Maude Agard's Dream

In October 2001, Carol Kammen of the Ithaca Journal highlighted in her column the family business oral history I had produced with my mother. The title of her column was, “Now is the time to record the history of our institutions.”  She encouraged local businesses and historical societies to document those operations before their participants were no longer around to ask.

Taughannock Farms Inn

Maude Agard's "tea room"

My grandmother, Maude Agard, loved to cook. Her dream was to have her own “tea room,” and on her 40^th birthday, May 16, 1946 she realized that dream with the purchase of a summer home, owned by a Philadelphian Robert Jones, that overlooked Taughannock Falls State Park. According to the oral history my mother recounted, “The first night they were open to the public…they served less than twenty people and ran out of food! Mother had no idea how many people to prepare for. But, word got around, so Taughannock Farms grew and grew.”

There were no printed menus; the extensive list of appetizers, main dishes, and desserts was recited by the waitresses. Dinners were served family style. The rolls were made on the premises each day, as were the salads, pies, and other desserts. Soon after my parents became partners in the business and so that is where I grew up.  Anyone growing up in a family business knows that everybody works. And we did. But we, including our employees, were all “family,” and that is a special attribute of a family run business. 

Taughannock Farms Inn - The Early Years is archived and can be accessed at the Ulysses Historical Society in Trumansburg, NY. I encourage everyone who is part of a family business to document its history; it is too precious to lose. 

Oral Histories

I have had the honor of working on oral histories for the Newtown, CT, Ulysses (Trumansburg), NY and Newfield, NY historical societies.  The stories are always fascinating and capture that person’s memory of time and place.  My husband and I have captured our mother’s voices and their oral histories. This excerpt from my mother’s, Carol Agard Nunn (b: 1924) oral history opens a window for me into what it was like to grow up on a farm in rural Willow Creek near Jacksonville, NY:

“Baths – showers were unheard of – baths were water heated in a big pan, usually an enameled pan – we called it a tub – on the stove, and on Saturday nights - it was one bath a week, we would put that in front of the stove and take our baths. During the week you would have what we called the sponge bath where you took a damp washcloth and went over your body. That was about it. You washed your hair once a week also.”

                                                    Agard Homestead early 1900s