Horse and buggy days returning to Warwick

WARWICK - Imagine what it may have been like for local citizens to travel from a farm to the Village of Warwick in the nineteenth century. Jason Blenis reports that it takes him about a half hour just to hitch up the horse and carriage that’s been giving rides in and about Warwick lately. And he also has read original documents and logs that show, for example, that it took two days to travel 30 miles by carriage from Goshen to Suffern. Today Blenis hauls his horse and carriage from Forgotten Works Carriage Co. in Berwick, Pa., to Warwick or anywhere for that matter in a custom-built tractor-trailer. Up until the end of October, he was offering rides every weekend at the Bellvale Farm near Mt. Peter. Then he caught the attention of John Christison, owner of Yesterdays restaurant, 29 Main St. Christison helped Forgotten Works Carriage Co. obtain any necessary permits from the village to begin selling rides on weekends. He also is hoping that horse and buggy rides become a traditional feature, especially during the holiday season, in downtown Warwick. Since there wasn’t much advance publicity, the horse and buggy, complete with a driver in period costume and sitting outside Yesterdays, soon became the talk of the town. Blenis and his horse and buggy will return to Yesterdays this Friday and Saturday, Nov. 4-5, at approximately 6:30 p.m. The public is invited to stop by and take a ride into yesteryear.