I am not one to get pulled in by road signs or roadside attractions. Once, traveling through Kansas (it has to be the most boring state in the world) I did stop to see the World’s Largest Easel. It features a giant replica of one of Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” paintings, and it was something to see in the vast array of farm fields.
But, driving in this area, I am not likely to get pulled in by such things. Usually, I just want to get where I am going as fast as possible. That is, until recently. During a trip to Philadelphia, driving out on Route 322 (a road I must have driven a thousand times) I noticed a road sign as I approached the small town of Milroy. It read: “Rutter’s Has a Bar.”
Now, that caught my attention. Not because I was looking for a bar. It was 10 a.m. and I had a long drive in front of me. But because never in a million years would I have thought to see such a sign in Pennsylvania.
After all, when I first moved to this commonwealth, you could not find beer to be sold in grocery stores, much less at gas stations. Yes, indeed, PA is known far and wide to have some uptight rules about alcohol sales. Now, I am not here to judge those laws, but I do think the fact that some of these laws have loosened up a little bit over the past 20 years is noteworthy. It certainly allows PA to be more on track with the rest of the nation.
But I never expected to see a convenience store with a bar in this state. Naturally, I had to check it out. That road sign had me intrigued.
So, a few weeks later when I was traveling back from the Harrisburg area, again on Route 322, I did just that, pulling off at the Milroy exit and heading to Rutter’s.
This Rutter’s opened back in 2019, taking up the location that used to be Tom’s Travel Center. It is connected to an Arby’s, but I wasn’t there for roast beef.
Being that it is Milroy, I should not have been surprised that I parked next to spots with hitching posts in place for Amish buggies. No buggies were there, but I had to watch my step as I made my way across the parking lot, if you catch my drift.
Now, I don’t know what I was expecting, but when I walked into the Rutter’s, it seemed like your typical gas station. But to my right was a dining area, and sure enough, there was a bar of sorts waiting for me there.
I moseyed on up and grabbed a seat. There were plenty to choose from; I was the only one looking to sit there. The first thing I noticed was a lot of signage welcoming me to the Rutter’s Bar and explaining the “house rules.”
Those rules were easy enough to understand, mostly focusing on the fact that only people over 21 were allowed at the bar, and open containers had to stay in the dining area.
Fair enough, I thought as I sat and waited, examining my surroundings. There were multiple slushy machines mixing up frozen drinks, a display of beers (mostly domestic), and a big TV with sports on in the background. It felt almost like a bar, but there certainly were more people in the closed-off gaming room than there were at the bar.
As I sat, I realized no bartender was coming to serve me. All the workers were off to my right, fixing up food orders behind the counter. So I tried the touch screen. Sure enough, there was a menu, but it directed me to order at the register.
Sheepishly, I went to the register, waited in line, and finally asked the clerk for a beer at the bar. After checking my ID and handing over my card, they gave me a receipt with an order number and I went back over to the bar area.
Before I got there, one of the food workers I had noticed before, wearing plastic gloves and a Rutter’s hat, was already grabbing a cold Miller Lite and an aluminum cup out of the cooler for me. Here was my bartender finally.
Andrew was a nice guy and talked to me a little. Like I figured, he said the bar was pretty quiet, but sometimes truckers stop in. Or people like me who stop by for the novelty of a gas station bar. He poured me a good beer, but then he had to get back to work.
So, I slowly drank my beer alone. I looked around and watched people come and go, as they do from gas stations and convenience stores, and it was kind of fun. Through a door, I saw people eating at Arby’s in the other room.
Indeed, this was not much of a “bar” type atmosphere, but it was worth a stop. It seems like this small novelty is not York-based Rutter’s only attempt at the bar scene. I saw that just this year, it opened two honest-to-goodness sports bars in stores in Johnstown and Milton. So, maybe this little bar will grow into something bigger in the future. Who knows anymore? The times are always changing.
With that in mind, I finished my beer, got up and reached for my wallet. Then I remembered that one of the house rules stated that tips were absolutely not allowed. It was very clear on the matter. Really wished I could have given Andrew a few bucks. He was the best gas station bartender I ever met. T&G
Vincent Corso enjoys drinking local and meeting new people at Central Pennsylvania’s many interesting establishments.
