Somerset Woman Grows Zeal for Plants

by Megan Greve

Spring is just around the corner and thoughts of planting and growing are filling the minds of many. Some look forward to growing flowers to beautify their yards, while the lure of fresh herbs and vegetables make others’ mouths water. For Somerset Herbs owner Margaret Wince, both of these spring fevers hold appeal. She works to make Somerset Herbs a good place to stop while stocking up for the growing season.

Owner Margaret Wince opened Somerset Herbs about 10 years ago because she wanted a career change from teaching and she and her husband wanted to have a shop closer to home.

“We just wanted to have a business for ourselves on our own property as we’re growing things,” Margaret says. She also explains that the store has changed throughout the past decade, morphing from a wholesale herb store for restaurants in Columbus to what it is today: a shop that sells potted plants, herbs and decorative perennials.

Somerset Herbs is a seasonal store, with most of the business coming in April, May and June. To add to their business, the Winces also travel to a Columbus farmers’ market in the spring, summer and fall. In the wintertime they participate in a small, indoor farmers’ market in Worthington. Margaret says they enjoy the variety of customers they meet at these farmers’ markets, “from the old-fashioned home gardeners to people who want to decorate their yards with really fancy plants.”

Apart from plants and herbs, Somerset Herbs also sells produce during the summer months. Margaret says they don’t grow your regular crops, however.

“We don’t do corn and zucchini and stuff like that,” she explains. Instead, the Winces sell and grow such plants as garlic, heirloom tomatoes and shitake mushrooms. Margaret says she and her husband like learning about foods that people may not be so familiar with.

“There’s a whole world of alternate foods. And when you get into the farm market culture you understand there are a lot of people doing a lot of nifty things that are off the beaten path,” she says.

Margaret explains that she enjoys owning the store for many reasons, including the freedom to make her own decisions and try new things. “It is also an ongoing challenge which enriches me personally,” she continues, “and it gets a little of your artistic needs fulfilled as well.”

Margaret maintains that the zeal for growing and being creative with plants are what her store, as well as her attitude toward it, are all about. “We’re not in this for the capitalist portion of it,” she says. “We do need to pay our bills, but we’re not shop owners as much as we are growers and idea people.”

Clay Haus

by Samantha Pirc,

At the Clay Haus in Somerset, Ohio, German favorites are served up alongside typical American cuisine, all with a side of history.

Owner Betty Snider named the restaurant after her father, Irwin Priest Clay, and as a tribute to her husband’s Pennsylvanian Dutch heritage that is also deeply ingrained in the area. Her son Scott now manages the Clay Haus, which specializes in typical German fare like Bratwurst and Sauerbraten with cabbage, while serving more traditional American meals given a German-esque twist such as their “Dermeister-Burger” or “Der Meisterham”(the master burger and ham, respectively). German style potato salad and the Reuben sandwich are popular favorites says Scott, and the Sunday brunch buffet is always packed. Another dish, the corned beef, is both cooked and sliced on site, giving it more of a home-style flavor unique to the restaurant. More of a dessert man, Scott recommends any of the homemade pies to finish off a meal. After working at the family-run restaurant since 1979, he claims confidently, and with a laugh, that of all the dishes served, “Everything’s good.”

Almost as intriguing as the menu is the Clay Haus building and the history that surrounds it. The restaurant is located in a 19^th century home, with the original deed of sale proudly displayed on the wall. Unlike many old homes, where the line of ownership is lost along the years, the Snider family can trace back the Somerset residents who called the building home from the original sale in 1812 to their purchasing of the building in 1978. Artifacts discovered during the renovations made by the Snider family are proudly displayed for patrons viewing along with other antiques, making the restaurant a destination for diners and history buffs alike.

The basement, which is now the Tavern room, tells a story about the history of both the town and the building. It contains full-sized windows and doors that open up to a solid wall of foundation brick and stones. Long ago the room opened directly onto street, but as the street was built up with paving bricks the outside entrance had to bricked up as well to level off the road. The Tavern, like the rest of the restaurant, is decorated with Pennsylvanian Dutch antiques, painting and memorabilia, giving the entire place a warm old-world feel.

The warm feeling of the restaurant sharply contrasts with the spooky chill that diners can sometimes get. The Clay Haus has numerous documentations of unseen visitors and bumps late at night that the Snider family has gotten used to over the years. Scott explains that the building has more of a presence than a haunting, and that as he has aged and spent more time at the Clay Haus the spooky feelings have lessened.

The restaurant was featured in "Ghost Hunter's Guide to Haunted Ohio," by Chris Woodward, and Scott says that although he has definitely felt a presence numerous times, the only time he has actually seen a ghost was the day Woodward came for an interview. He describes being in the kitchen and seeing a small girl in frumpy cloth smiling and waving furiously at him. When he stepped to the side to get a better look the girl was gone. “It was like she wanted me to see her,” says Scott.

Like the little girl waving to Scott in the kitchen, any spirits that may occupy the restaurant have always been described as friendly, so diners should not let butterflies in their stomach overcome the hunger that Clay Haus can satisfy. The potential of sharing a meal with an unseen guest in the historic atmosphere is worth it, especially when the meal is full of the delicious home-style cooking and fresh-from-the-oven pies served up daily at the Clay Haus.

For more information, including a full menu, check out www.clayhaus.com

Moonshine Festival

By Colleen Kiphart


Every Memorial Day weekend for the last 39 years New Straitsville, Ohio has held their Moonshine Festival. The event, organized by Ken Burgess, celebrates the region’s fabled history as “The Moonshine Capital of the World”.


It is a 45-minute drive to the festival from Athens. You can either take State Route 33 most of the way there or back roads, but each route gets you there in under an hour. I took the back way, riding along winding roads lined with trees and steep inclines. It really set the mood for a laid-back rural summer fair. Like any small-town event it has a full slate with a parade, vendors, local food, the crowning of the Moonshine Queen, and a headlining musical act on Memorial Day. This year featured Nashville recording artist Ricky Lynn Gregg.


My visit to the festival got off to an inauspicious start when I realized that there was no definite location listed for the festival, just New Straitsville. It was not a specific park, fairground, or school parking lot. No, it was just the entire town of New Straitsville listed as the venue. So, going by my extensive knowledge of small towns (thank you Andy Griffith reruns) I searched for “Main Street” and went from there.

My directional gamble on Main Street paid off, and I rolled right into the heart of the celebration. The Moonshine Festival consists of a car show, a dunking booth, carnival rides behind the main thoroughfare, about a city block’s worth of food and craft vendors, and, in the center of it all, a small main stage for music.

I spoke with festival organizer Ken Burgess in his office behind the stage and had to strain to hear him over the barbershop quartet that was singing karaoke-style. “This is important to our history,” he says. “It is the heritage of the village, and it really keeps the village alive.”

Burgess expects this year’s festival to bring five to seven thousand people into the village. That’s a huge addition to the normal population of New Straitsville that, according to census reports included only 787 people in 2007.

Main Street was lined with members of the populous, people sitting in folding chairs watching the hustle and bustle go by. Many filtered into a local fire station to enjoy a pork dinner or lined up in front of the dunking booth to soak their friends. Classic pop music from the car show competed with the more temperate, mellow music from the main stage, which competed directly with the noise of the carnival rides behind it.

It took me about an hour to really see everything. I glanced at the vendors, considered playing a game, but in the end I spent the most time in the New Straitsville Historical Society’s Museum speaking to Sheryl Blossmer. She told me how due to conditions in the mines of New Straitsville, the town became the birthplace of the United Mine Workers. The walls of the storefront museum are lined with photographs and information. There is not an inch of wall space that is uncovered.

One of the items that most interested me was the information about the Works Progress Administration in the Great Depression coming to work on the “longest burning mine fire in history”. The blaze, which began in 1884 and burned for more than 117 years, was ignited in a coal miner strike.

There is little discussion about the coal-dusty history of this town back out on the main arcade. This is a time when the villagers revel in people coming into town for a glimpse of moonshiners in their natural environment. And there are moonshiners still about. Asked if he thinks white lightening is still being produced nearby Burgess doesn’t even hesitate, “Yes,” he replies with full confidence.

Further reading/links:
History of New Straitsville:
Festival information:
WHIZ Zanesville:

A Family Affair

BY Sara Lucas

Christi Eyerman starts her day early. She’s out of the house by 7:30 a.m. and off to school where she puts in a full day chasing children -- trying to make them pay attention. She leaves school and goes to Zane Trace Inn, where she checks on her guests, and then she goes to the farm. Once she’s there she puts in a few hours fighting the red tape and mounds of paperwork that go along with owning a small business. She cooks dinner and checks on her guests again. On a typical day Christi will work for 14 to 16 hours.

When the Eyerman’s decided to open Zane Trace Inn, they knew that they were in for a lot of hard work and that they would need to support each other 100 percent to survive. When they opened Craft Farm on Oct. 5, 2008, they were prepared to work even harder and to support each other even more.

For Christi and Ken owning a family farm and bed and breakfast that can support itself has always been a dream. After mulling over the idea to open a scrapbooking retreat in downtown Somerset, they presented the idea to their sons. “This is going to change our life, hopefully for the better. Are you in on this? It’s a family decision.” Christi explained to her two boys Cody and Travis who are now 17 and 19, respectively. “It won’t be a typical family environment…we want you to be a part of it.” If the venture was going to work, they had to work together.

The Inn was and continues to be a great success. While it had always been part of their business plan to expand after three to five years, the Eyerman’s realized they would have to do it sooner rather than later. The Inn was booked every weekend, and they desperately looked for ways to accommodate guests. No property seemed to fit their needs. Ken suggested a radical option: open their own home to guests. It seemed to be the quickest, easiest and most cost effective use of their time, money and energy. “Here we go again. What do you think about this?” Christi asked her sons after they came up with a detailed list of pros and cons.

Their home, which they built in 1997 on 32 acres just outside of Somerset, went through a huge transformation. Ken and Christi built an apartment for themselves on the lower level, and the boys moved in their own apartment, which was built in the barn. Their home became a retreat capable of housing 10 guests and all their crafting endeavors.

While Christi seems like the face of the Inn and Craft Farm, the guys are active participants too. Cody and Travis help out with the heavy lifting, which includes helping patrons carry luggage. Travis drew a cartoon figure of the average guest at the Inn, the “Zaney Girl”,complete with pajamas and scissors, who decorates everything from t-shirts to travel mugs. Ken is the official pizza master because guests often request his special, homemade pizza.

So far, the Craft Farm has proven to be another great success. It adds another dimension of chaos to their already busy lives, but as a family they handle it. “We are a small town business, and small town people, and we’ve got to help each other…I think that’s what helps us be successful,” Christi says.

Then and Now: Shawnee, a Preserved "Black Diamond"

BY: Danielle Nowicki
MULTIMEDIA BY: Robert Bundy

Shawnee, nestled precariously beside a hill in southern Perry County, is barely visible from state Route 93. A product of the Industrial Revolution’s coal mining boom and decline, it rests preserved in its original state. It’s a residential museum where, if only the walls could talk, visitors can hear the stories of struggling migrants and coal mining moguls. It was a town built on the hope and the promising future of “black diamonds.”Now it is a town struggling to survive and tell its story to the passerby. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Hocking Valley was booming with migrants looking for work in coal mines. The Industrial Revolution was in full-swing and coal was in demand. Shawnee was among the dozens of mining towns to spring up in this time period. Unlike most coal boom towns of the period, Shawnee has remained a well-preserved semi-ghost town.

Laid out and plated in Salt Lick Township by T.J. Davis of Newark in 1872. With only 156 lots and less than 1,500 people at its beginning, Shawnee’s population grew to nearly 3,000 in the early 1900s.

Three railroads ran through Shawnee: Newark, Somerset and New Straitsville line, later named the B&O Railroad. (Yes, the same from Monopoly.) Four brick plants were erected due to the abundance of clay in the region, in addition to the coal. However, like many small industrial towns, the area was eventually depleted of its resources, and its economic stability was wiped out. With the work gone, so went the labor force. Shawnee has since been in a state of purgatory; unable to regain momentum yet refusing to turn to dust. The town now has 608 residents, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.

The Shawnee branch of the Perry County Public Library is located on the first floor of one of the town’s original opera houses. The building was in bad shape but has been saved due to the efforts of the community.

Main Street, which was placed on the National Historic Register in 1976, is characterized by its numerous awnings and balconies that line the road. Another historic opera house is still there. Built in 1881 as a meeting hall for the Knights of Labor Union, later the Knights of Pythias Hall, it is also one of the tallest buildings in Perry County.

A Shawnee Coal Mine Museum was recently opened by Jack Shuttleworth. Shuttleworth is willing to demonstrate and explain mining techniques and discuss the region’s history.

Another component essential to the preservation of historic Shawnee is the Hannah family. The Hannah Brothers Furniture and Appliance Store opened in 1928. As properties surrounding the store on East Main Street became vacant. The Hannahs bought them to expand their store. Because of their continued interest in Shawnee, the family has saved numerous buildings.

Other signs of life are apparent in the post office, restaurant and bar that continue to operate in town. With the help of people like Geoff Schenkel, who worked with kids in the community to paint a mural, and the“Little Cities of Black Diamonds”, who work to promote the history of the region and revitalize the towns, Shawnee is sure to stay on the map.