeway, partially finished basement with rec, laundry, & open work rooms and wood burning stove. Also has 1.5 car attached garage and paved drive. Just $149,900 M10073

Great Views and Location! 5+/- ac. Lovely country home with upstairs rental apartment. First floor has 2 BR, 2 bath & great room. Enjoy 4 wheeling, snowmobiling, and the wildlife in your yard. Also has 65x25 garage/camp with kitchen, rec area, 3/4 bath & garage area. Asking $185,000 M10008

Great Main St, Wellsboro location! Historic, one of a kind 1871 William Harris Home. Property offers oversized 1 car garage, beautiful professionally landscaped yard, patio, & cozy front porch. Inside this 3 BR, 1¾ bath house you’ll find hardwood floors, granite countertops, several gas fireplaces, & more. Only $299,900 M10003

Home & Income Property! 2 BR, 2 bath home with many upgrades including new roof & siding situated on just over an acre. Also features a currently rented 3 bedroom mobile home & oversized 2 car garage. Large yard & stream running through property. Just $119,900 M10099

Alice Wack 570-529-2635

Gwen Heyler 570-854-8528

Joan Miller 570-439-4313

Ron Gilbert 607-483-2241

Wynnette Richardson 570-439-1841

Chris Gilbert 570-404-1268

Each OfficE indEpEndEntly OwnEd & OpEratEd, ScOtt BaStian - BrOkEr

Beautifully maintained seasonal dwelling or full time residence on a dead end township road. Nice, newer kitchen and 2 baths, insulated Anderson windows/door, cathedral ceiling; almost like-new condition. Enjoy miles of 4-wheel and snowmobile trails available. MTHDLM 121864 $149,900

Rare find! 28 acres w/small cabin and 1,735’ frontage on First Fork of Sinnemahoning Creek, borders State Forest. Can be purchased with First Fork Lodge, well known B&B, fly fishing/sporting goods shop and fine restaurant, or just enjoy your own private haven on the creek. MTHDLM 121460 $169,000

Top of Denton Hill - dream home, or second home, w/excellent views from this 3 BR, 2 bath raised ranch on almost 2 acres in the country, yet only 5 minutes from Route 6. 2 car garage in walk-out lower level with 1/2 bath; beautifully landscaped and maintained, short walk to State Forest. Covered front porch, large rear deck - on 4-wheel/snowmobile trails. MTHDLM 120179 $179,900

Neat as a pin log-sided home - nicely remodeled with first floor BR and bath, large eat-in kitchen, sunroom-like entry way w/flagstone floor, lots of oak flooring and vaulted living room ceiling. 5.27 acres are very nicely landscaped w/ perennials, nice views and close to the Grand Canyon; OGM’s transfer. MTHDLM 121449 $174,900

LAnd, LAnd, LAnd!Municipality Acreage Price

Wellsboro Boro 1.66 $44,900Sullivan Twp 1.79 $34,900Armenia Twp 1.99 $29,900Covington Twp 2 $39,500Liberty Twp 5.97 $42,450Clymer Twp 6.41 $32,500Charleston Twp 9.9 $89,900Canton Twp 11.21 $149,000Rutland Twp 13.29 $52,500Osceola Twp 15.99 $39,900delmar Twp 19.72 $139,900Farmington Twp 20.74 $57,500Ward Twp 23.72 $74,900Middlebury Twp 30.79 $69,900Rutland Twp 37.82 $99,800Union Twp 44.49 $119,900Jackson Twp 60.08 $149,900Jackson Twp 82 $199,000Sullivan Twp 85.71 $299,900Rutland Twp 106.48 $259,900Ward Twp 108.9 $334,200Liberty Twp 117.14 $499,900Jackson Twp 143 $439,900Ward Twp 150 $457,500Ward Twp 258.9 $791,700

the problem. A veteran tech who’s responsible for checking the safety of every truck that comes on a well site every day waves the truck with bald tires through because it’s three in the morning and he’s got twenty trucks behind him and he’s done his job safely for years and it’s only a slightly worn tire. But the worn tire causes a head-on, and then you’ve got a tragedy.”

Ron Furstoss pops in the door again, frowning. There’s a sand problem. Sand is a big part of fracking; mixed with water and chemicals, it gets forced into the wells a mile down, then a mile horizontally, to help hold the fractured shale formations open so the gas and water can be more easily extracted from the rock. An estimated 650 to 800 sand trucks supply each well, and SMS is responsible for the safety of every one of those trucks, too, every delivery, every day, and stops them like so many customs agents snooping bags and passports. Is the driver properly licensed? The weight properly distributed? Does he have proper documentation for chemicals, including published risk factors, and treatments? Is the truck mechanically sound? Lights working? Tires with good tread?

This is a very small sand problem, however. Davidson has ordered 300 sixty-pound bags of sand from Hall’s Lumber. He wants his techs to put sand weights in their pickup trucks, over the tires, for winter traction. The deliveryman has arrived at Pearl Street, and he doesn’t have a forklift. Furstoss doesn’t want to let him deliver without one. The driver wants to manually slide the bags to the door of the bed, then lift them down. But Furstoss has analyzed that method as too many movements, needlessly increasing the chances of an accident. Davidson says, “Tell him to come back with a forklift.”

Later, Davidson beams like a proud father. “The devil is in the smallest details. This is who we are. We’re not cops, we’re advisors, mentors. We protect people, change cultures—and save lives.”

Davidson is driving on Route 6 back from Mansfield in the early night, the darkness illuminated here and there by hundred-foot hillside rigs, musing how he loves the small towns and hills of Pennsylvania, not so different from Arkansas. The first crew meeting, at the Microtel, was a success. He reminded them the holidays were coming, a difficult and emotional time to be away from loved ones, and to take that into consideration and “act accordingly.” He is bullish on the future, on holiday time with Lane, on the safety report card that came back all As—no reportable accidents in a year. He’s heading back for the next meeting in the seer’s parlor, where Lynette is working late, preparing for the meeting, preparing for 2012, looking for good job candidates. Full employment, Davidson says, won’t include the smart applicant with a master’s degree but five DUIs, or the veteran energy worker with an armed robbery conviction.

The view of the night hills gives Davidson a glimpse beyond. “I’ve been talking to the scientists, and it’s just what I’ve been saying. The latest forecasts are the Marcellus Shale will take until 2037 to complete, and we’re already looking at feasible ways to drill down in the same wells and tap the Utica Shale far below the Marcellus. We think there’s significantly more gas in the Utica than there is in the Marcellus, and oil we haven’t even calculated. Recovering that would take us out to something like 2083.” He grins. Nobody is stealing his joy right about now. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Human continued from page 20

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#139 GERMANIA FARM HOUSE – with large cherry kitchen, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, stone fireplace. In a picturesque setting. Many upgrades with original woodwork. Large barn, stream, small orchard on 2.18 acres. Listed at $119,900.00

#134 QUAINT COTTAGE STYLE HOME IN THE BOROUGH OF COUDERSPORT – this 3 bedroom, 1 bath home has a large family room, covered porch and second floor is unfinished but would make a great 4th bedroom or rec room. Great location near Carp Park. NEW PRICE $56,900.00

#135 POTTER COUNTY FARM – 232 acres with older farm house, 6 bedrooms, 1½ baths, great hunting and fishing. Stream runs thru property. NEW PRICE $400,000.00

#138 CAPE COD ON A CORNER TOWN LOT – many upgrades in a nice house. Just pack your suitcase and you can move right in. Newer roof and bathroom. Coudersport Borough. $115,000.00

Country Setting! This 3 BR ranch home features remodeled kitchen with plenty of hickory cabinets, living room, den, & large deck complete with hot tub. Attached 2½ car garage. Convenient to Mansfield & Elmira. Just $149,900 M10023

Fantastic Views! This 3 bedroom 2 bath cape cod style home situated on nearly 45 acres offers many amenities including hardwood floors, fireplace, maple kitchen cabinets, central air, finished basement, & attached 2 car garage. Paved drive, above ground pool, & lovely landscaping. Only $335,000 M10002

100% OGMS Convey! Newer 3 br, 2.5 bath ranch home situated on 33+/- acres. Covered deck to enjoy the quiet country setting. Basement garage. 32x40, 2 story barn. Property located next to the Cowanesque River offering a mix of open & woods and small pond. Just $419,900 M10011

100% OGMS Convey!! Country Living Close to Town! Check out this beautiful, custom-built, 4 BR home w/attached two-car garage and a detached shop/garage sitting on 28 ac. overlooking the pond minutes from Wellsboro. Features corian countertops, deck, walk out basement, whirlpool tub, master suite, hardwood flooring & more. Only $499,900 M10109

Spacious in town location! Newer 1900+ sq ft 5 bedroom, 2 bath multi-level home situated on 1.3 acres between 2 streams. Features 2 kitchens, family room, laundry room, & attached garage. Only $149,900 M10110

Large, landscaped in town lot. 2 BR home on 0.54 acres features living room, formal dining room, sun room, & family room with brick faced wood burning fireplace. 3 car garage. Just $139,900 M10074

100% OGMS Convey!! 360 degree views!! 74+ mostly open, level to gently rolling acres. 3 br home with spacious eat-in kitchen, den, & full bath. Currently operating 2 story dairy barn with milk house. Close to Rtes 14 & 414. Only $599,900 M10125

Elegant Home is a Delight! 1+ ac lot at edge of town. Updated 4 BR, 2 3/4 bath farmhouse offers charm & comfort w/plank flooring. Bright open kitchen w/ample counterspace, gas fireplace, & more. Only $185,000 M10006

Great Ranch Home! This 3 BR, 1.5 bath offers over 1500 sq ft on a level in town lot Features eat-in kitchen, enclosed breezeway, partially finished basement with rec, laundry, & open work rooms and wood burning stove. Also has 1.5 car attached garage and paved drive. Just $149,900 M10073

Great Views and Location! 5+/- ac. Lovely country home with upstairs rental apartment. First floor has 2 BR, 2 bath & great room. Enjoy 4 wheeling, snowmobiling, and the wildlife in your yard. Also has 65x25 garage/camp with kitchen, rec area, 3/4 bath & garage area. Asking $185,000 M10008

Great Main St, Wellsboro location! Historic, one of a kind 1871 William Harris Home. Property offers oversized 1 car garage, beautiful professionally landscaped yard, patio, & cozy front porch. Inside this 3 BR, 1¾ bath house you’ll find hardwood floors, granite countertops, several gas fireplaces, & more. Only $299,900 M10003

Home & Income Property! 2 BR, 2 bath home with many upgrades including new roof & siding situated on just over an acre. Also features a currently rented 3 bedroom mobile home & oversized 2 car garage. Large yard & stream running through property. Just $119,900 M10099

Alice Wack 570-529-2635

Gwen Heyler 570-854-8528

Joan Miller 570-439-4313

Ron Gilbert 607-483-2241

Wynnette Richardson 570-439-1841

Chris Gilbert 570-404-1268

Each OfficE indEpEndEntly OwnEd & OpEratEd, ScOtt BaStian - BrOkEr

Beautifully maintained seasonal dwelling or full time residence on a dead end township road. Nice, newer kitchen and 2 baths, insulated Anderson windows/door, cathedral ceiling; almost like-new condition. Enjoy miles of 4-wheel and snowmobile trails available. MTHDLM 121864 $149,900

Rare find! 28 acres w/small cabin and 1,735’ frontage on First Fork of Sinnemahoning Creek, borders State Forest. Can be purchased with First Fork Lodge, well known B&B, fly fishing/sporting goods shop and fine restaurant, or just enjoy your own private haven on the creek. MTHDLM 121460 $169,000

Top of Denton Hill - dream home, or second home, w/excellent views from this 3 BR, 2 bath raised ranch on almost 2 acres in the country, yet only 5 minutes from Route 6. 2 car garage in walk-out lower level with 1/2 bath; beautifully landscaped and maintained, short walk to State Forest. Covered front porch, large rear deck - on 4-wheel/snowmobile trails. MTHDLM 120179 $179,900

Neat as a pin log-sided home - nicely remodeled with first floor BR and bath, large eat-in kitchen, sunroom-like entry way w/flagstone floor, lots of oak flooring and vaulted living room ceiling. 5.27 acres are very nicely landscaped w/ perennials, nice views and close to the Grand Canyon; OGM’s transfer. MTHDLM 121449 $174,900

LAnd, LAnd, LAnd!Municipality Acreage Price

Wellsboro Boro 1.66 $44,900Sullivan Twp 1.79 $34,900Armenia Twp 1.99 $29,900Covington Twp 2 $39,500Liberty Twp 5.97 $42,450Clymer Twp 6.41 $32,500Charleston Twp 9.9 $89,900Canton Twp 11.21 $149,000Rutland Twp 13.29 $52,500Osceola Twp 15.99 $39,900delmar Twp 19.72 $139,900Farmington Twp 20.74 $57,500Ward Twp 23.72 $74,900Middlebury Twp 30.79 $69,900Rutland Twp 37.82 $99,800Union Twp 44.49 $119,900Jackson Twp 60.08 $149,900Jackson Twp 82 $199,000Sullivan Twp 85.71 $299,900Rutland Twp 106.48 $259,900Ward Twp 108.9 $334,200Liberty Twp 117.14 $499,900Jackson Twp 143 $439,900Ward Twp 150 $457,500Ward Twp 258.9 $791,700

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Potter County. 11 acres bordering State Forest near Keating Summit. Access to public snowmobile trails, perc approved, surveyed, electric along road frontage. $51,500. Owner financing available.

Cameron County. 3.5 acres within walking distance to State Forest, Sizerville State Park, fishing streams. Perc approved, electric. $19,900. Owner financing available.

Open Lot offering country views in Hunter’s Ridge Wellsboro’s Premier Development. Underground utilities and public sewer. Close to Wellsboro amentities, great lake, and state game land recreational areas. MLS# 117240 $69,900

Nicely kept 2 story intown home. Close to schools and walking distance to downtown. Large rooms with lots of closet and storage space. Located on a quiet street in a quaint neighborhood.MLS# 121364 $163,900

This beautiful home sits at the base of the mountains. There is a large family room with a gas fireplace and vaulted ceilings. A secluded setting and a short walk to State Forest lands.Close to Tioga Hammond lakes and Hills Creek State Park. Shown by appointment, no drivebys please. MLS# 120743 $354,900

A great opportunity for Investors. 6 unit multi family with all seperate utilities. Many upgrades made in this fully occupied property. Headlines read, housing shortage in Tioga County! This is a great time to own an apartment house.MLS# 120525 $269,000

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Potter County. 11 acres bordering State Forest near Keating Summit. Access to public snowmobile trails, perc approved, surveyed, electric along road frontage. $51,500. Owner financing available.

Cameron County. 3.5 acres within walking distance to State Forest, Sizerville State Park, fishing streams. Perc approved, electric. $19,900. Owner financing available.

Open Lot offering country views in Hunter’s Ridge Wellsboro’s Premier Development. Underground utilities and public sewer. Close to Wellsboro amentities, great lake, and state game land recreational areas. MLS# 117240 $69,900

Nicely kept 2 story intown home. Close to schools and walking distance to downtown. Large rooms with lots of closet and storage space. Located on a quiet street in a quaint neighborhood.MLS# 121364 $163,900

This beautiful home sits at the base of the mountains. There is a large family room with a gas fireplace and vaulted ceilings. A secluded setting and a short walk to State Forest lands.Close to Tioga Hammond lakes and Hills Creek State Park. Shown by appointment, no drivebys please. MLS# 120743 $354,900

A great opportunity for Investors. 6 unit multi family with all seperate utilities. Many upgrades made in this fully occupied property. Headlines read, housing shortage in Tioga County! This is a great time to own an apartment house.MLS# 120525 $269,000

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“I can fix anything that needs sewing,” claims John Limoncelli, third generation proprietor of Limoncelli Shoe Repair in Elmira Heights, New York. Whether

he’s working on shoe soles or sofa cushions, tents or trampolines, backpacks or boat tops, he just sews, says John. All that varies is the thickness of the material and the type of needle and thread required for the job.

He’ll accept any challenge: “Often people think something can’t be repaired, but it actually can. I’ll try. And if I ruin it, I can fix it,” he laughs.

John’s greatest challenge was the repair of an ABC Sports trailer awning at Watkins Glen International Speedway. John had to take apart a sewing machine to load it into his truck, haul the pieces to the track, climb a ladder at the site, and reassemble the machine on a scaffold—all before he could even begin the repair. But he did it.

There’s only one job he won’t work on—the zippers on newer Jeep rear windows, which he says are designed to fail. John’s grandfather opened the first Limoncelli Shoe Repair shop on Water Street in Elmira in 1910, before electrification. It is one of the oldest continuous businesses in the area. The shop has been at its present location for thirty-one years.

The business has, of course, changed with each generation, along with changes in the manufacturing of shoes. Over the years, the Limoncellis have invested many thousands of dollars in a surprising array of machinery designed to work on the products of specific manufacturers. They have also diversified their services, says John, not only in repairing shoes but also in rebuilding them. One of his specialties is orthopedic build-ups for recreational and occupational footwear. You can see before-and-after examples of John’s

M A R k E T P L A C E

shop around the Corner

Sole Proprietorstory and Photography By Martha horton

See Limoncelli on page 64Grace (holding chocolate Labrador puppy, Olive) and John Limoncelli watch as their “apprentice,” two-year-old son Nunzio, operates one of the machines at Limoncelli’s shoe repair shop.

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craftsmanship on the Limoncelli Shoe Repair Facebook page.

Although plenty of folks drop into the shop with broken zippers and ripped handbags, John says the bulk of his business is still repairing and replacing shoe soles and heels.

Often, it’s not a matter of soles wearing out so much as the materials they’re made of deteriorating. Sometimes the soles are damaged before the uppers are even broken in. Owners of expensive heavy work boots often bring in new boots for John to fit out with proper rubber soles before they even wear them for the first time. Women may do the same with expensive dress shoes, having John put on better lifts for stability and durability.

There are fewer and fewer full-service shoe repairmen in the United States, says John. He notes that only 10 percent of the population in the United States utilizes shoe repairmen as compared to 70 percent of Europeans. And the bulk of existing shoe repair shops are located at malls or airports to provide quick, convenient service rather than quality repair—the “glue and grind” shops, John calls them. “They’re just not equipped to do a thorough job.” If

you have to walk past racks and racks of new shoes to get to the counter, it’s a good tip-off that this is not a place dedicated to repairing your old shoes, says John.

Will there be a fourth generation to take over Limoncelli Shoe Repair?

When John’s son, Nunzio, was born, John watched the baby at the shop. Nunzio also watched John, and took a lively interest in the business. Last March, Grace left her position at Travelers Insurance to help John at the shop and to keep an eye on the increasingly active Nunzio. Now, at age two, Nunzio likes to play apprentice and turn on some of the machines.

But John does not foresee passing on the business to the next generation. A bone condition in his wrist may hasten John’s retirement. His children from an earlier marriage have different career interests, and “by the time Nunzio is old enough to learn, I’ll be too old to teach him,” says John.

Meantime, if you would like to have just about anything repaired by a true craftsman, you can visit the shop. You may also meet Grace and young Nunzio there, and Olive, their new chocolate Labrador puppy. It’s all worth a visit.

Limoncelli continued from page 62

Shop: Limoncelli’sWhere: 162 east14th street,elmira heights, nY Phone: (670) 734-7305

Journalist and novelist Martha Horton is an occasional contributor to Mountain Home and lives in Elmira, New York.

An endangered species: Limoncelli Shoe Repair is a rare

third generation full service shop.

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Mountain Home

Service DirectoryAuto

Lodging

ProfessionAL services

shoPPing

sPorting goods

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B A C k O F T H E M O U N T A I N

In Motion“Life is a train of moods like a string of beads; and as we pass through

them they prove to be many colored lenses, which paint the world their ownhue, and each shows us only what lies in its own focus.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Poet, Lecturer and Essayist, 1803-1882)

Tioga Central Railroad, Middlebury Center, February 2011

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I’m a SuSquehanna woman.

Coming soon! Our new patient tower with dedicated orthopedic floor and complete rehabilitation center. To get a referral, call 877-883-4791. SusquehannaHealth.org/Ortho

“I’ve got two brand-new knees, and I’m standing tall. I grew up on our family fruit farm,

Wentzlers.’ I’m sure all the heavy lifting contributed to my knee problems. From the moment I met Dr. Craig Stabler,

I felt everything would be okay. He explained the new technology that would minimize discomfort and speed up

my recovery. It’s been two years, and I have absolutely no pain. If you come by Wentzlers’ you just might see me

dancing in the orchard.” – Karen Woolever, Montoursville

January 2012

Documents

Transcript of January 2012