Strawberry shortcakes served with scoops of ice cream, history at Harrison's Burtner House

Robert Woods Sr. says he learns something new every time he visits the Burtner House in Harrison.

His latest lesson involved a coffin.

The historic stone farmhouse, completed in July 1821, sits just off Route 28 and was saved from being demolished for the highway in the early 1970s.

Woods said it was home to his fifth great-grandparents, Capt. William Reinhart Smith and Anna Barbara Burtner Smith. His grandfather, Phillip C. Smith, and his grandfather’s brother, LaGene Smith, led a petition effort to reroute the highway so it would not have to be torn down.

Woods of Slippery Rock volunteers to help maintain the house and was there Saturday for its annual Strawberry Festival.

“It’s a feeling of home,” he said. “I feel comfortable here.”

While visitors toured the house, shopped for crafts and enjoyed strawberry shortcake, Woods said he found out why there’s a coffin in the spring house — it represents how they would keep a body cool until it could be buried.

“I didn’t know that until this morning,” he said. “I’m learning every day.”

The one-day Strawberry Festival is the bigger of the two fundraisers that support the Burtner House Restoration Society, its president, Jeff Jones, said. The other, the Harvest Festival, will be held on Sept. 30 this year, which Jones said is a couple of weeks earlier than usual in hopes of missing cold weather.

At $5, Jones said, the strawberry shortcake with ice cream was a bargain. “It’s a nice serving,” he said.

Kevin and Merritt Birnie came from Fox Chapel. They had last been there before the covid pandemic, which caused the festival to be canceled in 2020 and 2021.

“We figured we’d try some strawberry shortcake and we like history,” Kevin Birnie said. “We like to tour the house. I love American history.”

Lucy Mahdik was among the tour guides sharing the home’s history with visitors. She said many were visiting for the first time.

“Everybody drives by this house. They’re curious what’s inside,” she said.

Outside the house and among the crafters and vendors, members of the 78th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Company F were portraying Civil War soldiers and imparting its history.

They raise money to preserve Civil War battlefields, said Mike Valasek of New Kensington.

Jason Smith, a chemist from Shadyside, was portraying a Union soldier and explaining how they lived and fought. A member of the group for 14 years, it was his first time at the festival.

“We’ve had a lot of people come by. The gunfire definitely draws people,” he said. “It’s been a good event. I look forward to coming next year.”

Among the vendors was Vicki Kleber, owner of Russellton Bee Works in West Deer. She maintains 70 bee colonies, including some on the Burtner House grounds, that produce about a ton of honey each year.

While bees can pollinate strawberries, Kleber said strawberries mainly self-pollinate. Bees are more essential for pollination of blueberries, raspberries and cranberries, she said.

Kleber will be back at the Burtner House for a “Honey Bee Day,” from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 29.

After another such event in the region stopped being held, “I wanted to have a honey bee day somewhere,” she said.

The state’s honey princess, Natalie Shimo, will be there. It will include local honey, beekeepers and clubs; a honey cookie baking contest for kids; honey and beeswax products; and artisans and crafters featuring bee- and honey-themed items for sale.

“It will be a lot of fun,” she said.