About The Inn

The Carriage Stop B&B welcomes you to experience Gracious Country Victorian Hospitality.  Welcome to south central Pennsylvania where our mid-1800's home offers superb hospitality in a rural backdrop.  Relax in the sun or shade while you take a dip or float around in our seasonal 34,000 gallon in-ground swimming pool, complete with screened-in gazebo and built-in fire ring for those chilly evenings.  Stroll along our 2 acres of property and enjoy a lawn game or simply relax on a double swing or bench set under one of many huge shade trees. 

Each of our four guestrooms have been appointed with hand selected antiques for your pleasure.  Indulge in your private modern bathroom where you will find plush towels, toiletries, and a hair dryer.  Lay back and relax while you enjoy your flat screen HD TV with complete cable package plus Free On-Demand movies.  We also offer free WiFi, complimentary bottled water in your mini refrigerator, and a Keurig with assorted coffee pods and tea in each room. 

Common areas include our dining room where you can treat yourself to free snacks & refreshments, cool drinks in the refrigerator, use of the microwave, or enjoy a hot cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate while watching TV.  We also offer a spacious living room where you may relax on soft plush furniture while watching TV or a movie on the 60 inch LED HD TV.  You will always find a jigsaw puzzle in progress here, or choose one of many board games including Chess, Backgammon, Scrabble and more!  Weather permitting, you can sit or rock on the outdoor patio or the covered front porch that stretches the entire way across the front of our home.

If quiet and relaxation is not on your agenda, then you will never get bored while staying with us.  We are conveniently located on State Route 743 just 2 miles south of Interstate Route 81.  One mile further north, you will find the Hollywood Casino and Penn National Racetrack.  Only 5 miles south, will lead you to Hershey where you can explore Hershey Park, the GIANT center which hosts Top Billing Concerts, Sports & a huge variety of Shows!  Or shop at the Tanger Outlets, visit Chocolate World, Hershey Gardens, Hershey Story Museum, AACA Car Museum, Antiquing and so much more!  If you'd like to visit Pennsylvania's capital city, Harrisburg is just minutes west of our home.  Amish country is less than one hour away towards the southeast.  Truly located centrally to many attractions and must-sees, you will find something for everyone here.

OUR HISTORY:

Let’s start by taking you back in time……back to 1870.

The red brick home with the dinner bell across the road was owned by siblings, Lillie Keiser and Amos Houck, built in the early 1800’s.   In 1870, a relative of Lillie & Amos had this home built for Henreetta and William P. Keiser.  Half of the house was built as a home for the Keisers and the other half, where the pink built-in pantry is located was built as an old-fashion country grocery store. 

The store was in operation for 25 years, and the house remained in the possession of the Keiser Estate for 40 more years.  In 1935, Reverend Leland Fackler, a grandson of the Keiser’s took possession of the house.  Reverend Fackler reopened the store and operated it for another 8 years, together with a delivery route using a four-door sedan and later a truck.  The pantry held a large variety of merchandise for the locals to purchase.  Fruits and vegetables were stored in the root cellar, which you can still see along the back side of our home.  There was also a big medicine cabinet built into the attic wall used to store whatever medicines were available during the 1930’s and 1940’s. 

Reverend Fackler loved tall trees and that is when the two large Silver Maples, Cedar trees, Scotch Pine and other Pine trees were planted around the property.  There were also many Peonies and Rose of Sharons, along with a variety of fruit trees including mulberry, cherry, crab apple and pear.  You can still see a large Rose of Sharon behind the carriage house.  Every July, the beautiful purple blooms add a wealth of color to our many flower gardens. 

When the store was closed for good in 1943, the store area was remodeled into living quarters.  Never actually separating the house into two halves, the home was rented to two families who shared the stairway and mudroom located centrally in the front of the house.  The renovated store portion of the home was rented to Ross & Maude Eshelman, and their seven children.  In 1953, another family of six, the Millers, rented the left side of the house (facing the house from the road).  Together, all fifteen people resided under one roof.  There were no indoor facilities.  The only running water was cold water in the Millers’ kitchen, plus a small wash basin that was part of the country store.  There were three coal stoves that heated the entire home. 

Mr. Miller, a carpenter by trade, divided the large front bedroom by adding the first bathroom which included a commode, small sink, bathtub, and large wooden cabinet.  A water heater was installed, allowing for warm bath water, also making it easier for his wife to wash dishes and clean the laundry for her family of six.  He also built the pantry by adding what is now a kitchen wall.  The original wallpaper border remains in the pantry.

The Miller family lived here until 1981.  As the children were growing up, they used the root cellar as a club room.  They called it their Cave.  The farmland behind our home was used to grow oats, wheat, and sometimes corn.  The oat bugs plagued the children.  One day, they were outside playing together when an airplane from Fort Indiantown Gap nearly struck the front of the house.  Instead, it trimmed off the top of a few trees on the property and fortunately missed the house. 

During the 1960’s and 1970’s it was not uncommon to count as many as 27 pheasant roaming about the property.  Unfortunately, the bird flu that struck our area in the 1980’s took the pheasants, which are now rarely seen.  Martin bird coops were built all across the top of the barn doors and the Martins returned year after year.  Baltimore Orioles built hanging nests in the large Silver Maples.  Not appreciative of the mess created by the crab apples and pears, Mrs. Miller decided that many of the fruit trees needed to be removed.

In 1981, Reverend Leland Fackler passed the property down to his nephew, Kenneth E. Miller (no relation to the tenant Millers).  Mr. Miller installed central heat and the coal stoves were removed.  Both sides of the home were rented out to various people over the next 27 years. 

Now, I must share a sidenote with you.  Prior to moving into this home, we lived in Lancaster County for 20+ years.  My brother is also our Pastor and we traveled from Lancaster County to Harrisburg every Sunday for church services.  There were various routes and occasionally we would drive past this house.  A For Sale sign was posted in the front yard in 2008.  I sighed and thought how wonderful it would be to own this home.  I imagined what life inside was like, and that the fenced in yard would be perfect for children and pets.  Shortly afterwards, the Sold sign was up and although I felt oddly heartbroken, I knew the house would never be mine. 

Apparently, the house was purchased by another Pastor for him and his wife, and their 8 children.  The family of 10 lived here only four short years when allegedly, the wife took all 8 children and moved out of state.  Unknown to me, the house went up for sale once again.  Note, I never shared my feelings about this house with my brother, Pastor Paul Springer Jr., who called me in August of 2011, asking if we were still interested in operating a bed & breakfast.  I said we would be interested and without hesitation, he proceeded to place an auction bid and subsequently agreed to purchase the house.  The following day, we drove from Lancaster County to meet my brother at the address he gave me.  As we approached the address on my GPS, I couldn’t be more surprised that it was the house I had previously fallen in love with.  Coincidence?  Not…
Pastor Paul Springer Jr. is the third Man of God to own this property.

So, into the new house we moved the following month.  As a family, we put 7 long years into preparing our beautiful home to open it as a bed & breakfast to the public.  After much blood, sweat and tears, we opened in August of 2018 and have lovingly shared our home since.