Back Country By Christine H. O'Toole Special to The Washington Post Wednesday, September 30, 1998

My husband carefully read our directions aloud. "Stay calm," he said. "Keep cool. Put your car in neutral and take your foot off the brake."

And ever so slowly, like a roller coaster easing off the start, the car began moving. Backward. Up the hill.

On cue, we screamed.

An optical illusion, my husband suggested. Nah, my sons countered, it's some kind of weird cool psychic classified "X- Files" thing.

My husband guessed right – but whatever its explanation, Gravity Hill was just one of the oddball highlights of a weekend in Bedford County, Pa., a quiet, quirky spot that bills itself as the place "where covered bridges outnumber traffic lights." Traffic lights or not, I must have passed by Bedford a hundred times in my life. Shielded from the interstates by the southern Alleghenies, it's easy to miss, perched beside a branch of the Juniata River about 100 miles northwest of Washington. But last month, we finally wrenched free from the gravitational field of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and discovered a classic red-brick county seat enfolded by deep-forested mountains.

"What's in Bedford?" my sons asked suspiciously. The answer, it turned out, is lots of old stuff (both antiques and history), pretty, shallow and normally highly fishable streams, 2,900-foot mountain slopes and enough outdoor activities to exploit little-boy energies and stiffen middle-aged muscles.

Our first surprise was that there were 16 tourists, by far the largest group we encountered all weekend, gathered for a lighthearted rendition of local lore from Visitors Bureau director Dennis Tice.

"This area was built on travel," he reminded us. He's right, and not just because nearby Breezewood ("the Town of Motels"), a major crossroads, attracts the majority of the region's interstate traffic. People have been passing through what is now Bedford for 250 years, starting with the Shawnee Indians, who blazed the first trail west. The British soldiers who followed hacked through these mountains on their way to kicking the French out of Pittsburgh.

Bedford's buildings coexist in a strange time warp, reflecting all those past transients. Forts and log cabins from the 1750s still stand (a few with incongruous aluminum-siding additions) alongside Federal-era town houses like the one where George Washington stayed in 1794, while the troops of the new nation quelled the Whiskey Rebellion. The 19th century brought the grandeur of the now-deserted Bedford Springs Hotel. President James Buchanan received the first trans-Atlantic cable at the fashionable spa, now the object of repeated redevelopment attempts.

Appreciation for all that history spurs the tourism which, along with the rolling Mennonite farmland, sustains the local economy. Our easy four-block tour included the 1828 courthouse, the town squares, the Espy House where President Washington stayed. We heard about Bedford's only execution: a Hessian/minister/bigamist/murderer put to death for one of those things.

"This place is operating now as what it was as far back as the 1700s," Tice told the group at the tour's end. He was on the front steps of Oralee's Golden Eagle Inn, our home for the weekend. The basement-level tavern used to host muddy boots, smoke and spurs. Now, the three-story brick hotel is like a bandbox, beautifully restored, and owner Oralee Kieffer stores her surplus antiques in the basement.

Within a 100-yard walk we found the Pitt Theater ("Just one movie?" marveled nine-year-old Bill), three antique stores, the Baker's Loaf Cafe and Bread Market, half a dozen thriving specialty shops and the Fort Bedford Museum.

Getting out of town was effortless, too. On a humid Saturday we drove 10 minutes along the river, through rustling fields, to find kayaks for rent at Adventure Marine Ltd. Canoes were out, explained owner Craig Mayer, since the summer drought had lowered water levels. But the shallow-draft kayaks proved light and responsive, letting us paddle sizable stretches of a four-mile route without getting our feet wet and proving easy to tug when the going got crunchy.

"A beaver dam!" called Bill, pointing with his paddle. He flashed ahead through clumps of river grass and disappeared, a dragonfly on the clear, shallow water. "Whoa!" yelled his brother, James, when the trout leaped over his bow.

By late afternoon we were back on the narrow sidewalks of Pitt Street. At Greystone Galleries, where 18 dealers sell their antiques, I browsed through three crowded floors of benches, chairs, baskets and kitsch, tempted only by the autographed Army photo of Elvis. My husband scooped up a handful of presidential campaign buttons for $23.

Suddenly we were famished – and too early for the formal dinner offerings we'd enjoyed the night before at the Golden Eagle. We opted for speed and got a dreary, very ordinary dinner at Hoss' Steak House. The only highlight was the $24 tab.

Sunday brought clear skies and a chance to find some of Bedford's 14 covered bridges. We passed one traffic light and found mountain bikes for rent at Shawnee State Park, just west of Bedford, and began by following its well-tended path around the 451-acre lake. A good biking map showed a variety of routes, ranked for difficulty, marking the bridges that are the county's boast. (Our park map, by contrast, promised some trails found only on paper, rather than in the park, but the pathfinding was part of the adventure.) We'd stopped at a convenience store for the makings of a picnic, and by the time we flopped down by the Shawnee Creek at the Colvin Covered Bridge five miles later, we were ready for it.

Bedford's uncrowded, two-lane roads made for picturesque biking, though the mountains threw a few curves our way. But none was as weird as our last stop of the day, at Gravity Hill.

Not only was Gravity Hill free; it was nearby, just north of Shellsburg, another antique center. As soon as we drove off the main road, we were in deep country. If it hadn't been for our detailed directions, we would have climbed and dipped endlessly through cattle farms and apple orchards. Not that we would have minded.

As it was, we really did seem to be going straight downhill when we reached our low-key destination: the "G.H." on the narrow road. Maybe the Visitors Bureau should add an "a" for Anti-Gravity, since it's impossible to describe how we could have rolled backward on such a slope. We popped the top on a warm beer to doublecheck the theory, and as we poured, it obligingly foamed uphill.

And that's something you don't see every day, not in a place that seems so far from the world as Bedford County.

Getting There: Bedford, Pa., is two hours northwest of the Beltway. Take I-270 north to I-70 to the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76) west to Bedford (Exit 11) and U.S. 220 south.

Being There: Fort Bedford Museum (814-623-8891, open May-October except Tuesdays) offers the 8,000-man fort the British built in 1758. Old Bedford Village (1-800-238-4347, open May-October) re-creates Colonial life in more than 40 log structures; upcoming events include an Oktoberfest Oct. 17-18. Free 90-minute guided walking tours of Bedford's downtown begin each Friday at 3:30 p.m. at the Visitors Bureau (see below). Bedford's 34th annual Fall Foliage Festival is this Saturday and Sunday and Oct. 10-11. Adventure Marine Ltd. (814-623-1821) operates weekends through October with half-day, all-day, overnight and take-out rentals of kayaks and canoes; reservations advised. Shawnee State Park (814-733-4218), nearly 4,000 acres in the Shellsburg area, offers boating and fishing, hunting, camping, hiking and bike trails.

Where to Stay: Oralee's Golden Eagle Inn (814-624-0800, doubles $59 to $89) offers 16 guest rooms and suites (including breakfast) plus lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch available. Other B&Bs nearby include the Bedford House (1-800-258-9868, doubles $65 to $125); Miss Charlotte's Victorian Bed and Breakfast (814-624-0642, doubles $75); Jean Bonnet Tavern (814-623-2250, doubles $49.95, suites $74.95; also serves lunch and dinner daily); and Bedford's Covered Bridge Inn (in Shellsburg, 814-733-4093, doubles $75 to $95). The many chains near the Turnpike include the Ramada Inn at Breezewood (1-800-535-4025), which offers biking packages and canoeing-kayaking packages with shuttle service to Adventure Marine.

Where to Eat: In Bedford, try Oralee's Golden Eagle for upscale dining; Baker's Loaf (814-623-1108) for fresh-baked breads, snacks and sandwiches. The two Landmark Restaurants (Route 30, 814-623-6762; Juliana Street, 814-623-5488) offer family-style meals.

INFORMATION: Contact the Bedford County Visitors Bureau at 1-800-765-3331 or http://www.bedfordcounty.net.

The Escapist: The 'Birthplace of Maryland'

St. Mary's County's tiny Potomac River Museum offers boat trips this weekend to the undeveloped and otherwise inaccessible-to-landlubbers St. Clement's Island State Park, the spot where Leonard Calvert and fellow English adventurers celebrated the first Catholic Mass in the New World. It's part of the museum's weekend-long 31st "Blessing of the Fleet" celebration, which also includes reenactments, kids' activities, music, lots of Southern Maryland food and fireworks Saturday night. Call 301-769-2222 for details.

Getaway tips? Good trips? Send them to escapist@washpost.com.