Dinner...Overnight and Then What?

...continuing with our October 2024 road trip west through Tennessee and then continuing north to Pennsylvania and then back down through Virginia...

We overnighted at the Hampton Inn in Mansfield Pennsylvania for two nights.  End of the first day and it was time for dinner.

We decided on a local dining option on this occasion...and this is Papa V's Pizzeria and Restaurant at 12 North Main Street in Mansfield.  As you can see, the decor is the basic old time small town style.  Simple...but how was the food?

My entree came with a nice side salad with mixed greens, tomato, croutons and shredded mozzarella cheese...Italian dressing on the side.  I'm not supposed to eat many greens but I yielded to temptation in this case.

We are rarely able to resist Garlic Bread with Cheese...in this case accompanied with Homemade Marinara Sauce. ($7.50) There was plenty of it and, much to our liking, they weren't afraid of applying the garlic!  Very nice indeed...

Counting the Chicken Wings, there are 12 appetizers on the menu, many of them ones you might expect.  Ones that were a little different included the Breaded Fried Mushrooms, Mac 'n Cheese Bites and the Jalapeno Poppers.  Of special note was the truly unusual item...Pierogies - Cheesy potato dumplings with caramelized onions served with sour cream.

After all that Garlic Cheese Bread, Laurie decided to have a salad as her entree.  This was her Caesar Salad with Fried Chicken. ($11.00) She did enjoy it, with the chicken helping to satisfy her taste buds.  

There are 9 salads on the Menu at Papa V's.  These include an Antipasto Salad, the Fiery Chicken Salad and the New York Strip Steak Salad. (I was surprised that Laurie didn't order the Antipasto Salad) The most unusual salad on the menu was the Pittsburgh Steak Salad.  It consists of mixed greens, chopped steak, tomato, grilled onions, banana pepper, green pepper, sweet pepper, black olives, pickles, mushrooms, mozzarella cheese and...wait for it...beer battered French fries.  Rolaids needed for sure!

For my dinner, I ordered the Cajun Alfredo Pasta. ($21.00 side salad included) There were a generous number of shrimp with the pasta and the homemade Alfredo sauce was very tasty. 

As for the rest of the menu, there were 9 other pasta dishes offered.  Plus there are burgers, subs, cheesesteaks, sandwiches/wraps, paninis, pizzas, calzones, strombolis plus sides and desserts.  It was a much more extensive menu than we would have expected. 

Papa V's Pizzeria and Restaurant in Mansfield Pennsylvania is open daily for lunch and dinner.  Phone: 570-662-2651.  Their website is found at https://www.papavpizzeria.com/. 

While in Mansfield we also stopped for coffee and a pastry at Conspiracy Coffee, Cafe and Bakery at 11 West Wellsboro Street.  We had a couple of house brews, a scone, a biscotti and Laurie bought a bag of their coffee to take home.  Good coffee!  They are on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/ConspiracyCoffeeCo/.

A lack of thorough research and a lack of interesting shops led to the realization on our second day that we didn't have a plan... So, as I am wont to do, I picked up the road map and, after a quick look and a check of the Internet, we headed north from Mansfield on US Hwy 15...destination Corning New York! 

Many years ago, Laurie and I had visited Corning New York and we had toured the Corning Museum of Glass.  It was a great museum and I'm sure it's been enhanced since our last visit.  Website: https://home.cmog.org/.

But we had never visited The Rockwell Museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian.  The museum, which is shown above, is housed in Corning's former City Hall.  It was built in 1893 in the Richardson Romanesque style, which combines both Gothic and Romanesque influences.  In 1893 the building was home to a fire station (until 1974), the city clerk, police department, city court and the jail.  It housed the city council chambers, public health department and dentist offices until 1972.  In addition the third floor included a public library and youth center.  The building was renovated and reopened as The Rockwell Museum in 1982.  

As you can see, at least one segment of the facade has been 'slightly' modified with the addition of that Bison sculpture.  In keeping with the museum's original benefactor's collections, it was created by artist Tom Gardner in 1999 and it's titled "Artemus the Bison".

Now onto some of the artwork presented at the Rockwell Museum...

This painting is by Newell Convers (N.C.) Wyeth, an American painter and illustrator. (1882 - 1945) He became one of America's best known illustrators, providing images for 112 books and creating more than 3,000 paintings.  His career took off in 1911 with the illustrations he created for Robert Lewis Stevenson's novel, "Treasure Island".  N.C. Wyeth was also the father of artist Andrew Wyeth and the grandfather of artist Jamie Wyeth.

This particular painting was completed in 1921 and rather than providing a title per se, Wyeth wrote the following: "If the woman in the wagon was scared to death at the sight of the prairie, I surely had cause to be afraid, but I was not.  I was uplifted".

Simply titled, "Landscape with Cows", this painting was completed in the late 1800s by Susan C. Waters. (1823 - 1900) Waters' early career in New York and Pennsylvania focused on portraits...the family 'photos' of the time.  Her husband was sickly and she became the primary breadwinner.  After moving to Bordentown New Jersey in 1866, and having earned the funds to allow variation in her work, she specialized in paintings of animals and an occasional still life.

A little history regarding The Rockwell Museum.  The 'foundational' works of the collection were gifted by Bob and Hertha Rockwell who operated a popular department store in Corning.  The Rockwell's amassed a significant collection of fine American art.  They honed their taste for fine art through study, travel and collecting...primarily in the American West.  Initially they displayed their collection in their department store.  They wanted to share their passion with the community and, with the assistance of executives from Corning Glass Works, the Rockwell's collection was transformed into a public museum.

This bronze sculpture was created in 1914 by Cyrus Edwin Dallin. (1861 - 1944) It is titled "On the Warpath".  Dallin was a sculptor best known for his depictions of Native Americans.  However, among his 260 works, he also completed the "Equestrian Statue of Paul Revere" in Boston and the "Angel Moroni" atop the Mormon Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City Utah.  Interestingly, Dallin had left the Mormon Church many years earlier but he still got the commission.  His most famous statues...or given their size...monuments, include "Appeal to the Great Spirit" in Boston and "A Signal of Peace" in Chicago.

As creative and prolific as Dallin was, he was also an Olympian.  In the 1904 Olympics staged in St. Louis Missouri, Dallin won a Bronze Metal in Archery.

This massive action packed painting measures 6.5 feet tall and 10.5 feet wide.  Titled "The Buffalo Hunt", it was painted by William Robinson Leigh. (1866 - 1955) Leigh was known for his paintings  of western scenes and he created illustrations for Scribner's and Collier's magazines among others.  The Santa Fe Railroad sent him west where he painted the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone Park.  When he died, his widow gave his New York studio to the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa Oklahoma.  

The Gilcrease Museum is home to the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West. (Another road trip destination!) Note: The Gilcrease Museum owns 18 of the 22 bronze sculptures that were created by Frederic Remington.

In a future posting, I'll feature more of the art objects on display at The Rockwell Museum in Corning New York.  In the meantime, here is the museum's website: https://rockwellmuseum.org/.  Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...

Thanks for stopping by to follow along on our 2024 road trip!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave