It was an ordinary day. Parked the car in the empty lot and told Carol I'd be right back after snapping a few photographs of what at one time was the Henry Bates Grubb Mansion right outside the small town known as Manheim, Pennsylvania. To most people my age, the Mansion had come to be known as the Grubb Mansion, since it was in the 1800s that Henry Bates Grubb built the original sandstone dwelling which he named Mount Hope. He and his family lived there as well as three later generations of Grubbs.
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The Grubb Mansion
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The mansion was designed to look like a feudal English Manor, standing tall among the surrounding out-buildings that served not only the Mansion, but the nearby iron furnace which operated on the 3,000 acre estate until 1885. The 32 room Mansion dripped of elegance and splendor as did the additions that followed in the Federal design and architecture of the 1800s. The Victorian Mansion was surrounded by castle walls and turrets and the 32 rooms had winding walnut staircases, hand-painted 18 foot ceilings, imported crystal chandeliers and a Grand Ballrooom.  |
The Mansion as it appears today
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All these amenities marked the Victorianized Mansion. What's neat is that you can now take a tour of the Mansion if you happen to arrive at Mount Hope. As part of the tour you will be treated to wine tasting in the Mansion Billiard Room. Oh yeah...I forgot to mention the billiard room! Not only that...I forgot to tell you that Mount Hope is now The Mount Hope Estate and Winery, since a group of local businessmen purchased the old mansion and 87 acre estate to both preserve it and turn it into a winery. Hostesses provide an interesting background in wine appreciation and present visitors with sample tastings from the Mount Hope wine cellars. The Pennsylvania Limited Winery Act allows the winery to sell to the public its wines that have been produced from Pennsylvania grown grapes.  |
The estate sits behind the wine store.
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Adjacent to Mount Hope Winery is the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. In 1980 a two day jousting festival called the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire was held in the winery parking lot. The event proved to be so successful that it was expanded and today it covers about 35 acres with 90 shows performed daily on 12 stages with hundreds of costumed characters as well as a recreation of a 16th century English village with authentic Tudor buildings. It is open from August through November each year. My daughter worked a summer in the 1980s at the Faire demonstrating how to work a weaver's loom. As a student at Millersville State Teacher's College, I took a course on weaving and would often tell her about the course. She became interested and I showed her how to weave and when a friend of her's told her of an opening at the Faire for a weaver, she applied for the job and got it. On weekends she would demonstrate how to make different fabrics. Well, what at one time was a successful iron industry has now turned into a successful entertainment venue at the Grubb Mansion at the Mount Hope Winery. Make a visit sometime and be taken back in time to another era. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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