Spring for Local History Tour (C/S012)
On Saturday, June 22nd, popular instructor and tour guide, Ellen McDaniel-Weissler takes her local history knowledge on the road locally to selected spots of interest in Allegany and Garrett County on an all-day adventure.
The first stop on this trip will be the lovely Allegany County Museum. Take a look inside the wonderful grand ballroom and enjoy a self-guided tour of the county’s remarkable history. The tour then progresses to the Victorian style 1867 Gordon-Roberts House on Washington Street in Cumberland. Three of the house’s floors will be explored, led by costumed docents who will describe life in Victorian America. Visitors will also be treated to a delightful Victorian Tea and have a chance to peruse the gift shop, located in what had at one time been the property’s stables.
The first stop on this trip will be the lovely Allegany County Museum. Take a look inside the wonderful grand ballroom and enjoy a self-guided tour of the county’s remarkable history. The tour then progresses to the Victorian style 1867 Gordon-Roberts House on Washington Street in Cumberland. Three of the house’s floors will be explored, led by costumed docents who will describe life in Victorian America. Visitors will also be treated to a delightful Victorian Tea and have a chance to peruse the gift shop, located in what had at one time been the property’s stables.
Next, we’ll ride the Culture Coach along the Old National Highway (Rte. 40) to the Toll Gate House in LaVale. On the way, you might be surprised to learn of the history of some of the houses you ride by every day, including a few which legend has it were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. At the Toll Gate House, step inside and learn what it was like to live and work as a gate keeper, how the road was built, and the traditions of travel on the first federally-funded paved east-west road in the United States.
From the toll house we will enjoy the crisp Spring air as we continue west to Penn Alps Restaurant in Grantsville and a stroll through Spruce Forest Artisan Village. This charming Amish-style restaurant, created from a remodeled log tavern, was built to support the work of the artisans in the Village. These folk hone their crafts in historic cabins sprinkled throughout the spruce forest and sell their wares in the restaurant gift shop. Each individual cabin has its own history and every artist is delighted to repeat it. Demonstrated crafts include wood carving, pottery, blacksmithing, weaving, basket-weaving, jewelry making, and painting. Culture Coach riders have the option to dine on their own at the restaurant if they choose or simply visit attractions like the reconstructed Yoder House, a replica of the houses built in the mid-1700s by Swiss immigrants to the area. There is also the 1813 Casselman Bridge, the Miller House Peace Center, and Stanton's Grist Mill.
We will then return by bus along scenic Interstate 68 to visit the Failinger’s Hotel Gunter in Frostburg. The historic Failingers Hotel Gunter, built in 1896 by William R. Percy and his son-in-law Gladstone Hitchens, and opened New Year's Day 1897 as the Hotel Gladstone. This grand hotel boasted 100 rooms, a cafe, a barbershop, and a sample room for displaying traveling salesmen’s wares. Guests were attended by bellboys in brown uniforms with smoked pearl buttons and a chef from New York. Tennis courts were located behind the hotel along with a petting farm where a tame fawn was kept. The basement of the Hotel had unique features of its own including a jail and a game cock fighting arena. Prisoners transported over the “Old Train Road” (now Route 40) during the 1900's were housed in the basement jail while their jailers stayed upstairs in the Hotel rooms.
The trip winds down with a look inside the Thrasher Carriage Museum, located near the Frostburg Train Depot. Learn about local transportation history and take a journey from rail to wagon to horse powered vehicles while marveling at amazing modes of transport used in the area over the last 250 years.
It’s a local trip guaranteed to evoke appreciation and pride in your hometown. Learn your local history and bring along a visiting guest onboard the Culture Coach and boast “This is where I live.”
Saturday, June 22, 2013
9:30 AM–7:30 PM
Total Trip Cost: $34.00 (Includes round trip transportation from Allegany College of Maryland, all admissions and fees to the museums, and the Victorian Tea at the Gordon Roberts House)
RECREATIONAL Culinary Courses
Center For Continuing Education
Allegany College of Maryland
in partnership with the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts
is pleased to offer another delicious series of educational
and entertaining recreational cooking classes.
Each class will be taught in a single evening by a professional local chef or culinary expert. The courses will feature specialties of the guest chef and will focus on learning proper cooking techniques in a relaxed atmosphere. All courses will offer hands-on experience in the Culinaire‘s state-of-the-art professional teaching facility at the Gateway Center, 112 Baltimore Street, Cumberland. At the end of each class, you will not only have acquired valuable new cooking skills, but you’ll also have time to enjoy the fruits, appetizers, entrees or desserts of your labor!
In select courses, wine will be served during the cuisine preparation. As noted in the course descriptions, to register for these select classes, you must be 21. For most courses, class size is limited to 12 and early registration is recommended. These courses appear in date order.
Bon Appétit!
