Restoring the Inn at Historic Lane House

Written by ROXANN MILLER

For the past year, Sahand Miraminy, 34, has been painstakingly restoring the historic Harriet Lane Mansion in downtown Mercersburg, Pa., to its former glory, in anticipation of welcoming its first guests to the Inn at Historic Lane House this fall.

It’s been a labor of love for the Washington, D.C., native, who has done much of the work himself.

Miraminy says he’s always had an interest in history and spent most of his professional life involved with historic house museums.

“I always knew that I wanted to live in an old house one day, and fix one up,” he says.

But it was a late night of scrolling through what Miraminy called “fantasy houses” on Zillow, a real estate website, at four in the morning that drew him to the Lane House.

“I expanded my search slightly and went into Pennsylvania, and I

Vaun Hawbaker, a local craftsman specializing in historic buildings, restores the facade of Lane House.

Harriet Lane poses in her 1857 inaugural gown. In the new age of photography, her widespread image and European flair resulted in a significantly lowered neckline in American women’s’ fashion.

saw this house and it was immediate kismet,” he remembers.

By 10 a.m. the next morning, Miraminy was in Mercersburg to scope out the property.

“I just fell in love with the house, and I immediately recognized Harriet Lane’s name because I had fixed up a house that she and James Buchanan had used during the summer months in D.C., to use as an event space,” says Miraminy, who works remotely as an event planner in D.C.

He continues: “It was like all the stars had aligned. I already knew who she was. I already admired her, and this house popped up.”

Calling upon his experience with restoring historic homes, working for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and his college degree in anthropology and archaeology, Miraminy rolled up his sleeves and started to restore the home to its 1828 appearance.

“I do most of the work myself, but a good portion is also done by hired craftsmen in the area, he says.

Cooking the Lane House Way

Harley Street Pudding

This warm and comforting dish is a variation of an old English recipe, enjoyed by Harriet Lane and her uncle James Buchanan in their residence on Harley Street, during their ambassadorial tenure in Queen Victoria’s London court.

3 cups half and half 1/3 cup sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla Pinch of salt 2 teaspoons cinnamon ½ teaspoon nutmeg 4 tablespoons unsalted butter Approximately 6 cups French bread, cubed 3 large eggs, beaten 1/3 cup chopped pecans 2/3 cup raisins

•In a saucepan, heat half and half, sugar, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter until ingredients are combined. Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

•Place French bread cubes in a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle raisins over bread.

•Add beaten eggs to cooled half-and-half mixture and whisk until combined.

Pour mixture evenly on top of cubed bread. Allow combined ingredients to sit for 10 minutes, ensuring all bread is soaked. Bake on rack in middle of oven for approximately 15 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed and set. Serve warm.

Miss Lane’s Rose Cookies

During her time as First Lady, Harriet Lane created the White House’s first conservatory and often accessorized her gowns and headpieces with vibrant flowers. These delightful shortbread cookies celebrate Harriet’s love affair with roses and a good tea party.

2 cups all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon salt 1 ½ tablespoons culinary rose petals (dried) 1 cup powdered sugar 1 cup unsalted butter, softened 2 ½ teaspoons rose water ½ teaspoon vanilla

•Combine flour, salt and rose petals in a bowl. Separately, beat sugar and softened butter with an electric mixer. Add rose water and vanilla. Mix for 30 seconds.

Add flour mixture gradually.

Shape dough into a flat circle and wrap in plastic wrap.

Refrigerate for at least three hours.

•Roll out dough to a 1/3-inch to ¼-inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut into circles and place on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Poke each cookie with about a dozen small holes and bake at 325 degrees for about 22 minutes, or until edges become golden.

Remove cookies from trays and cool on wire racks.

Note: Rose water should only list distilled water and roses in the ingredients and can be found online or in most Middle Eastern markets.

With 13-foot-high ceilings in every room, Miraminy joked that it was crucial to get some help painting for the sake of his arms.

The house from the basement to the attic is approximately 10,000 square feet, he says.

Grandest house in the region

At the time of its construction, it was described as the grandest house in the region, Miraminy says.

“It was built at a time when this area was really the frontier, so most of the homes around it were log cabins. So, it sort of loomed over the town and the Lane family, who married into the Buchanan family, controlled a lot of the trade, real estate, and commerce in the area,” Miraminy says.

The house consists of the main block for the family, a servant’s wing that comes off the house like an L-shape and several outbuildings.

The house has six gracious bedrooms, each with a fireplace and bathroom.

“I’m going to be renting five of the rooms, so the house will have an occupancy of 10 guests a night,” Miraminy says.

Original woodwork, floors

Miraminy is one of only a handful of owners of the Lane House. One of the families, the Weidliches, lived in the home for about 100 years.

Luckily no one has made significant alterations to the house, so all the original woodwork and floors survived, he says.

Nearly everything is original to the historic home, except a room on the first floor that served a variety of functions, including a dry goods store, a hardware store, and an appliance store in the early 1960s, which has since been restored to its former glory by Miraminy.

Right now, Miraminy plans to operate the inn by himself.

“I’m going to be running it and cleaning it and marketing it all by myself. I’m known, in my friends’ group, as a pretty good cook, so I’ll serve a full, proper breakfast to the inn’s guests,” he says.

“I want to create an environment where people come together from all walks of life, have breakfast together,

The east portion of Lane House’s double Drawing Room.

and meet other people who are staying here – kind of this family house feeling to it,” he says. “In my head, I think of it as almost like Thanksgiving – politics is off the table, there are certain topics that are off limits in the house because I want everyone to have a really great time and enjoy themselves.”

With his relaxed style, sense of humor and wealth of historic knowledge, Miraminy hopes to create a resplendent inn brimming with history.

“Both of Harriet’s parents died in the Lane Mansion, along with several of her siblings. She was essentially orphaned, and she asked her uncle James Buchanan to adopt her, and when he became ambassador to Great Britain, she joined him in England and that’s where she became friends with Queen Victoria, and became an official consort,” Miraminy says.

When James Buchanan became the 15th president of the United States, Lane served alongside him as first lady.

“In her 20s, she was the youngest first lady. She was kind of the Jackie O of her time – wearing low necklines and starting musical performances and diplomatic dinners at the White House. She even created the White House Conservatory,” Miraminy says.

People don’t really talk about her anymore, and at one point in time, she was the most famous woman in the country, says Miraminy.

“They were naming songs, battleships, and perfumes after her, and there was a whole generation of girls named Harriet Lane in the 1800s. It’s weird how someone could be so popular, and time fades all that away,” he says.

He continues: “But it’s fun because I collect anything that has to do with Harriet Lane. Recently, I got a Harriet Lane cigar box and postcards. It’s fun to see all the history come back to the house and come back to life.”

“My favorite part of all of this is the research and tracking down original furniture and bringing it back to the house and hanging up portraits of people that haven’t been hung up for 200 years,” says Miraminy.

He wants guests at the Inn to enjoy a unique experience – almost like they are staying at a museum.

The dining room at Historic Lane House.

“I just fell in love with the house, and I immediately recognized Harriet Lane’s name... It was like all the stars had aligned. I already knew who she was. I already admired her, and this house popped up.”

SAHAND MIRAMINY

Owner Sahand Miraminy in the unrestored 3rd level ballroom of Lane House.

The courtyard at Lane House features a heated swimming pool.

“The stuff that’s being put in here is very particular, and I’ve searched far and wide at auctions to track down the stuff. It’s not just an old house, there’s so much history recorded on it and even Harriet Lane visited this place as an old woman – she made pilgrimages here, so it was certainly important to her,” Miraminy says.

Tuscarora Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Chris Ardinger says he can’t wait to see the economic, tourism and quality of life benefits that The Inn at the Historic Lane House will bring to Franklin County.

“This beautiful piece of history (Lane House) is a huge asset to our community, and once restorations are completed, the world is the limit. In a historic town like Mercersburg, history preservation and business growth can sometimes conflict, in this case, Sahand and his team will bring all of that together,” Ardinger says.

Miraminy says it’s a privilege to live in Mercersburg, a town enmeshed in history.

“My hope is that as I fix up this house, it inspires other people to do it. And folks have been really welcoming and excited that the house is getting the love that it deserves,” Miraminy says.

For information on the Inn at Historic Lane House, go to www.lanehouseinn.com.