Everyday when Tom and I went to and from my Overshot class, we drove past Forrys Drive In. It’s one of those local, small town, ice cream and burger stands that we all remember so fondly. It was packed every afternoon when we drove by at 5:30, and we decided someplace the locals liked so much must be good.
On our last evening at Gifford Pinchot State Park, at the end of my Overshot class, we stopped at Forrys Drive In for supper. We were going to eat it there, because Forrys is surrounded by picnic tables across the street from the state park. Although it had been beautiful, sunny and warm all week, Friday was rainy and cold. Not just rainy, but pouring down rain. And about 50 degrees. Too cold to eat outside. We decided to get our Forrys to go.
The menu had the usual selection of burger stand sandwiches. Burgers, fried fish, chicken tenders, all served with fries. They also had shrimp, clam strips, and oyster platters, which is not typical fare – at least in Ohio. We both ordered cheeseburgers with fries and we split an extra thick chocolate shake.
The food was good, but not exceptional. A warm burger with melted cheese and bacon is always good on a cold, rainy day. The only thing extra thick about the shake was the straw. But the shake was made with real milk and ice cream and was very chocolatey. We enjoyed it anyway, and talked about other local ice cream stands we have enjoyed. We would have enjoyed sitting at the picnic tables and watching the locals stop by such as baseball teams for an ice cream cone after a game. On their Facebook page, I noticed a picture of one team that had stopped by for cones – a girls lacrosse team!
Forrys Drive In is open seasonally from April 1 until sometime in the fall. They feature different flavors of soft serve ice cream every week. I’m sure it is especially crowded on hot summer days after people have spent a day at Pinchot lake. The drive in has been owned and operated by the same family since 1960 (same age as me!).
Ice cream and burger stands might be fading from small towns across the United States, but Tom and I will stop whenever we find one. Forrys Drive In is a piece of Americana that we will always enjoy no matter where we are.