Breakfast options in Harpers Ferry

Let me start by saying I really liked our time in Harpers Ferry, WV and Teeny certainly felt it's charm and did not feel any of the "inconveniences" .

Yes we chose to visit Harpers Ferry in winter (late February) and yes we realized it is low tourist season, frankly that is why we chose to visit. I really wanted to have a country folksy cozy weekend family getaway. I feel I have mainly been exposing Teeny to big cities and high density tourist destinations and it was time for something a little different.

I assumed due to the number of accommodation options and restaurants I had read about in such a small area that is Harpers Ferry, that we would have at least a few eating options. I know I sound obsessed with food, I am. Eating local food and soaking in the atmosphere is part of the travel experience.

When we woke up from our first night in Harpers Ferry, breakfast was on the cards. We took our time getting dressed and then stepped outside to find nothing open. Well almost nothing, The Vintage Lady, a charming little clothing and jewelry boutique was open and the proprietor told us that there is nothing open for breakfast in town, our best bet is to jump in the car and head a few miles up the road (even further than The Anvil Restaurant). Well that is a very nice solution if we had arrived by car. We had chosen to arrive by MARC commuter train, making the journey all part of the overall experience.

Looked like we were skipping breakfast or taking another long walk for our meal. We thought it was worth checking with our accommodation, surely other guests have come across this issue (right?). It turns out that yes others have come across this very same issue. To try and ease the hunger, the kind folks at our accommodation have cleverly stocked their shelves with pancake mix and syrup. Not exactly what I had in mind but let's make lemonade out of lemons. The lovely lady at reception set us up in the back kitchen with all the ingredients and equipment, put on a fresh batch of coffee and even set Teeny up with a video to watch while we (it was really the Bloke) prepared breakfast.

With our bellies full, we were ready to discover Harpers Ferry.

The Anvil Restaurant

We finally got to the Anvil Restaurant, albeit a little wet after our walk through the rain. (See previous post Friday night in Harpers Ferry). We were grateful to have reached our final destination and to be sitting in front of a big old fire about to be fed. The Anvil was not full considering it was the only restaurant open in town. There were probably only three other tables occupied in the dining room and another three or four people in the bar area.

The place and the food felt old, not in the charming and comforting sense of the word. Rather everything was a little on the stale side, from the ambiance down to the baked potato that they serve with all the entrees.

I ordered Crab Cakes, the Bloke ordered steak and Teeny not feeling a culinary adventure on the cards (how did she know and why didn't she warn us) had pasta with butter from the kid's menu. The entrees were served with limp salad (it was really just some old lettuce with one slice of tomato) and the ubiquitous baked potato, which felt like it was cooked last week and wacked into a microwave for a quick preheating prior to serving.

To be fair the steak Bloke ordered was good, all three of us attacked it quite vigorously. Teeny also rather enthusiastically ate through the contents of the bread basket and that pretty much sums up the highlights of the meal.

Even with the coupon (Yes, I am using coupons...as they say when in Rome) I had printed from the Anvil Restaurant website the meal was more expensive than I had anticipated and I certainly did not feel it was a good value for money family meal.

Was the Anvil worth the walk? Yes it was open.
Would I walk two miles to eat there again? No.

Friday night in Harpers Ferry

Eating out in Harpers Ferry, WV was not as easy as I would have assumed.

We felt fairly peckish upon arriving into Harpers Ferry early Friday evening. Teeny and I especially are early eaters, getting fairly cranky if there is no food in front of us by 6pm.

Finding a dinner option was a priority after checking into the accommodation, I was feeling a little apprehensive about our choices as this charming little town was feeling a little deserted once we walked the short way from the train station to our accommodation. I mean there were no shop lights on……lights off no one home, not a good sign for a hungry family who had already eaten the stash of granola bars.

Earlier that day I had printed out a list of restaurants reviews in the area. I have learnt it pays to have a Plan B and even C when traveling with Teeny, when spontaneity does not work out I pull out my handy dandy lists. So we hit the phone and started calling all the restaurants in town (which is not a lot to begin with). Reviews aside it turns out there was only one restaurant open in town and it was 2 miles away. Which is not very far but having arrived by train we were planning on getting around town by foot.

As we were walking to the one and only dinner destination open in town on a Friday it started to rain, so we started walking very quickly along the dark deserted street of Harpers Ferry. Along the way we did pass a pizza place. The Kings Pizza & Italian Restaurant, which was open but we opted to keep heading towards our original destination, The Anvil Restaurant. At this stage the crankiness level fueled by our hunger and fatigue from walking was high.

I knew that Harpers Ferry was a small little quaint town and that is exactly the reason we chose it for a weekend getaway. I just did not realize it was a relative ghost town in winter with shop and restaurant owners choosing not to open due to lack of "tourists". Or is there a lack of "tourists" due to there being no amenities open?