Johann Georg "George" DIETZ

The Old Dietz House on John Dietz Road, Callicoon Ctr, New York, is a story written by Marjorie Beverly (Dietz) Gardner. This is a copy of the story as she wrote it for our Dietz Genealogy: Almost at the top of the hill and on our left was a narrow little driveway, and I use the word most unadvisedly. It was overgrown and almost invisible. In fact we went right by it and had to turn around and come back. I walked up the drive toward the yellow painted house that jutted out at the front entrance. The shed, or cellar with its bulkhead, faced toward us; but was somewhat hidden in theover-growth of bushes and greenery around it. Ashort way from the house on the east side lies the remains of the old barn. It has fallen, in a tumbled heap that has only lately partially burned. It's as lonely as old John Ludwig said it was in his time. As I went along the muddy drive I wondered if the old place had been built by John Ludwig or his father, John Dietz or if it had originally been built by Christoph Andreas, the immigrant. John Ludwig Dietz and Ida lived out their years without any children to care for them. On the right side of the worn out road, I have so daringly called a driveway, was a small pond, or maybe just a swamp. It's a good thing I was watching my step, for there, only a breath away was a snake with his head up, and believe me he was looking at me. I said, "Feet don't fail me now." It never before took me such a long time to cover such a short distance. It was a tiny creature, it really was; but every time I think of it, it grows and grows larger and larger in my mind, somewhat as the fish that got away seems to the fisherman who lost it. Note: According to the Town Clerk of Callicoon Center, the old house was built in 1860.

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