The sun was settling behind trees that spread long branches over a patio garden. The weather was perfect for refreshments or dinner in the park like setting where a gurgling brook ran under a quaint wooden bridge. Statues and a large American brass eagle were placed among the plantings. A stately brick mansion at its corner gave the garden seclusion.
The Farnsworth House Inn was created out of a historic building that had been a tourist home then shop. Over time it was neglected. “My father opened the Farnsworth House in 1972. All us kids kinda grew up here,” Loring Shultz, Jr. said. He is called JR since his father still comes to work every day at the inn he created and lovingly restored from an 1810 era building.
“Dad won’t cut the trees. It is a difficult decision for him to prune back branches. The sycamores across the street were here when President Abraham Lincoln came to Gettysburg to deliver his address in 1863,” JR explained.
“The tree in the painting of Lincoln fell down about four years ago. We have the mates to it. When the sycamore was being cut up they found many bullets in it. We reckon the sycamores are 250 years old,” Loring Shultz, the inn’s founder, said
The original witness tree is immortalized in an oil painting inside Farnsworth House Restaurant’s General Meade dining room. Not to take sides, there is also the General Robert E. Lee dining room. The brick house at 401 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was added on to the original building.
“The original house was supported by American chestnut logs. They built it over a spring. That was common then. They didn’t have to go out of the house for water in winter and there was a fear of Indian attack so they wanted a water source inside. The brick structure was added in 1833. See the wall there,” Loring Shultz pointed. There was one missing brick in the middle of an outside wall.
“When we were renovating we found it with the builder’s initials and the date 1833. Since people like to touch things we took that brick out out and put it inside the restaurant,” the founder added.
“The house was used by Confederate sharpshooters during the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. There are more than a hundred bullet holes in the building. One bullet went into a door that was on the south side of the building. Our research indicates that the bullet that killed Jennie Wade, the only civilian casualty during the Battle of Gettysburg, was fired by a Confederate soldier from our attic,” JR added.
Walking up steps to a large antique main door to Farnsworth House Inn is like stepping back in time. The portal reveals a setting from the Victorian era. The hall is furnished with antiques that would have graced an elegant home at the time of the Civil War. A hostess, in period dress, welcomes diners. We were seated in the Meade Room, next to an antique cherry wood corner cupboard filled with antique plates, spoons and glasses.
The dining room has a large stone hearth. Its mahogany mantle is decorated with a one piece ornately carved wooden clock. General Meade’s oil is hung above the mantle. Each table is graced with a candle in a pewter holder. The flickering light adds to ambiance in the room. Tables are bare wood set with fine china plates and burgundy linen napkins.
The wine and beverage menu includes specialty drinks like Louisiana Tiger Fire, a concoction of vodka, tomato juice, Tabasco sauce, horseradish, Worchestershire sauce and spices garnished with Gulf shrimp rolled in seasoning. If that is not intriguing enough there is the Confederate Sharpshooter made with Malibu coconut rum, vanilla, vodka and pineapple juice. Their Scarlett O'Hara is Southern Comfort with cranberry juice.
House wines by the glass are Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi from California as a choice of Shiraz, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, pinot grigio and others for $6.25. Bottles of wines from the Adams County, PA winery like Tears of Gettysburg, a sweet white wine, or Three Ships to the Wind, a sweet red are $21. The list includes sparkling wines like Andre $12, Asti Spumante $22, Great Western $18 and G.H. Mumm Champagne from France $64. Australian chardonnay from Jacob’s Creek is $18 a bottle and sauvignon blanc from Nobilo in New Zealand is $24.
Starters included goober peanut soup. The soup was recommended by Linda Goodman our server. For those that never tasted it, the Farnsworth House soup is superb, creamy, with a taste of Georgia peanuts, $5.25.
Next was their Maryland crab cakes. Many restaurants buy prepared frozen food and some dilute actual crab meat with fillers. The taste of freshly made crab cakes with lots of hand picked lump crab meat was immediately evident. Spiced perfectly and broiled to perfection, Farnsworth House crab cakes can be ordered as an appetizer or as an entrée for $24.95.
Linda brought a plate of hot bread to the table that included spoon bread made with cornmeal, eggs, butter, salt and milk. Next to the little pot of spoon bread was a round loaf they call Jenny Wade bread. The bread plate is accompanied by apple butter and creamery butter. The spoon bread was savory, the crispy round loaf hard to resist.
A Farnsworth House specialty is game pie. Prepared in house with turkey, pheasant and duck in a casserole, there is a taste of bacon, red currant, and wild rice topped with a flaky crust. The game pie is baked in an oven and served in a pewter pot, $18.95.
For beef lovers be sure to order the prime rib. The large portion comes to table with a selection of sides that include pumpkin fritters, sweet potato pudding, Amish cole slaw, fresh country vegetables or a garden salad. The salad is large and is offered with a variety of dressings.
Other menu features include an 8-ounce portion of grilled salmon with butter sauce. The salmon is broiled to perfection and can be ordered with an orange- pineapple sauce if desired, $21.95. Drunken sea scallops sautéed in Chablis is a specialty, $25.95. Slow roasted chicken, seasoned with herbs and spices, is $15.95.
The kitchen is supervised by Head Chef Ed Tobin. Born in Dennis on Cape Cod, he went to college to become a police officer. “Cooking put me through college. I was making money,” Chef Tobin smiled. He worked on the Cape at a variety of restaurants from seafood houses to pubs.
“I’ve done everything you can imagine. Here at Farnsworth House I can combine everything into one menu. Coming from the northeast I like to do seafood. Tomorrow we are going to feature lobster and crab. I love clams, oysters. At Farnsworth House we have old culinary style cooking. My favorite part of the job is teaching. I love to teach the staff how to make a fine meal. When we do something different, like the baked stuffed lobsters tomorrow, for me that is fun,” Chef Tobin said.
“For our game pie we do it the same way they did in Victorian times. We make the crust, roll it out. We use wild game like duck and pheasant and brown mushroom gravy. They made it is big pots, I make it in little pots. I’m making single servings instead of family portions,” Chef Tobin explained as he put a game pie in the oven to bake.
The ultra-modern kitchen, spotless and well laid out, is in contrast to the historic building that houses it. Care is taken to insure the period is represented and that guests are taken back to an era when grand dinners were served in elegant style.
“In the kitchen we like to have fun. Cooking is serious business and a serious job but we have to have laughter. We are involved in the restaurant business. It is a high stress job. We have to keep an even keel,” Chef Tobin explained.
Chef Tobin often visited Gettysburg before making his career choice. “I stayed at the Farnsworth House Inn. I am a huge history buff. On my days off I love strolling the battlefields. It is very calming and it recharges me,” he said.
Be sure to try Miss Ann’s desserts. The Lancaster County shoofly pie is made with molasses with a sensational crumb topping, $4.75. The double chocolate layer cake with vanilla ice cream is also a temptation.
Dining in the Historic Farnsworth House is like turning back the clock in time to the elegance of Gone With the Wind. Foods that would be served at Tara, the specialties and desserts, the elegant service, is accented by delicious taste sensations created by Ed Tobin and his staff.
“We created Camp J. J. Starkey across the street. We get bus tours in. The people come into a Civil War camp and we demonstrate how a musket is fired. We pass it around. Many people fly into Washington, DC from Australia and New Zealand and take day trips. They’ve never held a musket. J. J. Starkey was my great-great grandfather. He served in the 18th Virginia Cavalry and guarded the retreat of the wagon train after the Battle of Gettysburg. We take them up to the attic in the Farnsworth House and show them the antiques. The story of the hauntings are very real to some people that said they’ve seen ghosts.” Loring Shultz explained some of the folklore long associated with the place.
“Two neighbor kids were playing and ran into the street. One was hit by a passing wagon. He was carried into the house where he later died. Some have said they’ve seen his ghost,” Loring ventured. Haunted tours take place from the Farnsworth House and detail reports of para-normal hauntings in Gettysburg including the legend of the dead boy.
“The inn and restaurant was named for Elon John Farnsworth. He was 25 years old, promoted on the field from Captain to Brigadier General. Farnsworth was assigned to attack the Confederate line after Pickett’s charge failed. He died in the attack with 65 of his men. I named the house after him,” Loring Shultz added.
“My father is a visionary. He grew up here in Gettysburg. He was born right where the first shot of the battle was fired. The building is 85% original. We have the original key to the front door,” Loring Shultz, Jr. said. He is justly proud of a family tradition that offers superb hospitality and fine food.
For more information visit their website at www.farnsworthhouseinn.com or call for reservations at 717 334 8838.
