Shartlesville Hotel, a family tradition

The last time I returned home to Pennsylvania, I had planned a trip to drive through the back roads in Pennsylvania Dutch country to photograph the beautiful barns adorned with hex signs. I had been thinking of going back to the Shartlesville Hotel for many years to enjoy some down-home family-style Pennsylvania Dutch cooking, as we had done many times when I was a child. As I googled the address I was so sad to find out that the Shartlesville Hotel had closed in 2012.

From my memory, the hotel facade was decorated with hex signs and the dining rooms had long tables where you may be seated together with other families. They would bring out bowl after bowl of Pennsylvania Dutch specialties like Chicken Pot Pie, Pepper Cabbage, Mustard Beans, Rhubarb Sauce, Cucumber Salad, Potato Filling, Chow Chow, Tapioca Pudding and – of course – Shoo-fly Pie! It was all you can eat and the quantity of food was immense. It was delicious and sharing with the other families and passing the bowls back and forth was part of the fun.

Here is a memorial to this wunderful good place:

Craving a great Pennsylvania Dutch family-style meal? Try Haags Hotel!