The "The Scribbler Tells The Story Of The Reist Painting In His Newspaper Column" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading another Jack Brubaker "The Scribbler" column in my Sunday, LancasterOnline newspaper.  Column was titled Reist Barn Mural and began with...Dear Dr. Scribblerbarn.  It was about three months ago that I wrote another story about Arthur L. Reist Jr., the owner of a barn at 980 Eden Road in Manheim Township who collects old farm tools and machinery and who happened to have his large display on exhibit at the Manheim Township Public Library.  I stopped to take a look and had the best time talking with Art whom I happened to have as a student in my Industrial Arts classes years ago at nearby Manheim Township High School.  

The Reist farmstead along Eden Road.

A few days after I visited the library, I stopped at his farm to take a photograph of his beautiful barn that sits along Eden Road.  Next to his brick house sits a large barn that has been painted with a Conestoga wagon with six horses who pull the wagon.  It was about twenty years ago that local artist Wayne Fettro painted the mural that depicted the life-size six-horse wagon headed west on the ill-fated Braddock expedition during the French & Indian War.   Arthur L. Reist Sr., the late owner of Oak Lawn Farm and expert on Conestoga wagons, hired Fettro to paint the mural.  It was meant to honor Reist's ancestor Jacob, who was killed when French troops and their Indian allies attacked General Edward Braddock's British soldiers as they marched toward present-day Pittsburgh.  

The barn and mural at the Reist farm.

The original mural is a unique monument to the French & Indian War.  People come from all over the world to see and photograph the mural and farm, said Arthur E. Reist, current owner of the farm.  Mr. Reist Sr. was a teacher at Conestoga Valley High School who happened to teach history and always enjoyed sharing the history of his farm with anyone who stopped to see the painting on the barn.  Art Jr., whom I had as a student in my shop classes, now shares the same desire to pass on the history of their property and history of the Conestoga wagon which is painted on his barn on Eden Road.  Over the years, the painting on the barn has deteriorated and Art is trying to get Mr. Fettro to do some touch-up work on the painting.  Hopefully that will happen so that the next few generations of visitors will have the chance to view the beautiful depiction of the Conestoga Wagon being pulled by the horses with a rider next to the wagon.  Here's hoping that Mr. Fettro, or someone whom might be as skilled as he, can touch up the paint job.  I'll have to stop by at the end of the summer and see if anyone has been able to do the job.  Might also have to stop and visit and Hi! to my former student at Manheim Township High School.   It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.