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By Bob & Tanya Waite
There is a story about a place somewhere on the far side of the Himalayas called Shangri La. There, after days of trudging through the wilderness, explorers thirsty and ready to collapse come over a barren hill and see this virtual paradise on earth where there is plentiful water, trees that are weighed down by bushels of fruit and unmitigated beauty everywhere. The people are friendly, hospitable and wait on these haggard explorers.
Tanya and I have a similar experience. After driving in congested traffic on the PA Turnpike, snacking at rest areas and cruising through tunnels we take an exit and suddenly are overwhelmed by natural beauty—fruitful farmland, rolling hills, flowering trees and then verdant mountains with little towns and beautiful lakes. We are in the Alleghenies—in the southern part of the Laurel Highlands—Shangri La for weary travelers.
We reach Addison, a small town of approximately 170 people. It is only several miles from the Maryland border. We arrive at our destination —the Fernwalk Cottage. When we park our car we see a fern garden covering the front lawn. And coming off the beautifully stained deck is the owner, Beth, a Doylestown resident who fell in love with the Laurel Highlands.
Tanya and I follow Beth into the house. The house is immaculately neat and organized. Art decorates the walls and it has a kind of rustic chic vibe. It is both cozy, yet has looks like the work of a designer. Beth is so accommodating that meeting her is almost like running into a cousin from childhood we haven’t seen in a long time. Tanya and I love Fernwalk and Beth. Tanya, a hugger from her toddler days, gives Beth a big hug before she goes home.
Tanya starts taking photos. She keeps saying “Thank you Jesus,” as she walks through the cottage, relegating to me small areas so I don’t get in the way.
The kitchen has everything in it needed to cook everything from bacon and eggs to a gourmet dinner. There an island in the middle surrounded by easily moveable chairs, beautiful appliances, organic spices, a Cuisinart coffee maker, every conceivable kind of cookware. The stove is brand new and the large stainless refrigerator has twice the room of our own.
In the living room I say to Tanya, “Check out the fireplace.” She smiles and says in a soft voice, “Nice.” The brown leather couch beckons me to relax. And two rocking chairs make me want to act my age and rock the rest of the day away. Everything is perfect. Also, books are everywhere—in the large bookcase, on the coffee table which is covered with a decorative blanket and on the end tables in the bedrooms. Art is also everywhere, mainly created by local artists.
Windows allow natural light to flow in. The designer shades open and close from the top, and offer privacy when needed and darkness for sleeping. There is a beautiful sunroom that has a computer and printer for guest use.
There are two bedrooms—the Mountain Room and the Meadow Room. The Meadow Room has a painting by BJ Cook, an Addison artist. Both rooms looked so inviting that it was a difficult to choose the one we want to us, but we choose The Mountain Room, because it has its own bathroom with a rain forest shower. There is another bathroom in the hallway that has a tub.
As we settle in, we realize that we have a reservation for dinner at the Hartzell House Bed & Breakfast, which is less than a block away. Robert, who along with his wife Melissa, own the Hartzell House calls us and asks us to select a time to come in and eat. Hungry, we arrive at 6 p.m.
The owners, Robert and Melissa, give us a warm welcome. Robert shows us the downstairs and we love the spacious sitting areas and the little nooks. There are several fireplaces inside. The sunporch leads to a three-level deck and a path for walking on the beautiful grounds and across the lawn is a lone but very cute cottage that is used to house guests. Potted gardens are in view and outside the dining room is large patio. Robert and Melissa are cooking in the adjoining open kitchen.
We are seated by a large window overlooking the grounds. After being offered wine, we wait for dinner. Relaxed and talkative we drink Rosé and talk about our trip. We reminisce about other travels and wait expectantly for dinner.
We are served a four-course dinner. The first course is an appetizer that has a salami wrapped around shredded carrots with cheese, olives and homemade hot bread. Speaking of the presentation Tanya says, “This is lovely.” I say, “Yum, yum, yum.” She laughs and we ask for more wine. The next course is an arugula salad that is topped with a light vinaigrette. And in Italian tradition our third course is a pasta dish that has fusilli, mushrooms, halved baby plum tomatoes, carrots, arugula and thin slivers parmesan cheese in a crème sauce seasoned to perfection.
The entrée is a sliced stuffed roasted chicken breast with fingerling potatoes, dark meat on the side, cauliflowers, green beans and sliced glazed carrots. It is placed in the center of the table for us to share. It is tender and delicious. I say to Robert, “You are a great chef” and he humbly replies, “I am not really a chef—I just like to cook.”
After a great night’s sleep at Fernwalk in a incomparably comfortable bed, we get up, get dressed and are out to make an appointment at the Touchstone Center For Crafts in Farmington, PA. There is a morning mist covering the peaks of the Alleghenies. On the way we stop at Fuel Coffee Works where we each order a cup of coffee and take a box of glazed donuts with us in the car. Tanya, who loves glazed donuts, bites into one while sipping her coffee. “Wow!” she says. “These are the bomb diggity! I wish we could get donuts like this at home.” I get the same sensation. Responding to ‘bomb diggity’ I say, “Most of the donuts we get at home taste as old as your slang.” We both laugh and leave the parking lot headed toward Touchstone Center For Crafts.
Arriving at Touchstone we enter the gift shop and browse the artisan lamps, jewelry, forged items, ceramics, craft items in so many media that we are sorry we have a schedule. Tanya actually looks at every piece of jewelry. They carry the work of over 100 artists that includes local and regional alongside national artists.
The executive director, Lindsay Ketterer Gates gives us an overview of what is done at Touchstone. We find out the it sits on 230 acres. Touchstone’s main endeavor is offering workshops. Some of these last a half day, some a day and others multiple days.
The workshops are intensive and for people attending the 2-day, 3-day and 5-day workshops it mean staying there. There are cabins where both participants and artists stay and have meals in a group setting. There are work studios in separate buildings and even outdoor classes.
Stefanie Glover, operations and development coordinator, takes us on a tour. The campus is large with many buildings—studios and cabins. She is very thorough. Tanya hits it off with her right away. As we walk she points out various studios and tells us about the large forge they have for blacksmithing. I want to see that, but on the way pollen attacks Tanya. At first it is sneezing, then coughing and by the time we get close, she is having an asthma attack, so we have to part.
The workshops include blacksmithing, ceramics, glass, metals and jewelry, painting and drawing. There are also classes for things like willow weaving, fabric painting and dyeing, sculptural basketry and others. Special programs include events like Kids’ Camp, Date Night. There are also exhibitions and many other things to do. For more information, www.touchstonecrafts.org.
After leaving Touchstone, we drive toward the Ohiopyle State Park. We would like to see Kentuck Knob, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright but we never arranged for a tour. It’s ok because tomorrow we will see Fallingwater, a house considered an architectural wonder.
After driving up a road that winds around a mountain, we enter the town of Ohiopyle. This town on Youghiogheny river is beautiful and lively. We see restaurants and several stores to rent rafts, canoes and kayaks. The town is built around white water rafting and outdoor recreation. People come from nearby and far away to bounce down the Youghiogheny.
Ohiopyle State Park is located at the edge of the town alongside the river and there are almost 20 miles of the Youghiogheny River that can be rafted from the park, including the Lower and Middle Sections. Hiking and biking are always very popular activities at Ohiopyle. There are currently over 31 miles of mountain biking trails, 79 miles of hiking trails, and 20 miles of the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) Trail within the park. The GAP Trail runs along the Youghiogheny River through downtown Ohiopyle, and ultimately connects Pittsburgh, PA with Cumberland, MD. We park and stand on an observation deck to watch the falls and have a photo taken of us by a very helpful teenager.
After staying in town for a couple of hours, we leave and take long rides on small mountainous roads. The beauty is so overwhelming that Tanya wants me to stop every five or ten minutes so she can photograph valleys and tall hills on the other side of passes. We have no idea of where we are going. I forget about the dining experience that we are to have at Firewater Kitchen + Bar at Deep Creek, Maryland. The restaurant is known for beautiful views of Deep Creek Lake and its fresh-made craft cocktails, craft beers and exceptional dining. We return to Fernwalk for the night.
After dining in and a good night’s sleep, we visit Tissue Farm in Confluence. Entering the coffee shop on the side of a building that once was a car dealership, we smell the fresh ground coffee and look at the large variety of baked goods, thinking of a fast breakfast. We order coffee and raspberry scones. The coffee is aromatic and soothes my early morning desire. The scones are perfect. Tanya says, “These people can really bake!” I ask her if they are the ‘bomb diggity’. She says, “Oh you.”
We meet Pope Pankey, who along with his wife, Suzanne, own Tissue Farm. Pope shows us around the larger building where he houses an art gallery, showing some of his own work and changing exhibitions regularly. The big room is also used for community events. Pope and Suzanne are Seattle transplants who decided to move to Confluence and be part of its development into an attractive community.
We love Tissue Farm but need to leave and take a ride back to Farmington to visit the Mount Washington Tavern and Fort Necessity. The tavern is closed when we arrive, so we visit Fort Necessity, where the first battle of the French and Indian War was fought before war was actually declared. We enter the visitor center at Fort Necessity National Battlefield and a ranger immediately begins telling us its story. We are impressed. The life-size soldiers and interactive exhibits makes us want to return. We want to stay but have an appointment at 3 p.m. for our tour of Fallingwater.
We are both excited. Frank Lloyd Wright was the greatest 20th century architect in America and maybe even in the world. He designed over 1000 structures and 532 were built. His work spanned decades and Fallingwater is one of his greatest accomplishments and the prime example of what he called organic architecture.
Our tour guide, Steven arrives and tells us about the tour, rules for photos and so on. We begin our tour. The gravel path leads us through an area that the Kaufmann family used for recreation. We walked beside Bear Creek and past flowering trees and bushes. Steven told us many stories about this prominent family who owned a large department store in Pittsburgh and wanted to have a getaway home on the acreage which we are walking. Tanya and I ask the guide questions and being very well-informed, he is able to answer them all.
After about 15 minutes of walking we approach Fallingwater a house built over a waterfall. We are dazzled by the water around it, the stream going under it, the waterfall that from some angles looks like it flows out of the house, and the steps approaching this modern world wonder that was designed in 1935 and finished by 1939.
The concrete outdoor terraces seem to hang in space, counterbalanced by the weight of Pottsville sandstone chimney. It is a masterful act of architectural genius, where the outside is brought in and windows are seamless, opening without the appearance of joints. The furnishings include statues, a brightly colored, very long couch and all the rooms connected to the outside. It is important to book a tour online about six weeks in advance to see Fallingwater. For more information, visit www.fallingwater.org.
We have to hurry because we have reservations for dinner at River’s Edge Café in Confluence by 5 p.m. We arrive on time. We are seated by a window that has a beautiful view of the of the Youghiogheny River. It is hyperlocal and we love it. I order a steak and Tanya has crabcakes. We both enjoy our meal. The people are unpretentiously friendly from the waitress to the owner, who visits our table and chats with us. Outside are people dining al fresco—socializing and enjoying themselves.
We leave after dinner to spend a night at the Hartzell House Bed & Breakfast in the Patriot Suite. Robert and Melissa welcome us back. They both smile when they see us. The Patriot Suite is street level. It has its own refrigerator outside the room. This large room is colored in restful hues of blue and gold and furnished with Mission-style oak pieces and two comfortable club chairs. It is large and the bath has a sitting area and a rainforest shower. Tanya would like to stay forever and she is not a bed and breakfast lover. Our breakfast is as amazing as our dinner two days ago. I choose the savory and Tanya the sweet. We want to come again.
As we leave we say reluctant goodbyes to Robert and Melissa. We drive home ready to fight the Harrisburg and Philadelphia area traffic buttressed with fond memories of the Laurel Highlands.
(bio)
Bob Waite is the editor of Bucks County Magazine and Tanya is his wife, travel companion and the co-writer of this department.