and 1842 B&B
We are open year round. Gallery hours are 11:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. most days but it is always best to call well ahead at 519 664-0289 or e-mail to butterflystudioinc@gmail.com. You can often catch Allan Ryan at work in his Open Door Studio on your right as you come in. Everything is under the one roof.
Click here to visit our Bed & Breakfast Canada web site
"A Brief History of 1842 Sawmill Road"
Town lands were separated from the Crown from the 1750's. Earliest buildings were of log. The town was named for Conestogo Pennsylvania, the origin of many of the German Mennonite settlers arriving in the 1800's. Old Order Mennonites number 4,000 in 'St. Jacobs Country' today where it's still 'The Horse and Buggy Age.'
The present "Wagon Factory & Residence" structure was built in the 1840's by blacksmith Isaac Weber of triple brick recovered from the town's first brick kilns. The foundations are five feet thick. An early map shows "W. Weber's Residence & Carriage Factory" on this site. Hand-hewn and pit-sawn beams throughout are believed to be from the original structure and prove to have been cut before there was a water-powered saw mill in town. Four blacksmiths have practiced here. Henry Shoemaker was the third but stayed only briefly. Jacob Kienzle ("kins-lee") was the last and most colorful. In his nearly 60 years here, Jake, as he was known, somewhere around the turn of the last century, converted the factory portion into a Road House, Store and Post Office and later into housing for four families during the Great Depression.
During his stay he built and repaired wagons, shooed horses, ran a Clock & Jewelry Shop, repaired guns and offered a haircut and a shave for 15 cents. He had a Model T Ford dealership on the property and gained his 25 year pin running the town Post Office amongst other antics. To date eleven people are accounted for who were born in the house from Bob Gaede in 1926 on. Bob is still part of the history that walks in our door frequently.
For the full story as it unfolds, visit us, stay with us, and look through our collected binder of historical notes and fascinating photos of yesteryear Conestogo.
