Tea Room at Gambrill State Park — Attraction in Frederick

Had our wedding here. First and foremost, the view is spectacular! The building is rustic and beautiful. There is a kitchen with oven, sink, microwave, small wine refrigerator, regular large refrigerator, microwave, trash bags, and various cleaning chemicals under the sink. They provide about 6 rolls toilet paper, and several stacks of folded paper towels. There are brooms and a mop/bucket. There are round tables and long rectangular tables, and nice pretty garden-style folding chairs in a sort of grey-green color (much prettier than what we thought!). There are ceiling fans, but no A/C. There is heat in the men's and women's restrooms only. There are ample outlets throughout, but you may need power strips for lights/dj ect. The maximum number of people you can fit if sitting at the provided tables is probably 60, but if you have some tables outside you can squeeze in more, but check with rangers for occupancy restrictions. Now on to the tips: 1) bring a shop vac or vacuum. You are on a mountain in the woods, there will be bugs and mouse poop inside. We had a swarm of thousands of ladybugs inside, mouse poop, and a mouse in the rafters that would drop insulation on the floor below, so we couldn't place a table under that area. 2) bring a step ladder, they don't provide that. 3) parking for guests: theres a $3 per car fee. You can pay this for your guests in cash (be sure to tell your guests not to pay!) by estimating the number of cars you are expecting, then pay the $3 per car fee in cash by using one envelope (there's a little box that has payment envelopes and a slot to put cash into). You will not need to put a ticket in each guests' car because the rangers will know there's a wedding going on. 4) You must take all of your trash with you; be sure to have car space reserved for it. If the ranger is nice/ has time, they might stop by and offer to take it, but the contract states you must take it with you. 5) Rent it for two days so you have one day to clean and setup. The bugs are serious. In April/may, it's either ladybugs or stink bugs by the thousands inside. We rented for three days: cleaning/setup day, event day, takedown/ cleaning day. You might not need extra days if you have a caterer though, but make sure they'll clean the bugs before you rely on only 1 day. 6) * BRING SIGNS THAT SAY "PRIVATE EVENT"! * Make them huge and noticable! Place them outside at the foot of the walkway and on the front and side door. We had no less than 8 people try to randomly walk into our wedding! Some were apologetic and left quickly, a few were inconsiderate and literally walked in saying "I'm just taking pictures" and walked right in! We had to lock the door during cleanup/ setup time to prevent people...

It was the perfect spot for us to get married in September of 2019. We rented the Tea Room for 2 days (one to decorate and one for the wedding), and rented a nearby overlook for our ceremony. It was cheap, intimate, and the building required very little decoration since it is already quaint and beautiful. Dogs are not allowed in the tea room but we were able to have our pups with us at the overlook for the ceremony. The weather was wonderful on the mountain and the forest and overlooks were perfect spots for photos. I would highly recommend using this spot for small gatherings...

If I wanted a nice mountain retreat for a catered family gathering of up to 20, I'd seriousley consider the Tea Room. Tea Room sits in a lovely spot with a great veiw. For any gathering I'd plan to have it catered and bring in furniture. Air conditioning? The TR is a quaint, but unaired conditioned. Don't try to feed over 8 mouths on your own. The stove's an antiquated small residence model. And the sink to small for serious food prep. Bathroom? Ya gotta walk through the...