Waynesboro’s Chestnut Log Eateries

Little remains today of a complex that was comprised of a chestnut log restaurant that served, over time, as the home to three succeeding eateries, and the associated cedar-log tourist cabins that stood along Buchanan Trail (previously known as Sunrise Trail) outside of Waynesboro (Rouzerville). The chestnut logs were locally harvested.

Varsity Restaurant & Tourist Court

The chestnut log building originally housed the Varsity (also known as the Varsity Restaurant & Tourist Court, since cabins had also been constructed for tourists), which operated from the 1940s to the 1970s. 

An article published in the September 5, 1959, edition of the (Waynesboro) Record Herald mentioned that Clarence Crider, Jr. had operated the Varsity since 1946.  An advertisement was published in 1949, stating that parachute decorations were to be held at the Varsity Restaurant & Tourist Court.

Various advertisements placed from the mid-1950s referred to Walter “Red” Crider and his wife, Peg, and “Ed” and “Red” as the owners and operators of the Varsity Restaurant & Tourist Court. 

Advertisements placed in 1962 referred to Richard and Berry Berklite at the bottom of the ad, but did not identify their title or position. Subsequently, advertisements placed in the 1960s referred to Emery Lee Toms and George Hackenberry, Jr. as managers, when it appeared the business was initiating a daily 24-hour operation to begin on May 1, 1965, with entertainment provided by “The Debonaires,” and dancing from 8 to 11 p.m.

Chestnut Logs Restaurant

Virtually nothing was found in archives or other sources to reveal what may have transpired at the Varsity Restaurant & Tourist Court after 1965, when the restaurant’s advertisements ceased to appear. Although possibly less authoritative sources had suggested it operated into the 1970s.

Equally intriguing is the fact that next to nothing can be found on the internet and newspaper archives beyond bits and pieces of information regarding the Chestnut Logs Restaurant, which opened in the old Varsity Restaurant & Tourist Court business circa 1992, except that it had acquired an official address as 11657 Buchanan Trail E.

Chestnut Logs was owned and operated by Waynesboro residents, Monroe Bricker and his wife, Frances. Frances Bricker’s 2018 obituary stated she had owned and operated Chestnut Logs Restaurant for over 20 years, and that her surviving husband, upon his death in 2020, deemed himself the last owner of the establishment. 

According to an article in the March 26, 2017, edition of The Herald Mail, the Chestnut Logs Restaurant had been operated for 25 years, thus suggesting the Brickers had been the owners since the eatery had been established.

Rolling Mill Restaurant

The Brickers had sold the Chestnut Logs Restaurant in 2017 to Bob Curley, according to an article published in the March 26, 2017, edition of The Herald Mail, who proceeded to operate the business under the name Rolling Mill Restaurant for ten years.  

At the time of the restaurant’s closure, Curley told The Herald Mail that one of the still-existing cabins was used as a produce stand for many years. But, at the time of his interview, “some of the cabins in the woods are still there,” and that, “The restaurant got so bad it fell in on itself and was eventually hauled away.”

New Beginning for an Old Cabin

However, the cabins apparently outlasted the rest of the enterprise, or at least one did, and has been brought back to life, courtesy of a brewery.

Owners Dane and Lauren Murray have established their Michaux Brewing Company in a revamped Varsity Restaurant & Tourist Court cabin. Dane and Murray told The Catoctin Banner that the exposed logs make diners feel like they are in a warm cabin, and the atmosphere is lively and bustling with activity.

For more information on the Michaux Brewing Company, refer to “Michaux Brew Co., A New Place to Go,” by Blair Garrett, in the online archives of The Catoctin Banner.