City: Gardners, PA

Category: Accommodations

Telephone: (717) 528-7390

Address: 200 Blue Berry Road

Description: Sitting on 25 acres just north of Gettysburg and named for Union general Warner Slocum, this restored circa-1759 home enfolds you in country experiences. Here you can walk along country lanes, wander through the gardens, relax by the pond, and swim in the outdoor pool, all just minutes from the heart of Gettysburg. Originally built as a settler’s log cabin, the home has been expanded with stone additions but still maintains its original character. Owner and innkeeper Carol Shafer has decorated the inn in Williamsburg style with period antiques and reproductions throughout. While relaxing in comfy seating and enjoying the common room’s fireplace, guests are invited to partake of satellite TV, VCR tapes, the well-stocked bookshelves, and complimentary beverages. Slocum House Inn has three guest rooms, and a fourth room can be combined with one of the guest rooms to create a two-room suite. General Slocum and his division generals provide the rooms’ names. The Greene Room is in the guest cottage and provides plenty of privacy. This romantic room is outfitted with a queen-size canopy bed, gas log fireplace, private bath, cherry-wood furniture, and colonial wall stencils. Also located in the guest cottage is the Geary Room. Here you’ll find a four-poster queen-size bed, private bath, a Queen Anne wing chair perfect for reading beside the gas log fireplace, and colonial decorating. The Williams Room is upstairs in the section of the main house that was built in the 1750s. It boasts wide pine floors and low ceilings, and it has a private bath, a queen-size bed with a handmade quilt, and stenciled walls. This is the guest room that can be combined with the Slocum Room, also upstairs in the main house and also with a queen-size bed, to form a two-bedroom suite with a shared bath. Carol serves a full breakfast in the dining room, and she fills you up with coffee, juice, fruit, fresh-baked goods, and gourmet dishes that are prepared fresh daily. The Slocum House Inn does not accept credit cards, so you will have to use cash or a personal check to pay for all this country living. Children age 14 and older are welcome at the inn.

City: Gardners, PA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (717) 486-7174

Address: 1100 Pine Grove Road

Description: About 25 miles north of Gettysburg in Cumberland County, Pine Grove Furnace State Park occupies 696 acres within the Michaux State Forest. The park is known for its historic sites and buildings, which transport the visitor to the days when cast-iron products were made here. (See this chapter’s Close-up for more on how iron furnaces in the area operated.) The first iron furnace was built at Pine Grove in 1764. Today’s park office was once an inn, and the A.Y.H. Hostel was originally a mansion built by one of the ironmasters. The final blast from a furnace here occurred in 1895, 131 years after it all began. In 1913 the company that owned the ironworks sold 17,000 acres to the commonwealth. Much of the land became Michaux State Forest, but a portion became Pine Grove Furnace State Park. The park hosts a range of activities on its lands. There are two lakes within the park, 25-acre Laurel Lake and 1.7-acre Fuller Lake, and they offer many recreational opportunities. (Fuller Lake was created by filling the major ore quarry on the site with groundwater when mining ceased.) Swimming is allowed at both lakes. Laurel Lake also has boating, with a boat launch, 85 mooring spaces, and a boat rental. Fishing for pickerel, perch, and stocked trout goes on at both lakes, and anglers try to hook brown, brook, and rainbow trout along Mountain Creek, which flows through the park. Ice fishing is allowed at Laurel Lake, and a small area by the lake’s boat launch is reserved for ice-skating. Biking is allowed on all park roads, and 4 miles of trails and access to the Appalachian Trail are available to hikers. The Buck Ridge Trail travels through Michaux State Forest and connects Kings Gap Environmental Education and Training Center with the park. The trail is marked with orange paint blazes, and a trailhead is located across from the park office. Picnic sites are available throughout the park. Hunting, trapping, and the training of dogs are allowed on 75-plus acres during established seasons. Hunters usually find deer, turkey, rabbit, pheasant, and squirrel to hunt, but the hunting of woodchucks, also known as groundhogs, is prohibited. During the winter, cross-country skiing and snowmobiling are allowed in the park and surrounding forestlands. Spring and fall in the park are excellent times for bird-watching, since the park is a rest stop for many migrating forest birds. The park is home to at least six species of woodpeckers, and waterfowl abound at Laurel Lake. Overnight accommodations are available, with the option of staying at a primitive tent site or staying in a modern cabin. Seventy tent and trailer sites are available year-round, but accessibility cannot be guaranteed during severe winter weather. Drinking water, nonflush toilets, and a sanitary dump station are available at the campground, and some sites have electricity. Free primitive camping is available if you agree to act as a campground host, which requires you to work with park personnel for 40 hours a week for a two-week minimum stay. Two two-story cabins are available, both with a modern kitchen, bathroom, dining room, living room, and central heat. One cabin can sleep six persons, and the other can sleep eight.To reach the park, drive north from Gettysburg on Carlisle Street (Route 34) through Biglerville. After leaving Biglerville, bear left onto Main Street. The name of the road will change to Bendersville-Wenksville Road. Turn right onto Pine Grove Furnace Road in about 2.5 miles. This road will change its name to Bendersville Road and end at the junction of Route 233 (Pine Grove Road). Turn right onto Route 233, and the park entrance will be a short distance up the road.   

City: Gardners, PA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (717) 486-7174

Address: 1100 Pine Grove Road

Description: Laurel Lake, one of the two lakes found within this park, offers boating, but it doesn’t allow any gas-powered motors, only small electric boats. You’ll find a boat launch, 85 mooring spaces, and a boat rental at the shore of this 25-acre lake. Rowboats, electric-powered rowboats, canoes, and paddleboats can be rented daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day and usually on weekends only during April, May, September, and October.