The Stone Farmhouse, built ca. 1793, and Shady Spring Farm is a recognized PA Century Farm, having been owned by our family since April 1922. After nearly a decade of meticulous restoration, the Stone Farmhouse is available to early American history enthusiasts who appreciate period architecture, authentic decor, and modern amenities sensitively included. The transitional style house on our 130-acre black angus cattle farm combines both Georgian and Federal architectural details. It has been carefully and authentically restored to the 1800s. We welcome you to come and enjoy our cherished family home and farm.
The original kitchen's walk-in cooking hearth is outfitted with a large crane, cooking reflector, various antique pots, pans, and cooking utensils for you to examine and explore. The kitchen revolves around a 36" sycamore butcher block and is also home to a copper-lined cherry dry sink, a period cradle, while both a plate stand and a large built-in cabinet houses a large selection of pewter plates, porringers, tureens, and many other interesting pieces. The dining room next to the historic kitchen comfortably seats 8 guests and is decorated with mouth-blown wine bottles and glasses and 19th century dishware.
The modern kitchen with custom cabinets and soapstone countertops includes a side-by-side refrigerator/freezer with in-door water and ice dispenser, a smooth electric cooktop, built-in oven & microwave, and built-in stainless-tub dishwasher. The view from the kitchen window is of a wide-sweeping field where we harvest hay in late spring and summer then turn out the cattle in the winter months. The kitchen table seats 3-4 while the soft seating area has a leather sofa, two chairs and a wall-mounted smart TV. The historic parlor with Federal fireplace and the drawing room with angled Georgian fireplace were opened to one another in the late 1800's. This larger space is softly lit with hand-made Federal era wall sconces, window candles with timers as well as flickering remote controlled candles in the non-functional fireplaces. These two rooms have 10' ceilings with three full-height windows and beautiful views toward the garden and the front yard sloping down to the stone springhouse. Decorated with block-printed Federal wallpaper border, the rooms house life-size busts of several of our founding fathers - to include Geo Washington, Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and Thos Jefferson - as well as many Washington portraits and lithographs printed in the 1800's. Our private library of hundreds of books on early American history as well as our founding fathers, the Revolutionary and French & Indian Wars, and early Pennsylvanian history are available for our guests to read while they are on the farm.
The second floor of the home is accessed by two stairways and has four large bedrooms, two baths and a laundry area. The broad formal stairway winds to the two western bedrooms, a bath, and a lumber, or storage room. Overlooking the garden and fields to the west is a large bedroom with a mahogany canopy bed and settee, a fireplace outfitted with realistic remote-controlled candles, and the original full-height built-in cabinet. The full-size bed in this room has a comfortable pillow-top mattress, long-staple cotton sheets, a fluffy down comforter with cotton toile duvet cover and extra bed pillows. Look for three historical references showing the original paint colors that have been replicated in this room.
The Empire room, also on the western side of the house, is furnished with American Empire style furnishings dating from 1840s-1860's. The massive queen size mahogany four-post bed is dressed with long-staple Egyptian cotton sheets and a down comforter with cotton duvet cover. The room is also furnished with a large butler's chest, butterfly grained chest of drawers, marble-topped bedside and upholstered rocking chair. These two bedrooms are served by a large bathroom with 48" step-in shower with seat, an antique washstand, as well as a cast-iron wall mounted sink and heavy-framed heirloom mirror dating to the 1800's. The bedrooms and bath are separated by several steps, something to be aware of if unsteady on your feet.
The two other bedrooms are located on the eastern side of the house. Sleep in our George Washington bedstead, custom made to the exact measurements of George and Martha Washington's bed (very close to king size) but with a higher headboard made of "witness wood" from Mount Vernon. This wood is from a tree that was growing on Mount Vernon while George and Martha lived there. The aged tree fell during a storm in 2014 and was salvaged by Mount Vernon to use in special pieces such as this bed. Also in this room are two furniture pieces made of a large walnut tree that fell on our farm in 2008: a low-back Windsor writing armchair and a candlestand with beautiful feather wood grain. The wide-board flooring in this room is original to the late 1700s house and is covered with a hand-painted floorcloth.
Across the hall from the Washington bedroom is a large room with two full-size antique rope beds, comfy mattresses with memory foam toppers, flax linen sheets, down comforters and flax linen duvet covers. The bathroom serving these bedrooms has a bathtub with shower and cast-iron wall-mounted sink with mirrored medicine cabinet above. Adjacent to this bathroom is the laundry area with front-loading washer and dryer.
If you are interested in reserving the Stone Farmhouse at Shady Spring Farm please contact us with detailed information to include dates, party size and a bit about yourselves.
