By Paulette Likoudis

 

As summer's haying season began, Lodi Historical Society trustee Bill Gates and his wife, Renee, did not have that activity on their to-do list this year. At their historic Long Lane Farm, the couple were preparing for a move to Virginia, loading boxes and not hay wagons.

 

For a number of years, Amish in the area have gone to the door of the Gates home, asking to buy the property if it were ever for sale. But before the for-sale sign went up, the 85-acre farm on Rt. 96A was first shown to a couple renting the historic Keady Farm in Lodi.

 

Paul Kehle, a professor of education and environmental studies at Hobart College, and his wife, Amy Wiemers, lived in Bloomington, Indiana before moving to Lodi. They were introduced to the Gates by a mutual friend.

 

Paul and Amy put in the first offer on the Gates farm and everything fell into place. They had hoped to buy the Keady Farm, but it was sold by Susan Hassett and Fred Caslick to Joe Hertzler of the Maryland Amish community, his wife and their nine children. On wash days, bright green, blue, purple and black clothing now hangs on a long clothesline there, flapping in the breeze.

Just before closing the sale of Long Lane Farm, the Gates explained to the buyers how to operate

things around the house. Whether they wanted to know it or not, Paul and Amy also learned that hooded Ku Klux Clansmen attended a funeral in the home in the early 1930s. It was what Bill's "Uncle" Charlie Miller wanted.

 

Years ago, Long Lane Farm was home to Gates Brothers Produce. Bill helped on the farm when his parents and an uncle grew fruit and vegetables there. Some of the produce was sold to the Willard State Hospital and some to the Halstead Canning Factory in Interlaken. Some was supplied to the Atwater Store, near what is now the Ithaca Commons. The farm's truck also made door-to-door sales.

 

Bill was raised in a tenant house across from his family's farm. He moved to the old homestead, with its long, winding drive, in 1972. While working on the Greek Revival-styled house he found a board signed by a Covert, probably a relative, dated October 4, 1836. Bill's birthday is October 4.

 

"The house was raised like a barn," said Bill, noting the absence of nails in the main frame. Heavy hand-hewn beams are pegged together and joined by mortise and tennon. One of the widest boards in the house measures over 25 inches.

 

Bill began his career as a history teacher at the Ovid Central School in 1960. He remained there until 1991, long after the creation of the South Seneca Central District. He remembers the court battles by those opposed to the merging of the Interlaken and Ovid schools. The vote was close, with messages written in the margins of the paper ballots.

 

"I worked for the merger, actually," said Bill, who celebrated his 50th Interlaken Central School reunion this past summer. The children of many area families had Gates as their teacher, including Romulus town supervisor David Kaiser.

 

After Bill's wife, Barbara, passed away in 2000, he became reacquainted with Renee Clinton Johnson, who had worked with Barbara to form a 4-H chapter in the early 1970s.

 

Always a lover of horses, Renee is well-known on the local horse show scene. She has a special interest in Arabian and half-Arabian horses, particularly Morabs - a cross of the Morgan and Arabian breeds. The attractive horse barn at Long Lane Farm, Renee explained, was her "engagement ring." Bill, 68, and Renee, 64, have been married for five years.

 

The Gates have relocated to a 16-acre farm with a seven-year-old house in Rustburg, VA, the county seat of Campbell County. It is near Lynchburg and looks a lot like Lodi, said Bill. "It is rolling land, a farming community with beef, grain and hay farms, even some vineyards and wineries." There are also Amish in the area, and the people are friendly, he added.

 

Bill and Renee started talking about a move to Virginia when they helped retired Interlaken pastor Charles Moore and his wife, Alice, by driving a car to Bedford, VA. When Rev. Moore lived in Interlaken, he and Bill served together in prison ministry at Five Points Correctional Facility.

 

During the trip to Bedford, the 60 degree mid-January temperature caused the Gates to think of a new beginning. Bill, a trustee of the Lodi and Interlaken Historical Societies, was also drawn to the history of Rustburg. "The area we'll be in is famous for early American history," he said.

 

Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry were major figures in Rustburg's history. Georgian-style brick homes and barns with peaked roofs and attached "wings" are typical, said Bill. The foundation of Campbell County was tobacco, grown in the brick red soil of the region.

 

As this issue of The Record went to print, Bill and Renee were on their way to Las Vegas, where Bill's daughter, Ruth, has graduated from law school. From there, they planned to fly to Hawaii, then on to Australia, where Bill once participated in a teacher exchange program. From Australia, they will see New Zealand and Fiji, before making stops in California and Las Vegas on their way back to their new home in Virginia. (The Gates can be contacted at P.O. Box 695, Rustburg, VA 24588)