Sixth annual Frontier Dinner takes place Aug. 26
The National Road Heritage Corridor will look to the heyday of the Historic National Road as it celebrates the sixth annual Frontier Dinner Aug. 26 at the Christian Klay Winery in Chalk Hill. This event ties in with the 200th anniversary of the start of construction of the National Road.
“We thought it would be interesting for people,” said Donna Holdorf, executive director of the National Road Heritage Corridor (NRHC), who noted that workers began building the National Road in 1811.
In a press release issued for the dinner, Holdorf noted, “In honor of this 200th anniversary, we’ve adapted a circa 1850s menu into the five-course gourmet dinner that typifies the dinner stagecoach travelers would have been served in a coach line tavern. For this one night, the Klay Winery barn will become the Klay Tavern.”
Chef Joe Carei of Caileigh’s Restaurant in Uniontown has prepared a menu that features vegetarian dishes, roasted meats and wild game.
The menu includes roasted beet and goat cheese Napoleons, artisan cheeses with fruit and vegetable crudites, wild game sausage, savory lamb stew, field green salad and vinegar slaw, spit-grilled leg of beef, Washington Tavern Fried Trout, Klay Tavern Glazed Ham, spaetzle and vegetable medley, fried potatoes with fresh herbs, smashed pumpkin souffle, chocolate rum cake and spiced apple pie. Beer, wine and soft drinks are included throughout the entire evening.
As added fun, Holdorf noted that five interpreters will portray characters of the period who might be found at a tavern. They are the tavern keeper, a lady who’s traveling on the stagecoach and a wagoner, as well as a merchant and his wife who will drum up business for a silent and Chinese auction that includes club level Penguin tickets with VIP parking.
The dinner will also have a new time, beginning at 6 p.m. with starters and 6:45 p.m. with dinner at the winery, located just off the Historic National Road, Route 40. The new time is a half-hour later.
There also will be live music.
To purchase tickets or for more information, including membership in Friends of the Road, call the National Road office at 724-437-9877.
Tickets must be purchased in advance. The dinner helps the National Road Heritage Corridor with its mission.
, which is to advocate, build awareness and encourage the conservation of the cultural, historic, natural, recreational and economic resources along the Historic National Road in Pennsylvania.