Maryland and southern Pennsylvania faded into the distance and
WE WERE OFF!
OHIO, here we come!
Let me preface it to say, neither of us had been to Ohio before…
or even western Pennsylvania for that matter.
First, a quick stop in Lancaster County, PA…
You wouldn’t think it would take us long to stop and buy gourds at an Amish gourd farm,
WOULD YOU???
Sure, no time at all!
After a perusal of all the gourds in stock in the showroom, we knew we were in
DEEP TROUBLE!
There was only one problem…
ALL the gourds were clean and shiny!
Our dear friend, Connie had given us the contact information for this farm through one of her friends. Low and behold, this fellow was at the farm this very same morning AND
THEY WERE EXPECTING US!
He likes pretty shiny gourds… shyly, we asked,
“Do you have any uncleaned gourds?”
The sweet fellow behind the counter said, “you want dirty gourds?”
YES!!!!
He took us outside to bins and bins of dirty gourds AND
more boxes and boxes of dirty gourds inside this HUGE barn!
GOURD HEAVEN… a couple of happy campers!
So, with smaller purses, we were off…
OHIO, HERE WE COME!
The hills of western Pennsylvania were beautiful!
BUT, hours and hours later, we were very grateful for the sign
WELCOME TO OHIO!
We were supposed to visit a shop in Alliance, but as it got late and we got a little lost, we called and postponed our visit for the following morning.
Let me tell you, finding a hotel room without a credit card can be a little daunting!
It seems that CASH isn’t accepted at the Holiday Inn Express…
so, in search of a room, we drove 15 miles to a skanky place in Warren, Ohio…
one quick look and we kept on going!
We decided to go on to Alliance and see what we could find there, tired and hungry by this time!
We ran into a little accident along the way, which left us sitting and waiting for a half hour or so… lucky for us, we weren’t involved in it!
Finally, a good night’s sleep at the Comfort Inn in Alliance!
Nothing prepared us for our stop at Bridgewater Primitives!
An unassuming warehouse building with some primitive decor outside
OPENED UP to
ONE OF THE MOST AWESOME PRIMITIVE SHOPS WE HAVE HAD THE PLEASURE TO SHOP!
We were welcomed by Lesa Green and Scott Miller and given the royal tour! What a great place, fantastic finishes on their primitives with a sprinkling of antiques and other stuff~
A real log wall in the middle of the shop defines the space and atmosphere… you’d never know you were in an industrial building!
Believe it or not, this is the bathroom! I just love the old tub!
Beautiful things in every corner and reasonable prices!
We were given a tour of their workspace as well… it’s amazing the amount of merchandise they pump out each day! Talent, talent, talent… and nice people. They even stopped by to visit us at Simple Goods later in the week.
After picking out some new merchandise for the shop and saying our good-byes, we were off!
Much to our surprise, just down the road, we had to wait for a train crossing (don’t see that back home anymore)!
Seville, here we come!
We were really looking forward to our first visit to Seville Antiques! So many people told us it was a MUST DO for any country antiques lover…
Again, the exterior was deceiving…
Joyce was wonderful and graciously allowed me to take photographs and gave Doreen a tour of all her back rooms. What a fabulous collection of country antiques dealers… ALL IN ONE PLACE!
The girls told us the music playing was the gift cd included in the new issue of A Simple Life Magazine which had been delivered that very day! Of course, we had to buy one since we knew we wouldn’t be able to wait until we arrived home for our own issues.
special things in every booth~
love this cow!
the crewel chair pad really works… ideas, ideas… mind is buzzing!
every corner was a delight~
I LOVE hetchels… saw at least a half dozen in this shop!
Doreen bought this little treasure… sold it, too, at Simple Goods!
flax… linen warp in 3 widths… be still my heart~
Loved the sweet painting on this cutting board, reminded me of my sweet Miss Chickie~
Missed her enough to talk to her on the phone… am I nuts??? Yep.
One of the sweetest baskets I’ve ever seen… wanted to take it home with me in the worst way, but alas… I wasn’t buying for me~
What a treat, what a treat… I know I’ll be back again and again and again!
Our damages were tallied, and new cd in hand, we popped it in and with toe tapping, knee slapping Appalachian tunes to drive by, we headed on to Mount Vernon and Simple Goods!
To be continued…
Walker Homestead's Blog 
I remember antique shops like this! Lived in Indiana for YEARSSSS and antiqued throughout Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and northern Kentucky for more than 20 years. GOBS of awesome primitives. Now I live in California … where there are few tornadoes and even fewer primitives. Sigh. Loved looking at everyone’s pics from Simple Goods on FB!