218 Aquetong Rd NewHope Hope RidgeFarm owned by the Fetzers

218 Aquetong Road New Hope, PA Fetzers place. Hope Ridge Farm.

Our family, the Lotz's of Philadelphia, bought the farm from the Fetzer's in the mid 1960s and operated it as The Inn at Hope Ridge Farm. The enterprise involved three generations of the Lotz family. The core of the inn was a 1740 stone farmhouse, expanded in the 1860s and again in the 1960s. It was set on the corner of a 126-acre working farm at the corner of Aquetong and Sugan Rds about a mile south of New Hope. I worked and lived at the farm during my college years, 1965 - 1969.

I spent my summers at Fetzer's Farm from 1948 through 1956, sometimes staying with the family,
milking cows, generally helping a bit and getting into scrapes a lot. I remember it very warmly. The family was great, and Mrs. Fetzer baked bread fresh every morning and served it with fresh-made butter from their cows.

Found an old brochure; "A Bio-Dynamic Farm"...way ahead of its time!

Hi Janet!
I am the current owner and have been since 2000 but have been living on the property since 1987.
I would love to see that brochure! I have collected quite a bit of history from Hope Ridge.
Please feel to reach out!
Hugh Marshall 215-852-6006 or Rexarmstrong@hotmail.com

Bio-dynamic indeed. I will never forget brushing the dust off a tomato on the way back from the barn and milking and just biting into it. Maybe 1953 nearly drowned in the pond. Probably a year or 2 earlier, Ursula and I turned the tractor over.

Of courses, the almost-drowning part was before the swimming pool was built on the front lawn
(to the left of the house as seen from the road).

In 1962, my Manhattan private school class of 50 students went by chartered bus on a 3-day trip to learn about industry and agriculture. I live in the Lehigh Valley now, and wish I knew more about the trip. We went to a milk bottling plant which still stands, disused, in Allentown, and to a Bethlehem steel; rolling mill. We later visited the Amish country. We stayed at a place called Fetzer's Farm. It was a biodynamic farm. There were two dormitory buildings, one for boys and one for girls. (Of course there was a lot of silly horseplay and a panty raid.) Could this possibly be the place? It seems too far from the Lehigh Valley to me, but the biodynamic farm part fits.

I grew up going to Fetzers Farm on Sundays in the summer in the 60's. My parents and I would sit by the pool during the day and stay for dinner. Mrs. Fetzer was an excellent cook. We'd meet much of our family there. I recall that it was very popular with Jewish families. The Fetzers had family neighbors and I used to play with their daughter. I have a lot of pictures from this time if anyone is interested! on Sundays

Dear Suzan, I'd love to see your pictures!

I’d love to see them too Suzan!
Thanks so much for sharing!
Hugh

Does anyone remember the names of the Fetzer boys?

One was Albie (Albert?) and a sister Ula. Lovely people. I don’t meet them until the late 1970’s

I'm pretty sure Ula was Ursula.

Sue

My grandparents took me to Fetzer's farm when I was 7 or 8 years old, circa 1958 maybe. We stayed overnight, sleeping in the farmhouse, and I recall hot fresh-baked buns and picking raspberries in the blazing hot sun. I cannot imagine anything in this universe less characteristic of my grandparents than staying on a farm!

When I worked at the Inn at Hope Ridge Farm in the late 1960s, many of our guests arrived by bus from New York. One of my many jobs was driving into New Hope to greet the guests, handle their luggage and check them in I also picked vegetables, helped in the kitchen, and waited tables. Later, when we got out liquor license, I bartender. We had a player piano that was popular.