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Homegrown in Hanover, Pa.

The Washington Post’s Lifestyle sectionis the latest publication to take notice of what is happening in Hanover, Pa., where Washington and Lee alumni Kathryn Sheppard Hoar, of the Class of 1997, her sister, Heather Sheppard Lunn, of the Class of 2000, and Kathy’s husband, Oliver, of the Class of 1997, have

turned Kathy and Heather’s great-grandparents’ home into a full-service historic inn with a signature cuisine. (We’ve blogged in the past about Kathy’s fishing prowess, including her third place in the “Super Bowl of Fishing” in 2010, but that’s another story.)

Sheppard Mansion was built in 1913 and authentically restored in 1999 after about 40 years of dormancy. It offers rooms and suites, all with private baths, for overnight guests. The buzz that’s been building is for the local food served in the 65-seat dining room and jewel-box bar that Kathy added in 2006. The Mansion’s chef, Andrew Little, is a former high school classmate of Kathy’s, and he brought his theory of local food to the effort. As he told the Post, ““If you had been brought to the dining room blindfolded and had no idea where you were, you should be able to determine where you were and what season it was just from looking at the menu.”

Last year Sheppard Mansion added the Carriage House Market in a brick and cobblestone carriage house behind the Inn. There, they sell the locally produced food from their gardens and from their herd of 160 Scotch Highland cattle that are part of the landscape.

In the Post piece, Kathy credits her parents for instilling a “preservationist philosophy.” “My mom is a huge local activist for water resources, watershed management and city planning,” she said. “They’ve put it in our minds that we are just stewards.”

The Post article has a bonus: three recipes from the Mansion’s kitchen, including summer scrapple. Of course, you’ll need to visit the Carriage House Market to get just the right ingredients.

Meantime, here’s a video tour of the Sheppard Mansion from Metrocurean On the Road: A Trip to Sheppard Mansion:

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