Pymatuning, Pennsylvania

by Edie Hicks

            Lake Pymatuning is know for an unusual happening in nature.  It is the one place, possibly in the whole world where the ducks actually walk on the backs of the fish!  Impossible, you say!  It really happens here.  Lake Pymatuning, (Indian for "Man With Crooked Nose") is a tiny lake near the border line between Pennsylvania and Ohio.  It is the site of a large fish hatchery as well as a nature preserve for waterfowl and several other species.

            At any day of the year you can find a crowd lined up along the spillway on the Linesville side of the causeway, most of them armed with bags of stale bread.  Not far below them filling most of the surface space are tons of gigantic carp.  These are bigger than the koi type the Japanese treasure and no where near as colorful.  The native ducks flock around to grab what bread they can before the fish get it.  More often than not this involves actually standing on the backs of the fish.  You can not visit this phenomena without paying your fifty cents for a post card at the tiny gift shop selling fishy and ducky knickknacks.

            The big carp, if they are unlucky get pulled into the turbines under the causeway.  This is not the great loss you may imagine, because hundreds of them are ground up daily to feed the tiny baby fish in the hatchery.  The carp multiply at unusual rates and are constantly being fattened by the tourists who not only buy the tacky doo dads but also buy the stale bread.  The state comes out on top by not having to pay for fish food and collecting all those taxes.

            All summer long you can cross the causeway and visit the natural history museum and nature preserve.  Of course, here is another gift shop with some not quite so tacky items to purchase and, you guessed it, more post cards. 

            Here you can find Amish post cards.  Sometimes you may be lucky enough to see them driving their horse and buggies to town to sell their crafts.  In the fall, they sell food and crafts at the Pymatuning Lake festival.

            This festival is not to be missed if you happen to be stuck in this part of Pennsylvania or across the border in Ohio.  As well as being one humongous flea sale, (No, I've never seen fleas there.) it's also a chance for the little ones to play in the shallow water.              Everyone gets a taste of local history with the Monroe Black Powder Shooters Club firing off their collection of antique weapons, including a cannon from the Civil War.  The weapons are stuffed with wet newspaper and fired out over the part of the lake where people are banned for the day.  The men and sometimes even women dress up in authentic costumes, fire up the huge iron kettle and prepare a batch of stone soup without the stones. A group of mostly Native Americans calling themselves "Buckskinners" wearing deerskin outfits all decorated and made the natural way, wander through the crowd stopping for pictures and to chat with anyone who has a question.

            Besides the weapons, the Black Powder Shooters also bring along wagons and even a larger than life size teepee made by the members.  They cut the poles themselves and with my son and husband helping, they skinned the bark and prepared them.  As no herds of buffalo wandered by, they had to make the covering with canvas because they did not want to sacrifice that many animals for skins.

            Tommy and I sampled the soup which was made with whatever produce each member brought to add to the pot and spiked with large chunks of un-historical pepperoni.  One year Bill, the winemaker in the club, added more historical meat to the soup.  He caught a large turtle and prepared it for the soup.  It was very tasty!  Sometimes, Bill brought a jug of whatever he was working on at the time for after the show sampling by adult members.  He makes wine out of anything from zucchini, pears, tomatoes, or cabbage to even onions.  Later I bought Tommy flannel cakes or Amish waffles, freshly caught fried Lake Erie perch and fried dough to sample.  He liked the fish best.

            We all took turns riding on the flat bottomed fishing floats to tour the lake which is shaped like and Indian head with a crooked nose, hence the name.  Tommy and I learned to juggle, well, I learned to fumble and drop.  We watched a magician and square dancers. April the game warden gave us a talk on the flora and fauna of the area complete with visual aids, (a huge owl with a broken wing, a live snake, Tommy touched it, not me, and several stuffed animals.).  Old Tom and young Tom went across the lake to Johnstown where a twin festival was taking place.  They looked at antique cars and an antique engine show with a lot of unusual motors like the one that shelled corn. After dark, we curled up on blankets to munch cotton candy and watch the fireworks.