_ = Historic Opportunities For Dining (NAPSA)—Back in the 1700s, hungry settlers headed to the local taverns and inns that dotted the Colonies. Some of those same establishments in the Valley Forge area of Pennsylvaniastill serve up delicious traditional fare and modern menuoptions. In Pennsylvania’s oldest continuously operating country inn, the William Penn Inn, the Penn family zucchini bread is still baked daily. The recipe, obtained over tea with Penn’s daughter and the inn’s original owners back in 1700, is chock-full of raisins and nuts. General Lafayette Inn and Brewery was part of the Barren Hill encampment in 1778 and later named for the gregarious French officer who warded off capture by the Brits from the tower of St. Peter’s Church just next door. As it might have been in Lafayette’s day, the beer here is as important as the food. Colonial-inspired dishes like meat loaf and crab cakes are always on the menu, but most of the meals are as modern as the microbrews. The acres surrounding Schultheis’ Carriage House in rural East Greenville were part of a land grant to a German family back in 1709. Traditional German favorites grace the menu, but Tyrolean (northern Italy), Austrian and American influences are apparent. Historic General Warren Inne, in Malvern, was once a Tory stronghold. It was originally named the Admiral Vernon Inne for thrifty British admiral Edward Vernon, who, aside from his notable naval career, invented grog by watering downhis crew’s rum. In 1786 the property was sold and, to make amends with the German-born chef Albert Breuers’ heritage influences many of his signature dishes at The Old Guard HouseInn in Gladwyne,Pa. new nation, renamed in honor of an American hero whodied during the Battle of BunkerHill. The tavern was recently carefully refurbished, but the restaurant’s award-winning Continental cuisine is the real draw. Legend has it that Colonial troops quenched their thirst from a water pump at The Old Guard House Inn (once the Merion Square Hotel) in Gladwyne, even before the building was erected. Since 1980, German-born and trained chef Albert Breuers has sharedtheclassics of his old country and won award after award. Some of the inn’s most popular items, like Sweetbreads Hilde, are area exclusives and some are the same dishes that many German immigrant families shared in this region 200-plus yearsago. For more information, visit www.valleyforge.org.
