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| Harmony Inn, Harmony, Pa. (Julianne G. Crane) |
Located in rolling hills of western Pennsylvania, the historic Harmony Inn entices visitors with 30-some craft brews and tales of “a little girl in a white dress roaming the upstairs.”
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| Jimmy Smith of Oregon (c) having lunch. (Julianne G. Crane) |
Originally built in 1856 as an Italianate-style mansion for a prominent banker and mill operator, the present-day Harmony Inn was a hotel and saloon since the late 1800s. Owners in 1985 turned “the rough and tumble of the saloon” into “one of the first craft beer bars” in Butler County.
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| Numerous craft beers and ciders. (Julianne G. Crane) |
Current proprietors, Bob and Jodi McCafferty of Slippery Rock, bought the establishment
in 2013 and took a year to renovate the three-story structure.
In addition to a staggering selection of craft beers and ciders, the popular restaurant and saloon features a mouth-watering German-inspired lunch and dinner menu.
Haunting of Harmony Inn
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| Upstairs haunting area of the Harmony Inn, (Julianne G. Crane) |
An article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the Inn is believed to be “one of the most haunted places in Western Pennsylvania. Along with the strange noises, flickering lights and unexplained electrical impulses, visitors have felt gusts of cold air blow past them, seen objects move by themselves or fly off shelves and heard their names being called out from empty rooms.”
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| Staircase (Julianne G. Crane) |
The website reassures: “Although employees and customers are often frightened by the unexplained images, everyone reports that their encounters have always been friendly.”
Harmony Borough sits about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh where early Native American trails crossed. It is written that in 1753, a young George Washington and wilderness guide Christopher Gist camped on the north bank of Connoquenessing Creek near a Delaware Indian village (site of Harmony). Washington’s mission sparked the French and Indian War. “Nearby, the war’s first shot was fired at Washington by a ‘French Indian’.”
In 1804, the Harmony Society of German
Lutheran Separatists settled in the area seeking religious freedom. They quickly
became 19th century America’s most successful communal group. This quaint settlement of brick and log buildings retains the old world architectural character of an German village and includes more than 50 structures in the National Landmark
District.
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| Historic Harmony (Julianne G. Crane) |
If you go:
The Harmony Inn
230 Mercer St
Harmony, PA 16037
(724) 452-5124
info@theharmonyinn.com
Hours
Monday – Thursday 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.
Friday – Saturday 11 a.m. – Midnight
Sunday 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.
*Kitchen closes one hour before bar
– Text and photos: Julianne G. Crane
To read more articles by Julianne G Crane about the RV lifestyle, go to RVWheelLife.com
