In the early 1970's and before, Simon Kuhn was an antiques dealer in the Gettysburg/Bonneauville area. He was married to Ruth Shorb Kuhn. The couple lived at 101 E. Middle Street in Gettysburg. His place of business was located about 1½ miles east of Bonneauville on the Hanover Road (now the 3500 block). Known as Simon Kuhn's Woods or Kuhn's Woods, the place was a wonderland of antiques. Few buildings occupied the woodlot. The trees grew to within just a few feet of the road. Sundays were Mr. Kuhn's best sales day. In the morning he would fire up the coal boilers on his giant steam engines. The machines sported big brass steam whistles just like railroad locomotives. Long blows of the steam whistles signaled that he was open for business - or to passing drivers, that they should turn their vehicles around and come back for a better look. Sunday drivers, antique seekers and local folks in search of utilitarian objects visited the place. The front half of the large lot was filled with everything from horse drawn hearses to crocks and from ancient church doors to antiquated farm implements. Every manner of old tool was available - to use for practical purposes if you were poor; or to hang on the shed wall if you were "rich." Folks from the New England States visited his establishment; especially after Early American Life magazine published a pleasant article about the business.
A combination of local folklore, a fine-tuned rumor mill and boyhood fantasy had it that movie makers were renting Mr. Kuhn's horse drawn hearses and equipment for the extremely popular western movie craze of the mid 1950's. This turned out to be true.
Simon often hired a young man from Bonneauville to help move and store his antiques. In the 1960's, Jerome Seymore was Simon's helper. Mr. Kuhn was never seen passing through town without his friendly blonde dog on the truck seat beside him. When it was lunch time, and a helper was along for the ride, Mr. Kuhn would stop at a restaurant for three hamburgers to-go. One for the helper, one for the dog and one for himself.
This crock was purchased from Mr. Kuhn by my father in the late 1950's. Not one to own anything strictly for decoration, the stoneware container saw a few decades of saurkraut and beer making before it was finally retired.
