Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site.

Tom and Amanda Kunish, have purchased the distinctive Adamstown home of Ed and Carol Stoudt, formerly of Stoudt Brewery Company, they will be operating a new bed & breakfast in Adamstown Wednesday August 24, 2022.

Tom and Amanda Kunish, have purchased the distinctive Adamstown home of Ed and Carol Stoudt, formerly of Stoudt Brewery Company, they will be operating a new bed & breakfast in Adamstown Wednesday August 24, 2022.

On a recent day at  the new VAAST Bed & Breakfast in Adamstown, one of the home ’s  residents  did all that he could to make incoming guests welcome.  

“C’mon Sky, let them carry their bags,” said Thomas Kunish bashfully , attempting to wrangle Sky, a middle-aged Weimaraner , from accidentally tripping a visiting couple up the house’s grand staircase.  

VAAST simply stands for “Victoria, Allen , Amanda, Sadie and Thomas,” the family of five that purchased the 110-year-old, 8 , 000 - square - f oo t home in August. Kunish’s wife, Amanda McDonald , operates the B&B almost single-handedly, from the laundry and room prep to breakfast in the morning and beyond.  

“People have come here and said that ‘Vaast’ has a German meaning ,” McDonald says, smiling. “I just sort of nod … because it’s our names.”  

While there is a German war cemetery in Neuville-St. Vaast in Northern France, th at i sn’t exactly the overarching theme of the house.   

For Lancaster County residents, the history of the house is well-documented – 65 W. Main St . is the former home of Adams town luminaries Carol and Ed Stoudt, who founded Stoudt s Black Angus Restaurant and Stoudts Brewing. The couple bought the property in 1973 when it was a duplex and merged two homes into one over the years . The house is large enough that Kunish and McDonald can ren t out the four rooms on the third floor on a regular basis, while also fitting their own family of five into the second floor.  

Adamstown Borough’s rules on bed and breakfasts indicate that the operators must live on the property that they are renting out . The blurred lines of home and business mean that McDonald and Kunish  aren’t the only ones assis t ing guests. As I fumbled with the front door keycode on a recent Thursday evening, one of the “A’s” in VAAST, 7-year-old Allen, was ready to help. The visit coincided with the last few days of the family’s first month in business.  

I stayed  in Room 4, a space with two q ueen beds, a private bathroom, mini fridge and a large television . The Chate a uesque  shape of the home lends itself to rooms that protrude out in a half-octagonal shape. The room also features greenish stained-glass windows facing the direction that the sun rises in, creating a wonderful displ ay of colors in the morning.    

Much of the house is the same as when the Stoudts left it, though new personal touches , like a wall of family caricature portraits , make it clear who lives here now.  

The house also features a downstairs game room overflowing with board games, as well as table hockey and pool table s . The basement doors lead outside to a pool and a koi pond , both of which came with the house.  

“We’re not entirely sure how many of them there are,” Kunish says, tossing dry food in the direction of the fishes’ gaping mouths. “But we do want to keep them alive.”  

The couple are in an interesting position as new B&B owners in a town they just moved to – McDonald says that guests often give them recommendations as they check out, which they then pass on to new guests.  

“It’s been a lot, but we’re getting used to it,” McDonald says while putting away groceries for the next day’s breakfast.  

While it is by definition a “Main Street,” the block that VAAST resides on is as quiet as a cornfield by roughly 8 p.m., perfect for nighttime reading. Or, if you’re like me, the ideal conditions for falling asl eep three-quarters of the way through a Thursday Night Football game.  

The best part of staying on the third floor of a bed and breakfast occurred in the first moments of the morning, when I open ed  my door and immediately g o t hit with the smell of bacon that wafted up two floors .   

Though I took each step downstairs carefully, in my mind, I was like an old cartoon character, floating down the staircases close behind the physical embodiment of that wonderful smell. And it wasn’t just bacon, either – a sausage and egg casserole, several cereals, donuts, blueberries, breakfast bars and orange juice were all waiting patiently.  

Since McDonald prepares all the food, each morning is spent hoping that the guests will eat whatever she makes, lest it become leftovers for their three growing children.  

“I make the sausage and egg casserole about once a week . L ast week I made it and only one person ate it, so it became leftovers for the next three days,” McDonald said from behind the stove. “The kids were pretty sick of it by the end.”  

The noon checkout time allows for plenty of planning for the obvious and no t- so - obvious attractions of the area – the array of antique stores, old-timey eateries and the iconic Green Dragon , located only 12 minutes down the road.  

As I prepared to leave, it hit me that I felt less like a random traveler staying at an old inn, and more like a student staying with a host family abroad. The VAAST house not only has decades of family memories tucked away in the nooks and crannies, but also the wonderful feeling of fresh memories being made with each day and with each  new set of guests.  

Success! An email has been sent with a link to confirm list signup.

Error! There was an error processing your request.

Domestic life has returned to the striking Chateuesque-style Main Street house in Adamstown …

Heritage Society marks 50 years of preservation with community event filled with fun, chances to learn more about the town

The ride returns to the public consciousness after efforts to preserve its history.

Two Wednesdays ago, the people at Clipper Magazine Stadium collectively went through several…

Support local journalism. Click here to learn more about the role the Lancaster County Local Journalism Fund plays in Lancaster County and to make a tax-deductible donation.