Historic Fairfield Inn
15 W. Main St., (717) 642-5410, Fairfield, Pa., www.thefairfieldinn.com.
The scoop: With a history that dates to 1757, this is one of the nation’s oldest continuously operating inns and has hosted such illustrious guests as Patrick Henry, Thaddeus Stevens, Gens. Robert E. Lee and J.E.B. Stuart, and Mamie Eisenhower. Some rooms have whirlpool tubs. In the evening, the inn presents a historically authentic performance of magic and storytelling at its Civil War Dinner Theatre. The show and three-course meal are $49.95. Take a two-hour horseback tour on the Gettysburg Battlefield, led by a licensed battlefield guide. $80 per person. Artillery Ridge, 610 Taneytown Road, Gettysburg, Pa., (717) 334-1288, www.artilleryridge.com.
Cost: Rooms are $130-$140 weekdays, $150-$170 weekends; suites are $175 weekdays, $225 weekends.
Drive time: 2 hours, 30 minutes, from Main Line; 2 hours, 15 minutes, from Wilmington.
Tarrytown House Estate
49 E. Sunnyside Lane, Tarrytown, N.Y., (800) 553-8118, www.tarrytownhouseestate.com.
The scoop: On weekdays, this joined pair of Georgian-style mansions, set on 26 beautiful acres in the Hudson River Valley, is a business convention hotel, but on weekends, it returns to its country-manor roots and offers a taste of the mid-19th-century lush life. The area is well known as the setting for author Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and for its Millionaires’ Row homes, built by the rich and famous. Among those you can tour are Kykuit, ($25 weekdays, $28 weekends; 381 N. Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., 914-631-8200, www.hudsonvalley.org/historic-sites), home to four generations of Rockefellers, starting with John D., and Washington Irving’s Sunnyside ($12; W. Sunnyside Lane, off Route 9, Tarrytown, 914-631-8200, www.hudsonvalley.org/historic-sites).
Cost: Rates are $279, double occupancy.
Drive time: 2 hours, 30 minutes, from Main Line; 2 hours, 30 minutes, from Wilmington.
