Step Inside Pennsylvania’s Life-Size Gingerbread House

Building a gingerbread house is on top of the to do list during the holiday season as it brings the family together creating a tasty treat for all to share. A resort in Pennsylvania raised the gingerbread house-making bar with a life-size house big enough to walk in.

Nemacolin Woodlands Resort’s Chateau LaFayette created the life-size gingerbread house in its lobby for guests to discover.

The 12-by-14-by-12-foot house exists thanks to Pastry Chef Scott Tennant, who created the structure to look like a bakery storefront where guests can taste and buy homemade gingerbread to take home for the holidays.

The gingerbread house began coming to life in October by two carpenters who began building the wood frame that would hold the gingerbread as well as it’s icing and other sweet treats that decorated the house. Tennant told Travel + Leisure a 13-person team spent between 600 to 800 hours working on the project until it was finished.

The life-size gingerbread house is nearly a decade-long tradition at the Nemacolin Resort, but this is the first year the life-size edible was interactive and allowed guests inside. Guests have continually shown their enthusiasm for the gingerbread house—their annual comments on the gingerbread aroma inspired Nemacolin chefs to build the life-size bakery.

Sometimes the scent of the house is too much for the guests who can’t wait to buy their own goodies they snag a taste of the life-size gingerbread house. Pastry chefs have to check the structure every morning and night to smooth over the corners, according to Nemacolin’s director of marketing Ashli Mazer-Workman.

Lauren Spiler is a freelance journalist based in Athens, Georgia. Most call her Spiler.