Blue Lick Valley Farm in Brothersvalley Township to be sold at public auction Saturday

Blue Lick Valley Farm in Brothersvalley Township has come to the end of an era.

The Hay family has owned and operated the homestead since 1860, when Simon F. and Sarah (Suder) Hay purchased the property south of Berlin nestled quietly off Route 160. Now, after 162 years of continuous Hay ownership, the acreage and farmhouse built in 1885 will be offered for sale on Saturday during a public auction of real estate and many treasured items held by auctioneer Ron Jubick.

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"It will be a painful day to see everything three earlier generations of our family worked their entire lives to obtain to be sold at auction," said David R. Hay, a former Somerset postal carrier and writer for the Daily American and New Republic.

"We know it is necessary because we are all past retirement ages. It's all too costly to remain in our own homes plus pay taxes and supply heat and improvement to our farmhouse."

David, 74, is the second oldest of four children born to Robert E. and Grace (Swearman) Hay. Linda Lou Hay, the oldest, passed away on April 1 of this year at the age of 75. She lived in both Cumberland, Maryland, where she retired from working for Thomas Finan Center, and at the farmhouse. Dan Hay, 70, the third child, also lives in Cumberland, Maryland, and he took great interest in gardening and landscaping the farm with trees and shrubs. Youngest child Mary Stotler, 69, of Salco Road, Berlin, lives on a section of the original farm property. She has two daughters, Jana Howsare and Lindsey, married to Brian Cioci, of New Hampshire.

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"These are all bittersweet memories here," said Mary Stotler, looking around at the Hoosier cabinet, blanket chests, oil lamps and many other antiques. "Our sister's death was the catalyst for this decision. She maintained this property up until her death in April. It was always nice to have the farm to come back to."

Each of the four Hay children were born at Meyersdale Hospital and grew up on the farm, an operating dairy at the time, assisting with chores and enjoying farm life. They all graduated from Berlin Brothersvalley High School.

"We all grew up helping with the farm work," said David. "We all had our own chores and learned how to be dependable. Farm life was a big part of our childhood and everyone worked together to help out."

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David pointed out that the farmhouse contents represent four generations of the Hay family. While Simon and Sarah Hay bought the property in 1860 and built their home in 1885, the next generation of J. Nevin and Edith (Engle) Hay lived there and then Robert E. and Grace Hay operated the dairy until Robert had a farm accident when he was 65 years old. In addition to the accident, the original barn built by Simon F. Hay had fallen down after a storm and those incidents caused Robert to give up dairying, explained David. Their father Bob Hay died in 1995.

"This is a representation of all their collections throughout their lifetimes," said David. "When my great-grandparents came here in 1860, they worked hard and cleared the land by hand, not like today with modern equipment. It was all a labor of love for the land and the family. And, they saved everything going through the Depression years. There are all kinds of treasures here. Everything holds a memory."

Some of the furniture treasures on the sale bill are an unusual oak double-sided Hoosier style cabinet made in the late 1800s, a square oak table with four extra boards, a large blanket chest made by Joel Miller of Salisbury, in 1838, a small oak two-door icebox, 9 by 12 pane corner cupboards, a clawfoot fancy oak sideboard with mirror, oak high-back beds, a Victor talking machine and many other items.

Smaller antiques, like crocks, wooden keelers, a coffee grinder, milk cans, oil lamps, postcards, pictures, a Roy Rogers lunch box and a Massey-Harris straw hat are unique things up for sale.

The property itself has 150 acres with 100 tillable acres and 50 wooded acres, with 100 acres being leased for crops by local farmers, a large vinyl sided four-bedroom farmhouse built in 1885 and a metal pole building.

Ever since Aug. 3, Hay has decided to write 100 pages about farm life growing up at Blue Lick up until the farm sale on Sept. 3. So far, he has more than 170 pages. Those memories keep flooding back to him.

One memory he shared was when he was a young boy going to the mailbox on Route 160 to pick up the mail. He would also get the mail for neighbors Billy and Ada Knupp and Helen Shaffer, who stayed with the Knupps, would call him "Knuppy's little mailman" when he would come into the house to drop off their mail.

Ironically, Dave became a borough postal carrier for Somerset Post Office for 32 years and retired in 2003. He and his wife, the former Virginia Long, have traveled abroad to Germany, Austria and Switzerland and he has written stories about his travels for the newspapers. They are planning to take a cruise in 2023 to the Caribbean for their 50th wedding anniversary.

"I would hope that our farm auction could be more like a homecoming of family cousins, relatives and families that were our neighbors and friends. It is the completion of an era and hopefully a bright future for a younger family who can love and nourish what our family has loved for more than a century and a half," said David.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Historic Blue Lick Valley Farm in Brothersvalley for sale