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Century Inn open at Pike Days

3 min read
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From western wagon trains to gun stands and cheese fries, the National Pike Festival in Scenery Hill is about as American as a festival can get.

The subject of the annual celebration is state Route 40 and its history that goes back centuries. This year, another “century” was celebrated, as it was the first year the Century Inn was open for the festival since a fire destroyed it in 2015.

“People keep saying that it has the same feel, just fresher,” said the inn’s owner Megin Harrington. “It’s been wonderful. It’s so good to see people come back to town.”

Guests were able to escape Saturday’s rain showers in the dining areas of the inn, and peek into some of the rooms upstairs that Harrington designed during the 2-year remodel.

The inn, which opened in 1794, is on the National Register of Historic Places, as it housed guests including U.S. presidents Andrew Jackson and James Polk. On Aug. 15, 2015, the fire destroyed everything but the outer stone walls, Harrington said.

Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter

Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter

Tim Rose, of Charleroi, walks with his granddaughters, Jilly Walker, 4, and Lilly Walker, 6, as they pet horses in the wagon train at the National Pike Festival in Scenery Hill Saturday.

It’s not the only recent fire to devastate the neighborhood. The building just next door to the inn, the former Frank Huffman auto dealership and garage built in 1929, was destroyed in a Christmas Eve fire. In it were supplies for the festival, including a stage, traffic cones, signs, picnic tables and paperwork.

After the Century Inn fire, Harrington helped form the Scenery Hill Civic Committee.

“We formed the committee while the inn was down to bring in money and some pride in the community,” she said.

Harrington sold homemade pies, pepperoni rolls and t-shirts at the inn during the festival to raise money for the committee, which stepped in after the garage fire to replace the festival supplies that were destroyed.

Renee Rudnisky, a member of the committee, said the donations from the community, including $5,000 from Community Bank and Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency, helped make the festival possible this year.

Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter

The wagon train, a highlight of the annual National Pike Festival in Scenery Hill, retreated from the Route 40 Saturday afternoon, during a brief rain storm. 

She said the wagon train, which started in Claysville, arrived in town about 1:30 p.m. Saturday, and was expected to hit the road Sunday morning for a steam show in Brownsville. Food vendors, live music, open craft shops and yard sales had drivers pulling off the side of Route 40 from Washington to Richeyville. Though, the best part about the festival, is the people, Rudnisky said.

“There are people here that I never get to see,” she said. “People come back and it’s like a homecoming of sorts.”

The festival continues today.

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