Boyertown, PA
Boyertown, PA
"The weirdest birthday trip I ever took my boyfriend on"
In order to surprise my boyfriend for his birthday I took him on a weekend trip into Pennsylvania. The trip was based around him telling me about going to St. Peter's Village when he was younger and how awesome French Creek State Park was. So....I started researching around that, and looking for cool hotels. Let me tell you, around that area....there is nothing.
This is what brought me to Boyertown, PA.
We arrive in town very late at night, and the owner of this amazing victorian bed & breakfast called "Twin Turrets Inn" was very accommodating. Let me tell you, this bed and breakfast was great for anyone who loves history, mansions, and probably ghosts. The whole thing just felt haunted.
This was my first time ever staying at a bed & breakfast and it was a really cool experience. Arriving at night in this old creepy mansions and being the only ones who were awake was SUPER cool. The room was fantastic, and they offer several which you can check out on their website: http://www.twinturrets.com/
TWIN TURRETS
"JAMES K." ROOM
TIKI BAR
TIKI BAR WAITING A CAB
"JAMES K." ROOM WALL FABRICS
THE ONLY NEIGHBORHOOD BAR
My boyfriend told me that he used to go to "BBQ-it-yourself" places for his birthday as a kid so I found one in the area (another key factor in selecting this B&B). I am from Jersey so this is a very foreign concept, but I guess it is fairly common in PA. It rocked. Baked potatoes, steak, everything all on the grill with all of the toppings you could imagine. This bar was also on the river and pretty cool we just got there close to closing and felt like we were closing the place. I would suggest getting there early to actually enjoy yourself.
Word to the wise, Uber and Lyft rides were far and few between. For a moment I thought we would get trapped at the bar!!! So, we waited outside and hoped the ride would make it down the dark, windy woods roads, and eventually they did.
So, after checking back into the room we decided to go off of a suggestion from our driver to hit up the ONE local bar in town (I can't remember what it's called). Being out at night was super cool in it's own right as the buildings are old in this old railroad town and I felt like I was back in time. The bar was great, the locals were funny and we had a blast.
Once the sun rose we got to appreciate the towns history and beautiful mansion the right way.
Since we had arrived so late we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into the next day but we knew we wanted to explore this amazing old house and learn more about the history of Boyertown. Our host at Twin Turrets provided us with a lovely breakfast, just good enough to get rid of that hangover and give us the strength to "sight see".
The host graciously showed us around and boy was it worth it. The detail put into all of the furniture, artwork, wall decor, draperies, it was all right up our alley and really cool to soak in. Much of the house was repaired and renovated with salvaged materials from The Reading Hospital and nearby historical homes.
We even got to learn about Old Boyer himself.
The hotel was built for Daniel B. Boyer in 1865 but the town of Boyertown (only 1/2 square mile) was founded in 1825 by the Boyer brothers Daniel and Henry and the earliest history appears around 1720.
Some places of interest are:
- Colebrookdale Railroad
- Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles
- Rhoads Opera House
There's even a lot of happenings and events in the town as they are experiencing a bit of a renaissance or movement to revive the town. I guess the roots of the town are in iron forging as the Colebrookdale furnace was built a half a mile from Boyertown. The Boyer brothers came into the picture and capitalized on this mining enclave and opened a post office, tavern, blacksmith shop, and the town's first store.
We knew we had seen the railroad stop, which we discovered is pretty much not functioning, and there were many signs to not touch or trespass BUT playing on the trains was REALLY fun...
After this we decide to walk the HUGE trek like .1 miles across town to this awesome automobile museum. It looks like a great spot but since it was a beautiful summer day we decide to just walk some more and move onto the next location, especially since it involves camping. That's when we look up into the sky, back at the hills and see a hill completely spotted and covered in graves. Now you're speaking our language.
You could visibly see the excitement in our eyes as he was like, "Do you see that", and I'm like "Is that covered in graves?" then we pick up the pace a little and shuffle on over there for one of the coolest cemeteries I have ever been to (and will probably ever go to).
This is when we got closer to view that made us stop. From afar it was stunning.
A few observations about the graveyard is that a majority of its inhabitants were German....like REALLY German. Moyers, Boyers, Muller and Schmidt's galore. I wish I had more views from the hills and far away but my phone was on low battery!!
After exploring these DOPE mausoleums, crypts, tombs, stones, and hills we had to go on to the next location but I can tell you that this place is definitely on my list of cemeteries I must return to in my lifetime. I just can't believe that I found such a gem with pure luck & spontaneity.
It was now off to the next surprise location St. Peter's Village - blog post coming soon!
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