The Peter Herdic House has seen many faces over the years, going from being known as the Tall Cedars Club House to a speakeasy in the 1930’s and later a T.V. repair shop, but in November, the restaurant established in the 1980’s, will celebrate its 40th anniversary.

Herdic, who first came to Williamsport in the 1850’s was a major player in the city’s early history, owning the boom in the river and several other industries, according to current owner, Gloria Miele, who along with sister, Marcia, Nan Young and Ted Lyon were organizers of the first Victorian Christmas.

“He’s the guy who dictated the way the historic district was constructed, because he bought this whole strip of land, divided it up into these tiny little lots, and sold them off to all the other rich people,” Gloria explained.

“He’s responsible for most of the Victorian homes in this downtown area, and seven or eight different churches in town,” she said.

The home in which the restaurant resides was due to be torn down before the Junior League purchased the house for $1 in the 70’s, according to Gloria.

“My sister and I opened our first restaurant called The Court and Willow downtown in 1977, and then we opened this on Nov. 5, 1984,” explained Gloria.

Marcia passed away in November 2012, just months after retiring.

“We had already bought 522 West Fourth, and were going to put a restaurant in there, but then Dick Lundy asked us to put the restaurant here,” she said.

The effort to get the restaurant up and running was recognized as the top preservation project of 1984 by the Bureau of Historic Preservation, according to Gloria.

“What’s interesting about being a restaurant for as long as this restaurant’s been here, is how much the business has changed in the last 40 years,” said Gloria’s daughter, Liz Miele, who began working in the restaurant at 13, before going full-time 20 years ago. She now serves as the restaurant’s executive chef.

“Dante and I are both children of the restaurant business,” Liz said of cousin Dante Miele-Elion, who was five years old when the restaurant opened.

“There was a period when we started, that white tablecloth fine dining was at its peak in the U.S. In the 80’s, there was a lot of money in the U.S., and there were a lot of people looking to impress people, and this sort of establishment was huge here in Williamsport. It was just a big step, kind of for us as a community,” Liz said.

“In the 90’s to 2000’s, a lot of the restaurant industry transitioned away from super high end dining and became a lot more about laid back bistros and breweries, and that’s still a really strong sector in the restaurant business,” she continued.

However, that transition also included a turn towards high quality ingredients.

“People were less interested in the look of the place, and more interested in the food. And I think we rose to the occasion in terms of the quality of the food,” Liz said.

“We try to focus our whole restaurant on sustainability. We buy as much as we can from local farmers, and that means, generally speaking, the best quality products you can find anywhere in the state,” she continued.

“We buy almost everything locally and that translates to really good food, because it’s all fresh,” Liz continued.

“It makes my job easy, because when you start with really good ingredients, you don’t necessarily need to do that much to them to make them taste good,” she said, adding that many of their offerings are made from scratch right in house.

“Over 40 years, we’ve put together a lot of really good dishes. We’ve forgotten more than we remember,” Liz said.

Some current menu highlights include shad smoked by Helmrich’s Seafood and a chicken liver pâté sourced from Landis Poultry Farm, Turbotville.

“We have sea scallops with a creamy crab ravioli and sage brown butter with cherry tomatoes and molten spinach, which is one of our most popular dishes,” Liz explained.

A fall favorite will soon be making a comeback as pumpkin bourbon cheesecake returns to the menu.

“That’s one of my grandmother’s recipes that we’ll be running for a while in October and November,” Liz said.

Making connections with customers and staff, alike, has been integral to the business’ longevity.

“If you work in a lot of other industries, you don’t get that. You don’t know most of your employees, you don’t meet your customers in that way. Pretty much everybody knows your customers in the restaurant business. And your employees form a lot of pretty strong friendships and bonds,” Liz explained.

In fact, in September, the restaurant hosted a 40th anniversary staff reunion that saw many employees from across the decades return to reminisce on their varied experiences there.

In terms of returning customers and interest in the restaurant, Liz said it’s the meeting of two worlds.

“We’re this interesting sweet spot where you can come here and check out this really cool, historic home, but then, incidentally, the food is also really good. We’ve got a great craft cocktail program at our bar. And we’ve got a great little outdoor patio during the summer. We’ve got a lot to offer here,” she said.

“You can go see something that’s basically kind of frozen in amber,” Liz stressed.

“Our best attribute is this exceptionally cool, restored Victorian mansion that the restaurant is in. And that was by design. My mom and my aunt set out to open a restaurant in a Victorian mansion,” she said.