The Little Lehigh

[Heritage Angler]

Nice report! I am fascinated with the old stone cottage in the photos. Would be interesting to know the history of the place.

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The pictured stone building is actually a spring house. A spring emerges from inside the building, and flows out to the creek. Back in the day, there were no refrigerators, and this building was part of a farm that used it for food storage (milk, etc). It now serves as the home of the Heritage Fly Shop (formerly the Little Lehigh Fly Shop) - I have no connection to this business, other than being old friends with the owner (Dave Bittner).


It really is a neat little building, and stays pretty cool inside in even the hottest weather. The fly shop was added inside without altering the basic structure. After the passing of Al Miller (designer of the "Al's Rat" fly pattern) in 2008, the building was dedicated to Al by a plaque mounted on an outside wall, next to the door.

Great location for a fly shop, except the stream often floods during high water events. The current owner Dave has experienced many of these floods over the years, as he was friends with the previous owner (Rod Rohrbach). Dave had the good foresight to build pegboard walls that pivot up, to be hooked at ceiling height. What used to take hours to "flood proof" merchandise, now takes seconds to accomplish.

Hurricane Ivan in 2004 almost ruined the fly shop business for good. I spent many days helping Rod and Dave salvage what remained, and Rod rebuilt the business, which remained successful until health reasons forced Rod to give it up. During that flood, the water level was up to the top of the front window. Two days after he lost most of his business to the flood, the rooming house that Rod lived in exploded and caught fire from a natural gas leak. He escaped with his dog, car keys, and wallet with five dollars in it. Most people would've just given up on the dream of owning a fly shop, but not Rod. With the help of friends, and even other local fly shops, he was able to rebuild. Say what you want about Rod, but he was one tough old bird, and a good friend. He's now a trout bum, wandering around Colorado - and having the time of his life.