With architectural flourishes reflecting Medieval English and French Eclecticism, the 1925 Front Street mansion – that had been an inn and is now a venue for weddings and events – was designed for social affairs.
Milestone on the River’s stone exterior and bucolic setting along the Susquehanna befit royal to elegant occasions. It was formerly, for four years, Milestone Inn, a bed-and-breakfast, until the previous owners sold it in 2010.
The new, silent owners see the mansion at 2701 N. Front St. as more than a place for catered events, holiday gatherings and weddings. It’s a home, said Kacy Englebrook, Milestone’s director of events. Overnight stays, though, are no longer offered.
“It’s about them having this mansion for the day,” Englebrook said. “We kind of want them to feel they live here for that day.”
For weddings, in particular, Englebrook said the smallest details would be made to convey that sense of home, right down to family pictures of the bride and groom in the many frames that decorate the mansion’s walls and books cases.
With its five fireplaces, hardwood and slated floors, many rooms and archways, the mansion’s interior harkens to an era of 1920s wealth and prosperity. It has a storied past, built by a Philadelphia lawyer for his family and their servants.
Designed by renowned Philadelphia architecture firm, Mellor, Meigs and Howe, the mansion’s original owner, Ralph Baker, had lived there only six years before he took a position teaching law at Harvard University.
Over the decades, the mansion passed through several hands: A furniture dealer bought it and then sold it to Congressman John Kunkel. Later, Dr. W. Minister Kunkel erected a building on the lawn for his surgical practice.
The Kunkel’s eventually deeded the property to the United Way of the Capital Region, which used it for many years.
In 2004, Robin Clemens and Sean Adams, bought the mansion and made extensive historic renovations, opening it as a bed-and-breakfast two years later. They sold it in 2010. The current owners, Englebrook said, prefer anonymity.
At the time it was built, the mansion was considered a unique home with its half-acre of lawn and river view. The surgical building is gone, burned down years earlier. In its place: a courtyard where a huge tent for 250 people stays up May through November.
Inside on the first-floor is a wood-paneled, bookcase-lined drawing room with fireplace, leather furnishings and pool table. It has a definite masculine feel, which is ideal for the groom’s half of the wedding party.
“They can have a beer, watch some TV and shoot some pool,” Englebrook said.
Upstairs, on the third floor, there is a salon, a dressing room and facilities for the bride and her maids to relax and prepare. There is even a cedar closet where dresses can be stored the night before the wedding.
“We welcome the brides to be here all day,” Englebrook said.
The mansion also has a reception hall for events and weddings in late fall through early spring when the tent is not up or for groups that prefer inside rather than outside.
“We have the flexibility to do whatever we need to do,” said Julie Dibble, director of business development for Chef Exclusive in Carlisle, Milestone’s resident caterer.
Just as important, Englebrook said, is the “warm and friendly” feeling she wants people find at the mansion.
Milestone on the River, 2710 N. Front St., 717-412-1925 or milestoneontheriver.com
