A Mercer County Weekend for Two: Six Stops, One Overnight

A weekend away without a week of planning. Six locally owned stops across Mercer County, breakfast to check-in. One route, no chains.

You do not need a week of planning to get a weekend away out of Mercer County. Here is one already built for two: six locally owned stops, breakfast through check-in, all of it inside the county and none of it a national chain. It starts with a pancake neither of you will finish alone and ends with a night inside an 1890 landmark. There is a thread running quietly through the whole route, too, and you will spot it at the last stop. Watch the quick tour, then take the full itinerary with you.

Watch the 60-second tour, then keep scrolling for the full list.

Breakfast: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Sharpsville

Start on South Walnut Street, early enough to get a table. The draw is the pancakes: oversized, in flavors like peanut butter chocolate chip, and genuinely big enough for two people to split one and still leave full. If you would rather start savory, there are chorizo bowls and the full run of diner classics. Saturday hours are 7am to 2pm, so there is room to linger over coffee before the day gets going. (Worth knowing for next time: they are closed Monday and Tuesday.)

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Diner · Sharpsville

Wander: Buhl Farm Park, Hermitage

A few minutes down the road, take your time at Buhl Park. It is 260 acres, it is free, and it has been both since 1915, when Sharon steel industrialist Frank H. Buhl and his wife Julia handed it to the public. The lake at its center, Lake Julia, is named for her. There is a nine-hole golf course, a pool, a summer concert series, and Movies Under the Stars, but the better move on a slow morning is to walk the grounds, split a bench by the water, and let the pancake settle. Over 400,000 people a year come through.

Buhl Farm Park

Park · Hermitage

Lunch: Lock Stock & Barrel, Sharpsville

Back into Sharpsville for lunch, and this is the one stop with a clock on it. Lock Stock & Barrel closes at 3pm on Saturdays, earlier than it does on weekdays, and it is closed Sundays entirely, so get there with time to spare. The shop has been building giant submarine sandwiches since 1972 on fresh-cut meats, in portions that make the chain version look like a snack. One sub splits between two people comfortably. It earned its spot in our roundup of local eats worth the drive, and the loyal following has had five decades to build.

Lock Stock & Barrel

Sub shop · Sharpsville

Browse: Wendell August Forge, Grove City

Head east to Grove City for the afternoon. Wendell August Forge started in 1923 in Brockway and moved here in 1931, and it is still America's oldest and largest forge making hand-hammered metal giftware. It pioneered hammered aluminum giftware in 1930, and the History Center walks you through the century since. If that whets your appetite for the county's past, our guide to Mercer County museums and local history picks the thread up. One note, because it changed recently: the flagship store and History Center now sit inside the Grove City Premium Outlets (Suite 955), and production moved to Slippery Rock in 2024. This is the place to see the work and the history, not the hammers in action. Open until 8pm on Saturdays, so there is no need to rush it.

Wendell August Forge

Artisan metalwork · Grove City

Dinner: Iron Bridge Inn, Mercer

Dinner is west on Perry Highway at the Iron Bridge Inn, a lodge of a building with fireplaces and rustic decor that has aged into the good kind of familiar. The kitchen runs to hickory-smoked BBQ, slow-roasted prime rib, steaks, and seafood, and the attention carries all the way to the finished plate. Saturday hours are 11am to 10pm, so the table can be as late as the day requires.

Iron Bridge Inn

Steakhouse · Mercer

Stay: Buhl Mansion Guesthouse & Spa, Sharon

Do not drive home. Finish at Buhl Mansion, the 1890 house Frank Buhl built as a wedding present for Julia, now on the National Register of Historic Places and open as a guesthouse. There are ten guest rooms furnished with antiques, several tucked into the turrets, plus fireplaces, jetted tubs, gardens, and a full-service spa if you want to stretch the morning out. Here is the thread you may have missed: you started the day in the park the Buhls gave to the public and you end it in the house he built for her. For a weekend for two, it is hard to improve on a route that a hundred-year-old marriage already bookended.

Buhl Mansion Guesthouse & Spa

Guesthouse & spa · Sharon

Still have a Sunday?

This route fills a Saturday and an overnight, which leaves Sunday open. The spa at Buhl Mansion takes day guests as well as overnight ones, so you can start slow without going anywhere. And the Iron Bridge Inn runs a Sunday brunch if you want one more sit-down meal before the drive home. If you would rather fill the day, we keep a running list of things to do for couples in Mercer County.

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In This Guide

1.Breakfast: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Sharpsville
2.Wander: Buhl Farm Park, Hermitage
3.Lunch: Lock Stock & Barrel, Sharpsville
4.Browse: Wendell August Forge, Grove City
5.Dinner: Iron Bridge Inn, Mercer
6.Stay: Buhl Mansion Guesthouse & Spa, Sharon
7.Still have a Sunday?

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