Twice a month we enjoy getting into the car and visiting some of the local communities in our area. We will pack a bag of snacks & a few bottles of water, and hit the road for some fun. A few months ago we decided to explore historic
Middletown and really had a great time!
Middletown is the oldest community located in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. It was established in 1755 and is located along the eastern banks of the Susquehanna River. The town was founded by George Fisher, the great-grandson of John fisher, a merchant who came to Philadelphia with William Penn. It played an important part in history due to the fact that it laid at the junctions of the Pennsylvania and Union Canals in the 19th Century.
In the early days, Middletown produced a lot of local food, beverages, lumber and iron.
Like most small hometowns you'll find a lot of locally-owned Mom & Pop type's of stores lining the streets. You'll find boutique stores, gift shops, a brewery, cafes, restaurants, tattoo parlors, etc. Notable businesses include Harrisburg International Airport,
Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant, and
Saturday's Market, the largest indoor & outdoor flea market in Pennsylvania.
We headed to the downtown business area to grab a quick breakfast from the historic
Brownstone Cafe located on Union Street. The cafe is open 7 days a week and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can eat-in or order take-out. The menu is pretty vast offering up a variety of hot & cold sandwiches, subs, chicken pot pie, stuffed green peppers, Cajun gumbo & rice, mac & cheese, fish, seafood, steaks, hamburgers, chicken, a variety of soups & salads and more.
The locals told us that it's one of the best places to grab breakfast. Their breakfast menu includes eggs, pancakes, waffles, french toast, omelettes, bagels, bacon, sausage, home fries, etc. Plus, they told me that the cafe has the best coffee in town.
Right in front of the cafe you'll find the official
Town Clock! It's one of the nicest small town clocks that I've seen in a long time. According to the informational plaque sitting in front of it, the clock is in honor of the World War Veterans by the Mother's Congress Circle. The plaque has a date of 1923 inscribed on it.
Directly across the street you'll see the
Tattered Flag Brewery & Still Works. It's open 7 days, hours depend on the day of the week. It's a veteran owned & operated business that serves craft beer, fine spirits and food. On the menu along with the craft beer you'll find a variety of snacks, salads, hot dogs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot & cold sandwiches, mac & cheese, roasted pork, chicken tenders, french fries, nachos and more.
As you're driving around Middletown you'll notice a wide variety of architectural styles. We saw old log-style homes, Victorian mansions, colonial-style homes and everything in between. A lot of the "older" buildings (homes and churches) seemed to built from brownstone. Check out that Victorian mansion shown in the photograph above. Incredibly beautiful and quite large in size! The next photo shows an old church that we found that is beautiful too!
We decided to check out the
Sant Peter's Kierch Church which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. You can learn a lot about Sant Peter's Kierch by reading the historical marker and information plaque that is located in front of the property. As you can see, Middletown has some of the prettiest old churches in the state.
Next up on our list was a visit to the
First Catholic Slovak Union Jednota Memorial located on Rosedale Avenue. The memorial was developed for the members and their families honoring those who have served in any war. There is information on the property about the memorial and you can find additional information online. We stumbled upon the memorial before and wanted to see it again.
When we first started dating back in the 1980's we used to hang out at a local rollerskating rink where we used to live. Almost every weekend we would end up there for some dating fun. We haven't been on roller skates in over 30 years! We decided to go to
Doc's Family Fun Center and spend 2 hours rollerskating! Oh my gosh, that brought back a lot of memories and we had a great time laughing at one another!
We headed back into town to have dinner at
Alfred's Victorian Restaurant located on Union Street. They recommend that you make reservations ahead time, which we did. The restaurant is in an 1888 Victorian brownstone mansion and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. They serve all kinds of seafood, steaks, Italian & American cuisine and they offer a full bar too. When you walk inside you'll be greeted by friendly staff and you'll be immediately impressed with the restaurant's decor. We really enjoyed our dinner and are going to make it an annual tradition to visit Alfred's around our wedding anniversary. One of the best restaurants in the area!
Wow, what a day we had! We visited some historical sites, had some fun reliving our childhood memories at a rollerskating rink and then finished up our day enjoying a gourmet meal. We look forward to visiting Middletown again.
No comments:
Post a Comment