Butler County PA: Pennsylvania’s Quirkiest Region

Butler County PA, just a short drive north of Pittsburgh, is so eclectic, it defies description. So I won’t try to define it. Just know that there’s an abundance of oddities to keep a Connoisseur of Quirky Travel happy.

There’s a world-class Asian Arts museum on a residential street in a modest town, a toy store in the shape of a stealth aircraft,  a snowman snow-cone shop, and a museum devoted to the first Flesh-Eating Zombie movie ever made. All this, good food, and brand new hotels, to boot.

Where Is Butler County PA?

Butler County is situated in the western part of Pennsylvania, approximately 35 miles north of Pittsburgh. Bordered by the Allegheny River to the southeast, it offers a mix of suburban and rural landscapes. The county seat is the city of Butler, which serves as a commercial hub for the area. Accessible via Route 422 and Interstate 79, Butler County provides an escape from city life while still being close to the amenities of a major metropolitan area.

Jade Carving, Maridon Museum
Jade Carving, Maridon Museum

Things To Do In Butler County PA

VISIT: The Maridon Museum, Butler

A substantial collection of 20th Century Asian art is hidden, improbably, in a tiny western PA town on a very inconspicuous residential street.

Mary Phillips (who married Big Oil heir, Don Phillips) lived in an unpretentious Butler home and never traveled farther than Atlantic City, NJ. But Phillips had a pert, intellectual mind and a penchant for collecting Asian art.

The Phillips had no children, and knowing that, after her death, her survivors wouldn’t care about the jade, porcelain, and woodcarvings that she had amassed over the years, Mary built a museum (naming it a composite of Mary and Don) in 2004 to house it all.

She hired New York City based Asian art expert, Edith Frankel, to design and curate her collection, and was happy to visit her meaningful art in its new home until her death at age 88 in 2009.

Mary was ecstatic about sharing her collection with her hometown. And she wanted visitors to learn about what they were seeing. “Our docents don’t teach. They help visitors learn.” So, a visit here is eye opening, educational, and engaging.

A Rare Find in A Small Town

Ivory Carvings, Maridon Museum, Butler PA
Ivory Carvings, Maridon Museum, Butler PA

The set of Quartz Foo Dogs, 650 lb Jade Peacocks, Carved Rosewood Happy Buddha, one of the most extensive collections of German Meissen Porcelain in the world, and hundreds of other pieces of rare art – once stuffed in the finished basement of Mary’s modest ranch house – are now showcased in The Maridon’s beautiful bright galleries.

Netsuke miniature carvings once attached to silk purses
Netsuke miniature carvings once attached to silk purses

Though most of Mary’s purchases were 20th Century pieces for the trade, Frankel added several more important older works. A “Scholar’s Table,” dating to the 960 A.D. Song Dynasty, is set with an intact inkstone, authentic brushes, and curved wooden chair that created a revered “Scholar’s Hump.”

There’s a 7th century painted prancing burial horse, and over 100 miniature Netsuke that once attached to silk purses. All are carved in painstaking detail – some quite amusing or racy.

Scholars Table, Maridon Museum
Scholars Table, Maridon Museum

The Asian art collection at the Maridon is fascinating on many levels – the most elemental being its stunning beauty and fine craftsmanship. But you’ll learn a lot about Asian history and the importance of these figures as well, in the most unlikely of places.

It’s a knockout museum worth a drive from anywhere. Oh – and the prices at the gift shop are Hong Kong inexpensive. Just 75 cents for a Happy Buddha! Open Wed-Sat 11am-4pm, $5.

VISIT: Living Dead Museum/Evans City Cemetery, Evans City

Yes, there is a Living Dead Museum. It is where it should be- in Evans City PA – close to the cemetery where the very first Night of the Living Dead was filmed.

Maul of Fame, Living Dead Museum
Maul of Fame, Living Dead Museum, Evans City, PA

Before 1968, when George A. Romero shot a gory, low-budget movie, set in a rural cemetery, zombie flicks were all about evil scientists, voodoo and mind control. Night of the Living Dead, made with Bosco Syrup (blood), roasted ham (flesh), and rudimentary home-crafted effects, changed all that.

Every subsequent movie that Romero directed (Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, etc) and every movie and TV show about flesh-eating zombies, including Zombieland, Walking Dead and World War Z, can be traced back to that one independent black and white film set, for the most part, in the Evans City Cemetery.

Evans City Cemetery
Evans City Cemetery, famous as location for Night of the Living Dead

Kevin Kriess was a major NOTLD fan: such a fan, in fact, that he opened this homage to his favorite movie in 2008 to illustrate “how Night of the Living Dead changed the world.” The museum moved to this current location (“across from a funeral home”) in 2013.

Kriess is a repository of zombie knowledge. He explains that the dancing zombies in Michael Jackson’s 1983 Thriller video made the monsters “family friendly,” and that the spoof “Shawn of the Dead,” was a great compliment to Romero.

The museum encompasses a clear time-line, lots of original posters, props and The Maul of Fame – a wall covered with the bloody handprints of Living Dead celebrities. Museum open Fri & Sun Noon-5, Saturdays opens at 10-6. $5.

Harmony Museum, Harmony PA
Harmony Museum, Harmony PA

VISIT: Harmony PA

Anyone interested in small-town origin stories, or in the history of resettled formerly persecuted religious sects, will love poking around the eight-block National Historic Landmark District of Harmony. Just the name lowers your blood pressure a bit.

The Harmony Museum is comprised of three buildings. A tour recounts the history of this place from 1753, when a 21-year-old George Washington came through town on his way to confront the encroaching French Army.

Original Mennonite Log Cabin, Harmony PA
Original Mennonite Log Cabin, Harmony PA

In the early 1804, a group of 900 business-minded pacifist Lutheran Separatists from the Stuttgart area of Germany, led by prophet George Rapp, chose this land for its creek and winemaking potential.

They called themselves “Harmonists,” and counted on a “light from within” to guide them on their way. Apparently, the light told them to be celibate. And, in 1814, guided them to Indiana.

Former Doctors Office, Harmony PA
Former Doctors Office, Harmony PA

Abraham Ziegler and other Mennonites then moved in with large families and family trees as complicated as Einstein formulas.

A tour takes you from the main house museum to one remaining Ziegler log home – set up as it would have looked in the 1840’s. Next to the Wagner House, which served as a doctors office (and now the Gift Shop).   Open Tues-Sun 1-4. $7.

Zanella Mining, West Sunbury PA
Zanella Mining, West Sunbury PA

VISIT/SHOP: Zanella Milling

This is not a “tourist trap” – or tourist stop of any kind. But out of town visitors are curious, and so the amiable Zanella men (John, Matt and Mark) are happy to comply.

Show up and if you want a tour (and you should, for a step back in time), expect to get dirty. This Hardware Store/Animal Feed/Flour Mill, is in its original 1898 mill building. Surprisingly, some of its original machinery, still churns out grains and flours the old-fashioned way.

Zanella Milling machinery
Zanella Milling machinery

Zanella Milling grinds and bags several hundred tons of feed a week for local farmers, and flours for baking.  In fact, its one of the last producers of buckwheat flower in Butler County PA.

Grains offloaded from trucks into basement bins are transported upstairs via cup elevators. Once made of tin, the cups are now plastic. Belts and motors have been replaced over the years, but the spindles, corn cutters, graters and Ribbon Mixer are all original.

You must be physically able to climb narrow, rickety stairs for a 45-minute tour to experience the noisy, vibrating action of 100-year-old technology. And yes, when in full production, you’ll most likely be covered in airborne flour a few minutes in. It’s all part of the fun. Store hours, Monday-Saturday, 8 AM-5:30 PM.

Playthings Etc.
Playthings Etc. – Butler PA

SHOP: Playthings, Etc, Butler 

Such a mundane name for a rather spectacular one of a kind toy and hobby store. “Playthings, etc” does not begin to describe this stealth aircraft that seems to have just landed far from any town on busy Route 8, tantalizing drive-bys with metallic mystery.

Owners Nadine and Todd Shingleton had a wildly ambitious plan to build a “destination” rather than just a simple store, and succeeded. Ever since its construction in 2005, Playthings, Etc. has been packed with innovative toys, hobby crafts, and people.

Inside Playthings Etc.
Inside Playthings Etc.

Buzzfeed named Playthings one of “17 Toy Stores Worldwide That Will Change Your Kids Lives.” But why should kids have all the fun? I wanted to stay and play with everything – which customers can do before they buy.

There are lots of demonstrations, treasure hunts, a comprehensive Frisbee Golf section, remote control cars, trucks, copters, and even drones to try out.  I would have loved to get my hands dirty – playing with Kinetic Sand, “Oil Slick Thinking Putty,” physics, chemistry and biology kits.

In a rush, though, I had to be content with a model rocket launch in the lively parking lot just before leaving. Open Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, November and December 9am-9pm.

Peter King, Freedom Farms
Peter King, Freedom Farms, Butler PA

SHOP: Freedom Farms Market, Butler

Nine out of the ten King kids work in the family business – the business of farming. All Kings are so engaging and photogenic; they had their own reality TV show, The Farm Kings on GACTV (Great American Country TV).

Charismatic Peter, with his blond half-shaved-half-floppy hair, hugs regular Freedom Farms Market customers as they come through the door. The farm grows a variety of picture-perfect produce, “the best eggs,” and naturally-raised animal products. Says Peter, “We treat our livestock well. They are happy animals who have one very bad day.”

Best Places to Eat and Snack in Butler County PA 

The Snowman, Butler County PA

SNACK/DESSERT: The Snowman – Portersville

What’s that snowman doing on this Western PA country road? Brian LaChance and his wife noticed that a stream of cars were driving by their house on their way to the 16,000-acre Moraine State Park, which gets over 2 million visitors every year. So they devised a way to capture some of them.

In 2013, LaChance found this snowman-shaped concession stand in Cincinnati, hauled it within sight of his dining room window and started selling Blue Raspberry, Cherry, Root Beer and dozens of other inventive soft, teeth-friendly, icy treats right from the snowman’s belly.

Made from 100% cane sugar and filtered water ice, new flavors are being added all the time. The LaChances have even experimented with ice cream blends. “I have a mad-scientist kitchen,” says LaChance. Open seasonally. The LaChance’s have also added a mobile snowman as well.

North Country Brewing exterior
North Country Brewing exterior, Slippery Rock PA

EAT: North Country Brewing – Slippery Rock

Serendipitous travelers love stumbling on young, pioneering, cool-vibe eateries in small, out of the way towns. North County Brewing is one such place.

With talent and vision, owners Bob and Jodi McCafferty renovated an old Funeral Home from the ground up – fashioning reclaimed wood into fanciful, intricate designs, repurposing the outside slate walkway into a bar, and adding whimsy to every nook and cranny.

North Country Brewing Bar
North Country Brewing Bar, Slippery Rock PA

Restored to “Publik House” status, North Country Brewing draws an exuberant crowd, seeking good, fresh food sourced from local farmers. They come from as far away as Pittsburgh and Toronto.

Customers love the craft beer made in the cellar that once served as the morgue, along with great tweaks on German food. German Dumplings with Bratwurst and Cabbage and Pepper Bourbon Chicken are particularly good, and won’t break the bank. Come early on weekend nights – there’s usually a two-hour wait.

Log Cabin Inn, Butler County PA
Log Cabin Inn, Butler County PA

EAT: Log Cabin Restaurant – Harmony

This local institution – in a log cabin on a main road – is one of those places families congregate for weekly meals out. Not haut or fancy, but fine traditional foodstuffs served in rustic rooms beneath protruding animal heads.

Regulars love the Prime Rib, which indicates the kind of place it is. And kids love looking in the lush foliage right outside picture windows for a faux tiger, turkey, and Sasquash. Salads, like the Honey Nut Chicken Salad, are fresh and tasty, and pasta, like Spicy Chicken Diablo, are pretty decent, too.

Where to Stay in Butler County PA

STAY: Cranberry Township – Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, Best Western, Clarion, Hampton Inn Hotels

There are dozens of franchise hotels in Cranberry Township, and other B&B’s sprinkled around this large county. Most are new or have been updated. Take your pick. 

Author

    by
  • Malerie Yolen-Cohen

    Malerie Yolen-Cohen is the Author of the cross-country travel guide, Stay On Route 6; Your Guide to All 3562 Miles of Transcontinental Route 6. She contributes frequently to Newsday, with credits in National Geographic Traveler, Ladies Home Journal, Yankee Magazine, Shape.com, Sierra Magazine, Porthole, Paddler, New England Boating, Huffington Post, and dozens of other publications. Malerie’s focus and specialty is Northeastern US, and she is constantly amazed by the caliber of restaurants and lodging in the unlikeliest places.

25 thoughts on “Butler County PA: Pennsylvania’s Quirkiest Region”

  1. Proud to say I lived in Butler and it is a Gem and definitely worth the visit.It has an active art community with lots of talented artists .Not far from Slippery Rock University and Grove City College… a

  2. That movie….part of it, was filmed on my aunt’s farm……I grew up in this area and love it dearly!

  3. I worked for the one zanella brother at the mini mart on r38. I have meet all the brothers and they are extremely nice to talk to.

  4. Hi Nathan- Yes, I found the whole family to be very nice. Thanks so much for reading and commenting! Malerie

  5. Thank you Malerie for reminding why I love so much where I live. The Mc Cafferty’s have purchased and similarly renovated the Harmony Inn. Equally appealing as it is reportedly haunted. Although close to Evans City, no zombies have been sighted. It Intertwinines your post and definitely worth a look on your next visit.

  6. As I read the title a “?” formed above my head. I live in Butler County and couldn’t think of anything quirky. Hahahah! Sure enough, you nailed it! Happy New Year!
    It also has the best little keep secret of a gift shop. Colonial Pharmacy & Gift Shoppe in Sarver! Huge space where one can find unusual home decor and jewelry and many nice things!

  7. Very nice story! Our greenhouse (Schnur’s Greenhouse) has been a part of this community for over 125 years, same family. Proud to be in Butler!

  8. My Grandparents, Fred & Mame Schott, were the original owners of the Log Cabin when it was two small rooms with a floor that slanted. Nothing like it is now! The log house just north of the ‘Cabin’ was the Schott Homestead and farm.

  9. I have lived in Butler County half of my life. Grew up in little Saver, attended school in quaint historic Saxonburg, lived in beautiful Harmony and Zelionople for a while. Log Cabin Inn is a favorite eatery when I visit the area as is The Kaufman House and The Harmony Inn. Interesting and pretty country as long as you avoid the city of Butler.

  10. Great list of things. Many more things to see Moraine state park, Jennings prairie preserve, old stone house, August Wendell forge. Everyone should add there favorites!

  11. Hi Bonnie- I was sorry I couldn’t get to everything. Just means I’ll have to come back! Thanks for reading and commenting! Malerie

  12. I got my media start in radio on WBUT/WLER. Fascinating area. McConnell’s Mill – Portersville has an old covered bridge. The Old Stone House is on RT. 8 N on the way to Slippery Rock. At Moraine State Park there is a restored historic oil well that my grandfather operated. Not a good place to be if you don’t love cold winters.

  13. If you get a chance, Bob’s Sub and Sandwich Shop, located only in Slippery Rock is an excellent place for lunch. And Slippery Rock University is right there! Love the article!

  14. North Country trails goes thru Jennings nature preserve.Longest hiking trail in the U.S..Jennings also provides free snow shoes when there is six inches of snow.

  15. By Butler standards I’m a newcomer I’ve only been here for 30 years. Each time my late husband and I had an opportunity to leave Butler, we decided to stay. It’s not Mayberry, that has a lot to offer… thanks for the kudos

  16. My Grandfather was the original owner of the Log Cabin Inn when it was just a sit and beer bar and limited menu. To go into where video games were you had to duck your head because the floor slanted.

  17. We are going to drive up from PIttsburgh in October as we are passing through Pennsylvania. According to my Family Tree, many of the Stoughtons and McGaffics were from Slippery Rock and buried in a Cemetery close by (starts with a Z – Zeniopole?) I have read about the old mill and the Lake etc from old stories in the Geneology so will rent a car and come visiting! I do appreciate the suggestions about where to grab a tasty lunch. I’m hoping for apple orchards and wineries / cider mills etc!

  18. I was enjoying the trip back home, until the racist comments. Butler County has a wealth of history, The Pullman Rail Car Company, The Bantam Motor Car Company, (think Jeep), the remnants of the old Harmon Line, including a few of the buildings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh,_Harmony,_Butler_and_New_Castle_Railway The terminal for the split at Evans City still exists and is currently a small rental home.
    It’s a beautiful area with huge amounts of history, (Evans City once had an oil well ratio close to 1 well to every 3 houses). But the population has always been predominantly white, (as shown in the national census for the past several decades). To attempt to disparage the entire area because of ones personal bias is sad indeed.

  19. Hi Dennis, thanks for the history lesson about Butler Co. I can’t control the comments, though I will delete the most egregious, harmful ones. Peace….

Comments are closed.