Photography By Karlo Gesner
'Once you ’re here, you ’re family, ’ says Carriage House Collective owner Jane Yorty
Overseeing the store from her tall chair behind the register, decked out in a maroon tee that reads “be the change,” Greer Leggat relishes the camaraderie around her. Employees and customers of the boutique, dubbed Carriage House Collective, bustle around her, embodying what Leggat wants for everyone: just to “share a little kindness,” as she puts it.
Leggat is a longtime employee of the boutique, located in Lebanon’s quaint community of Quentin. She’s also one of more than 30 makers whose goods make up the store’s replete landscape, masterfully curated and designed in a way where all the goods live among their peers.
“Once you’re here, you’re family,” says Carriage House Collective owner Jane Yorty, who purchased the store from its previous owners six years ago and has since given the space a life of its own. Here, Yorty is referencing her customers and also the makers she consigns from.
Even though it’s only part of their busy lives, both Leggat and Yorty view Carriage House as a sort of second home, buoyed by the community who buys, browses or even just visits for a taste of inspiration.
Photography By Karlo Gesner
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Bringing out the magic in you
Leggat’s line of goods, Magic by Greer, was born out of a lifelong push toward creativity. She’s been creating apparel, accessories and home goods with her own designed slogans for six years.
“I wanted to become a famous artist one day, and to spread my message,” Leggat says about what propelled her. That message includes phrases like “be kind,” “smile with me,” and “you are brave.” The intent behind them doesn’t come out of thin air.
Greer designed the “you are brave” slogan after talking with Yorty’s daughter, Sarah, who was going through a hard time during final exams at Georgetown University.
Thinking of others is her specialty.
Photography By Karlo Gesner
During the throes of the pandemic, she designed the “you got this” phrase because “it was a tough year for everyone,” Leggat says. Thinking of others is her specialty.
Over the years, Leggat has built up a collection of T-shirts, baseball caps, mugs, notepads, car magnets and more. She also has holidayinspired gear, from shirts to ornaments, with Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas themes.
In addition to what you can find in store, Leggat produces custom orders, like a special shirt for Lebanon School District for World Kindness Day that reads “Be Kind Cedars.” She even produced a family reunion shirt for an event that took place in Dubai, solidifying her place as a worldwide artist.
Leggat’s success does not exist in a vacuum. Every year, she donates a portion of her profits to organizations like Special Olympics as well as Developmental and Disability Services of Lebanon Valley. She takes part in Special Olympics bowling and bocce, and used the county’s disability services for her own therapies before she was old enough for school. Before the 2024 donation, her business had already donated a lifetime total of $8,000 to these organizations. She also creates pour paintings, which she auctions off for different causes.
Photography By Karlo Gesner
"I’m the help. She’s the boss"
But it’s not all roses. As a woman with Down syndrome, Leggat fights to maintain independence. The biggest challenge, she says, has been “thinking enough for myself, between my own mother and me.” While Leggat spearheads the business, her mom, Judy, assists in the logistics. “I’m the help. She’s the boss,” her mother clarifies.
Over the fall, the Lancaster Lebanon Employment Coalition recognized Leggat for her entrepreneurial spirit with the 2024 Rising Star Award. Her success has been propelled by a partnership with Lebanon’s VF (Vanity Fair) Warehouse, a distribution center that launched a diversity, equity and inclusion program and asked Leggat to be the face of it. VF ordered custom shirts from Magic by Greer and asked her to speak at lunch-and-learn sessions. The company made an effort to employ folks with disabilities for the warehouse while focusing on their strengths over their weaknesses.
VF manufactures brands like The North Face and Vans, and Leggat got her own custom pair of Vans sneakers as part of the deal. Even so, she proudly stepped out from behind the counter in her glittery Crocs—her favorite shoe—with a strand of purple tinsel beaming from her hair. The success, it seems, has not changed her, nor has it altered her appreciation for the welcoming environment at the Carriage House Collective.
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Photography By Karlo Gesner
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Photography By Karlo Gesner
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Photography By Karlo Gesner
A collective in both name & spirit
Many boutiques that consign from makers and collectors keep each vendor separate. For Yorty there’s nothing wrong with that, but that’s not what her store is about. “Everything is cohesive. It’s a collaboration. It’s a collective of artists. On this particular stand," she says, pointing, “there are probably five different vendors.”
Yorty grew up in the area but lived up and down the Main Line outside of Philadelphia for decades. When she moved back, she took the opportunity to establish her own footprint and ran with it. “I’ve always been partly creative, and I’m a big cheerleader of the creative community. I get so excited when they make something and I sell it for them,” she says.
Some of Yorty’s staple products include creative signs from EverMine Designs and Crossed Paths; furniture, soap and candles from The Farm Chix; furniture and decor from Wander Awhile Style; dried and fresh florals from Bouquets of Blessings; knitwear from The Knitting Pixie; jewelry from Bobbi J. Designs and Jen Swavely; and coffee from Cleona Coffee Roasters, to name a few.
Vendors at Carriage House Collective are active participants, frequently stopping by to refresh their inventory. That’s because the boutique often has repeat visitors who seek unique experiences, and Yorty says there’s generally “a three-lap minimum.”
Sometimes, Yorty also requests specific types of products that she thinks may be popular that the maker could create, but she always stresses that it’s just a suggestion rather than a demand. “In a time where we don’t respect differences, it’s really important for me that we respect each other’s point of view,” she says.
Photography By Karlo Gesner
Many times, the vendors do choose to create customized versions of products for the shop and its patrons. For example, a grandmother came in asking if a sign that read “I am always with you” could be changed to “We are always with you” for her grandson, who tragically lost both of his parents. The vendor made it for them, and even gifted it because they knew it was a special circumstance. “We have a very strong sense of community,” Yorty says. “I know a lot of people say that, but it’s really important for me.”
In addition to the store, Yorty also wears another hat: organizing events for Visit Lebanon Valley. And twice yearly, the Carriage House Collective puts on a magnificent barn sale at her family’s farm a couple of miles up the road, one in the fall and one in the spring. “We set up as if that’s our large shop space, and then we have some outside vendors as well,” she says. “The rest of the time, it’s our family farm. My sister and I grew up there. My dad grew up there. He bought it from his dad and so on. Now, my niece Maggie owns the farm.”
Whether you’re family or not, you become part of Yorty’s just by stopping by.
We have a very STRONG sense of community. I know a lot of people say that, but it’s really important for me.
A palpable heartbeat
At Carriage House Collective, Yorty has created a space in which the sense of community, the energy, the magic are practically tangible. Whether it’s Leggat’s Magic by Greer or any of the other vendors that contribute to the scene, guests can rely on beauty, kindness and even a little quirk in every corner.
Carriage House Collective 75 W Main St, Lebanon | 717-708-2347| thecarriagehousecollective.com | Facebook: carriagehousecollective | Instagram: thecarriagehouse_collective
Holiday Holiday HOME GOODS
1. White Ceramic Angel Ornament, $5
2. Velvet Ball Ornament, $3
3. Cardinal Ornament, Handcrafted by EverMine Designs, $9
4. Evergreen Mug, $8
5. Nutcracker in Gold Aluminum, $24
6. Vintage-Style Pine Cone Ornament, $4
7. Cloche, $20
8. Mini Ceramic Trees, Set of 3, $12
9. Evergreen Dessert Plate, $8
10. Hand-Carved Walnut Riser, $30