The following article was published in the November 11, 1975 edition of the Wooster Daily Record. Photos have been added for general interest, but do not represent items owned by the McKee family.

McKee's Memories Bring Back the Old Horse n' Buggy Days

BY JOHN D. McKEE 

My early days in Smithville can best be characterized as "horse - and buggy days." The day of the automobile was still in the future; at the time it was only a dream of a man named Henry Ford.

Surrey Similar to that of the McKee Family

Our four horses were an essential part of the family establishment. Their daily care and use required time, patience and skill. Grooming was the first chore of the day after the morning feeding. Our barn accommodated the animals in good stalls with the haymow overhead. There was also room for the wagons, buggy and surrey which, as I recall, did have a fringe on the top.

Worked Hard

During the six-day work week the horses were in the harness most of the time. Trips to Wooster and Orrville were regularly scheduled each week to buy the produce from the local grocers. Butter, eggs, poultry and potatoes were then transported to Barberton and Akron for resale in stores there. I especially remember the Acme chain of grocieries, one of the earliest of its kind in those cities. My father came to know the Acme manager well and made many deliveries to his store.

Looking back, it seems a long trip, about 30 miles, to make with a two-horse team and wagon loaded with produce, which it probably was. In winter, shipment was made by rail via Creston. As a boy I was allowed to go along on many trips, thus enabling me to see the sights while assisting at the various stops.

The covered wagon was in-dispensable for all phases of the business. During the summer months it became the "grocery wagon," four to five days of the week. Its cargo was litterally a "store on wheels" for the farm ladies of the surrounding countryside. We acquired their butter and eggs which were traded for food staples.

Our horses were called carriage horses, since they were used often in that role. The buggy was a two-seated rig with a top which was often used for a quick trip to a nearby town. It also functioned, of course, on social occasions for "dates" to public events.

The surrey required a two-horse team and served as the family carriage for visits to the homes of relatives in the summer. Most memorable for our family of six was the annual trip to Hayesville to visit Aunt Mary Jarvis and her family. This was a journey of 27 miles and required a day of steady driving.

Big Events

The first lap was always to Wooster, seven miles, there we stopped at the fair grounds to have our noon dinner and also feed and water the team. Then began the twenty-mile journey in the afternoon, five miles each to Jefferson, Reedsburg, Jeromesville and finally to Hayesvillee. We generally spent a week in the Jarvis home, as was the custom in those days. This was reciprocated in a return visit by the relatives to our home.

Fishing was always one of my dad's pleasures on this visit, there being fine streams nearby with many game fish available. We boys loved the excitement of being allowed to go along with the grown-ups on a fine day.

Family Ties

One of my memorable relations in early years was with my grandparents, Peter & Sarah Burkholder Amstutz. Their home was near ours in Smithville, so that made for easy access. Grandpa retained a small acreage in Georgetown which was known to the family as "Tennessee." I never knew why it was so called, but it lent some special interest to the place for us when we could go along in the one-horse buck-board or spring wagon with grandpa. A long row of ancient cherry trees at picking time was always a great attraction.

 A visit to grandma's early home was associated with nutting time. Her Burkholder relatives still lived on the old place southeast of our town. The old brick house still stands. today now well into its second century. One room, with an outside door, we were told, was always reserved for a tramp who might stop and seek shelter for the night. The hickory trees in the woods were ours for the nut harvest, clubbed down with a burr on the end of a heavy stick.

1905 Rio Two-Seat Roadster

The first automobile seen in our town was owned by George Glide who lived in Georgetown, a few miles east on the Portage Road. As one of a kind it became a sensation. The make was Reo, a small two-seat roadster. I well recall George's stops at our store to buy gasoline. There was no pump in those days, only a small storage tank from which we drew the gas in a small container and carefully poured it into the car tank which was under the seat, as I recall.

Endurance Test

Our first car was a Studebaker touring car which dad acquired about 1916. It had side curtains which were only used in winter or in rainy weather. Constant care of the new vehicle was the order of the day with dad the only driver. Eventually I was permitted to learn to drive, with many restrictions on my use of "Studey," as it was called.

1916 Studebaker Sedan

The test of a car performance in those days was its climb up Curie hill. George Curie lived at the top of this hill which may explain why he was an early car "buff." If a new car could climb the Curie hill without difficulty it was regarded as a success and worth buying, otherwise nix.

The horse and buggy days did not cease when our first car arrived. Far from it. The business must still go with the horses still in use when my brother Clark and I entered the service in World War I. Some time later the era came to an end.

Dusty and muddy roads became only a memory. But the early memories remain: of enjoying the pacer or trotter as we ambled along; of the crack of the whip; and the long journey which now is looked back on as the halcyon time of yesterday.