A Taste of Salt Creek Café
Salt Creek Café in Fredericksburg is located in one of the oldest buildings in town. Just five short years ago, however, it was in danger of being torn down until a local contractor took interest, bought the building, refurbished it and gave it whole new life — all to the delight of locals and visitors to the area.
The building, which is now the site of Salt Creek Café, was built in 1850 by Neal McCay, who, with his son, Foster, ran a general store in the location for many years. It was sold to J.C. Weaver in 1930, who continued the business as a general store and grocery. George Mann eventually took over. The McCay building has also been home to Edwards Home Center, owned by Buddy Edwards, and Yoder’s Floor Design.
“Sometimes a little TLC can make a big impact on an entire community, and that’s what happened here,” Salt Creek Café manager Seton Troyer said. “Mark Weaver, owner of Ivan Weaver Construction, bought the building in 2017 to save it from demolition. He spent months asking people around town what should be done with it. The consensus was the town would benefit most from a coffee shop, so that’s what he did.”
When Weaver approached Troyer to manage the new coffee shop, he jumped at the opportunity to use his experience in the restaurant industry along with his job working for Weaver at the construction company.
“Salt Creek Café has gone from a local coffee shop serving our own specialty coffee roast drinks and a small food menu to the addition of a bakery and creamery opened in 2021,” Troyer said.
Downtown Fredericksburg is enjoyed by locals, of course, but also visitors to the town all year long. Troyer said the goal of Salt Creek Café is to give everyone another dining option.
“We first offered our Salt Creek Coffee, roasted locally and created specifically for the café, along with a light food menu of salads, soups, sandwiches and desserts,” Troyer said. “The restaurant was really blossoming into a gathering place for locals and visitors, as coffee shops tend to do.”
Troyer said Salt Creek Café uses local produce and other products as often as possible, and even the lettuce is locally grown and certified organic.
Things were moving along nicely when in 2021 the decision was made to add a bakery and creamery to the list of offerings at Salt Creek Café.
“We make our doughnuts and extremely popular cream sticks all from scratch,” Troyer said. “We also have cookies, cupcakes, coffee cakes, brownies and more. And we are especially known for our cheesecakes. They are made from scratch, and people come from all over for those.”
All these baked goods satisfy just about every sweet tooth except for the ice cream lovers. But don’t worry, Salt Creek Café has you covered for that cold and creamy confection too.
“Our gourmet, hand-dipped ice cream provided by Yoder’s Southern Creamery which is based in Sarasota is exceptionally good,” Troyer said. “And believe me when I say we did a lot of searching and sampling to find the best ice cream available to serve to our customers.”
Troyer said all that ice cream tasting was worth it to find Yoder’s Southern Creamery ice cream. Salt Creek Café offers traditional flavors along with seasonal ones and also ice cream sundaes, other novelties and ice cream cakes.
“Ice cream cakes and all of our traditional cakes sell very quickly,” Troyer said. “And you can special order cakes and desserts as well to make sure you don’t miss out when there’s a special occasion.”
If you don’t have time to sit and enjoy the ambiance of the local coffee shop or spend time on the beautiful outdoor patio this summer, they’ve added a drive-thru for convenience.
“Dine-in or call ahead orders at the drive-thru, our goal was to provide locals and visitors with a dining experience that revealed a piece of our town’s history,” Troyer said. “No matter how you experience Salt Creek Café, we are proud to offer all of our customers a delicious taste of all of our products.”
Salt Creek Café is located at 111 N. Mill St. in Fredericksburg. Hours are Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. The drive-thru opens at 5:00 a.m. For special orders or more information, call the café at 330-946-1012.