Blog

It’s a rare day that my husband and I get to spend the entire daylight hours together, so when it happens we try and make the most of it, thus our latest excursion through Lancaster County to find the best cheese! The idea popped into my head late last week once I knew we had the day together and the weather made it feel like summer outside, I thought what better way to spend the day than driving the beautiful Lancaster backgrounds in search of hidden dairy gems. Googling, I came up with a 4 stop route which included farms, creameries, and dairies that took us from Leola to Morgantown and lasted about 3.5 hours. We gathered some essentials at home (cold pack, beverages, mustard, crackers, etc...) and started on our way. We set out and drove in and out of some of the most primitive and stunning Amish county I’ve seen, there were fields of baby greens, silos, windmills, and with the… Read More

As a young adult, I’ve spent the past couple years evaluating how and what I want to do with my life, but as adults in their second career, Denise and Bob Harter chose carefully and meticulously how they wanted their second go around to happen,  and I have to say I’m a bit jealous. My experience so far with the job market has been successful, I have been blessed with many great positions including zoo keeping, bartending, taking care of sick animals, and learning the art of sales, but nothing has ever truly lasted me more than 2 years, I can safely day Denise and Bob have passed that point. With not one, not two, but three successful careers, they are an inspiration to the young adults out there like myself. So, let’s talk a little bit about why year 2 was so awesome for the 1777 Americana Inn Bed & Breakfast and how they can safely say years 3, 4, 5, etc.. will be even better… Read More

When you grow up in a family with the last name Kirkpatrick, the notion that St. Patrick’s Day is going to be a small affair is just a joke. So when Denise married the nice German boy from Wyomissing, the tradition continued and here we are 2016 and St. Patrick’s day is approaching quickly so what does the 1777 Americana Inn Bed& Breakfast and the Black Forest Brewery have up their sleeves, lots of shenanigans, that’s what. With the vast success of the 1st Anniversary Party in December, Denise and Bob immediately looked ahead to March and started brainstorming how to make their version of St. Patty’s memorable. Lots of ideas were thrown out including hosting a traditional Irish wake, Irish trivia, jig contests, kilt contest, bagpipers, green beer, traditional Irish food and music to last the celebrations into the night. SO. . they contacted me at Devine Destinations and, a plan… Read More

Worn out! Everyone has used that phrase at least once or twice (a week) most of their lives.  In childhood, it is playing with friends and learning right from wrong, in high school it's homework and sports; in college it's all-nighters and social life; in adulthood its bills, work, and relationships, the cycle never really ends of being plain and simply . . worn out. So, how does one combat this worn-out problem, the answer....VACATION. Thank goodness for the doctors and ministers in the mid-19th century that practiced and preached that vacation was good for your health. While initially intended to be a time to accept idleness by attending religious retreats and not be tempted by drunken and foolish behavior, vacations have vastly transformed over the years; but the fact still remains that vacation is good for you and this is why: 1) No more stress ( unless you go to Disney World with… Read More

Over the past couple months, I've blogged about all sorts of things to do in and around Lancaster County, but rarely have I talked about the charm our little town of Ephrata exudes. This week, I had the pleasure of attending the first official meeting of the Ephrata Alliance, previously the Ephrata Merchants Association, and I was astonished by the passion and drive that these small business owners possess. Once topics such as the restructuring and legality of the organization were discussed, the important themes of the days came forward. What does this organization want to do for Ephrata, how can it promote community over competition, how can it maximize Ephrata's charisma with local events, and how can the organization best impact the local merchants to ensure that Ephrata's business community will thrive. These are all pretty hefty questions and tasks left to one group, but hopefully with… Read More

Are you a history buff? Do you love traveling to explore forgotten cultures? Do you enjoy stepping into the past and learning the rich background of the area you are visiting, well then Lancaster needs to be put on your bucket list. Despite it not being adorned with castle relics or rich artwork, Lancaster is among the first settled areas in the new world. The short story goes a little something like this: Settled in 1681 as part of William Penn’s Penn’s Woods Charter, the Lancaster town then known as Hickory Town, was eventually laid out in 1734 by James Hamilton. The name, Hickory Town, came from the large hickory tree at the center of town (very original, I know). This hickory tree was a place of worship to the Conestoga Indian tribe that inhabited the land before it was settled. Renamed for settler John Wright’s hometown in Lancashire, England, Lancaster soon became known as the… Read More

When you think Bed & Breakfast one doesn’t normally think brewery or events first thing, but when you choose the 1777 Americana Inn B&B they should be the first thing on your mind. Our unique B&B features a delicious on-site brewery where we have hosted several events in the short year it has been open. Events include: business meetings, trolley brewery tours, anniversary parties, bridal and baby showers, 5- course food & beer pairings, corn hole tournaments, and local musicians. With the unique combination of our inn and brewery, the possibilities are endless. A huge benefit to any event is of course having some to help you coordinate the thing, whether they are just involved as support or organizing it as a whole, it makes an event so much easier to handle.  So, when looking at the 1777 Americana Inn B&B or Black Forest Brewery as your next event location, know we can… Read More

We all know the holidays can be stressful, especially when it comes time to decide what the menu should be for your special dinner.  It’s always a challenge, unless you have a long standing menu tradition to decide what to make for the  special event; you want delicious, satisfying food items with a little wow factor to impress the family and friends you are spending your day and night with. You want something festive, but still easy enough to prep in-between all of the everyday chores. You want something new but don’t want to be tied down reading a 3 page recipe. You want to make the dinner table actually look like a dinner table, below are some suggestions to help make any occasion go a little bit easier. When it comes to food, you don’t always have to make EVERYTHING from scratch. Cheating a little can save a large amount of time and effort. For example, instead of making your… Read More

Enviably every January 1st social media is flooded with people's resolutions for the upcoming year, there's always the exercise more, eat healthier, spend more time with friends, limit technology use, but it's on the rare occasion I see people who make a resolution to travel more. I think that's a wonderful resolution, it possibly combines all of the above resolutions and incorporates the wonderful concept of expanding your horizons. So, the question is, how does one keep your resolution to travel more?   CNBC posted some great ideas for how to keep travel affordable, keeping in mind that not every trip needs to be the trip of a lifetime, but your lifetime should be full of trips. Websites like Airbnb and Homeaway allow you the chance to get away with affordable locations , or you could consider Nomador- a website for house-sitting ( and i can tell you from experience, house sitting… Read More

Now that we’ve worked through how you can best keep your New Years resolution to travel, let’s talk about how one goes about picking the right B&B for your vacation away. This seems like a tall order at first, with so many choices especially in tourist areas.  How do you find the inn that meets your expectations of a home away from home? This wasn’t hard for me because the first time I ever stayed at a B&B it was a surprise from my husband and I had no say in the planning, but knowing him he meticulously researched until making his selection. When I asked him, “how did you go about doing that”  he replied, “I just thought about you, about me, and what would make us comfortable.” Now that doesn’t seem like much help, but if you take a few minutes to sit down and make a short list of the 5 top things you want from your stay, it makes the process much easier. Here are… Read More