PHOTO BY JOHN FRYMAN / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
HENDERSHOT’S SUTLERY … Hendershot’s Sutlery opened for business at 103 W. Butler St. in Bryan. Pictured, from left, are store manager Sherry Hendershot and store owner Rebecca Short. The store sells and features many items from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War eras.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
For two Pioneer residents, Sherry Hendershot and Rebecca Short, it gave them an opportunity to sell items with an important historical value dating back to the Revolutionary War period.
The mother-daughter duo recently opened a new business in downtown Bryan at 103 W. Butler St. called Hendershot’s Sutlery, which is owned by Rebecca Short, the daughter of Sherry Hendershot, who serves as store manager.
The store features and sells historic military and frontier provisioner wares as well as craft items, basket crafts, jewelry making items, toys, books, antique furniture, camp and home items and various clothing items made out of hemp linen, flax linen, wool thread and cotton.
A sutler was historically a civilian merchant authorized to sell provisions, liquor and goods not provided by the government to soldiers in a military camp or fort.
They acted as traveling general stores and offered troops comforts beyond standard military rations, including tobacco, stationery, candy and playing cards.
These merchants were common fixtures in camps from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War.
The idea of opening this unique business started years ago, when Short and Hendershot both participated in reenactments involving the Revolutionary War and the Civil War eras since 1978.
“It started about truthfully about 47 years ago before we even started selling anything,” said Short. “When I was about six months old, my mom and dad got into Revolutionary War reenacting, and we’ve done it our entire life.”
Hendershot said her first reenactment was the “Brigade of the American Revolution” and got interested in selling things based on that time period.
“The two of us have made many things that are in the store here, toys, clothing, things that you use for everyday use,” said Hendershot.
“We even have some antiques and so it fits in with those time periods things that you normally would need.”
One of six children in the Hendershot family, Short said that her parents had taken her to all of the reenacting events, and it fueled her own love for history.
“This store is my mom (Sherry Hendershot) and I kind of incorporated it,” Short said. “She (Hendershot) started handmaking items based off the time period of the 18th century.”
Once her mother began handmaking items dating back from the 18th century, Short eventually helped out by making clothes together, making game boards and toys just for their own time at the campfire when they were at the reenactment events.
“It kind of blossomed into becoming a merchant at the reenacting and we started selling there and we’ve been doing that since 1995 when my mother really got into the basket very heavily and my parents ended up divorcing at the time,” said Short.
“Me and her kind of did our own thing, and we expanded a little bit more when I started refinishing antique furniture.”
After residing in Arizona off and on for the past eight years, Short said the store was her mother’s dream combined with her own ambition.
With the objective of fulfilling her mother’s dream and her own ambition, and after moving back to northwest Ohio, Short admitted that she had no idea about anything in the area.
“We usually shop at Walmart in Bryan, and we saw this location as a comic bookstore and loved it from the very moment when we saw it,” said Short.
After the comic bookstore had moved to another location in downtown Bryan, Short saw it as an opening and opportunity of finally opening a brick-and-mortar store she had wanted to pursue.
When Short first saw the vacant building that previously housed the comic bookstore and was available for rent, she immediately stopped and spoke with Pastor Mike Kelly, executive director of The Sanctuary of Williams County, to set up an appointment the next morning. “It was like a godsend,” pointed out Short.
Hendershot’s Sutlery has been open since the beginning of July. Short admitted business has been somewhat slow.
She added they did it as a quiet opening, not advertising online or anywhere else but telling some of her reenactment friends.
“We wanted to do a slow opening to see what the interest would be, a little mysterious to be honest,” said Short. “That’s how we are at the reenactings, we did a pop-up merchant and of course we would register to come in. But nobody really knew what type of stores we are at those reenactments. That’s what we did here.”
Hendershot had built the tables and the shelves, which allowed her to display things in the store.
Being a reenactor, she knew the types of items that would have been used then. She also worked with certain wholesale companies, and they would supply them to her and would also trade from other people to get a better number of things to offer.
“One thing that I noticed when I would go to reenactments and sell is that some of the grandparents would buy certain toys and games for their grandchildren,” said Hendershot.
“Also, if you have a colonial type of home, you can take some of the items I offer here from the home and camp items and put it in your display.”
Previously, they had operated a store in Vevay, Indiana, located near the Ohio River, for a few years, and it was called “Little Turtle.” They ended up closing the store after her mother-in-law passed away in 2014.
Short is hoping that local history buffs come visit their new store, in which her mother is very knowledgeable and can help them get started, even somebody that is slightly interested in history.
“We’re not an antique store, but I would call us more of a historical reproduction with antiques, because it all goes together,” said Short.
“We don’t want to be labeled as a furniture store, but we wanted to be labeled more as a necessity store because it’s a lot of necessities, they had back then.”
Store hours for Hendershot’s Sutlery are Monday through Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The store is closed on Sundays and holidays.
