The Farmhouse restaurant in Christiansburg is scheduled to close after dinner Saturday night, ending more than 50 years of steaks and other fine dining on Cambria Road.

Current owners say business is poor and it must shut down to avoid losing any more money.

My first dinner at The Farmhouse came in 1964 at age 16.  Took a date there for a big dinner with hopes that it would lead to a carnal dessert elsewhere.

Sometimes a good meal would end with that form of dessert.  If it didn’t, that was OK in those days because the food was good. I took other dates there before graduating from high school in 1965 and left the area.  In the 60s, a fine dinner with steak and all the trimmings cost under $20 for two.

After returning to Floyd County in 2004, we went to The Farmhouse for an highly-anticipated dinner.  It wasn’t the same.  The service was spotty and the food wasn’t up to the standard I remembered.  Tried a couple of times more and gave up.

The Farmhouse was a place for prom dates and other festivities.  Dinner there was a special event. It was set in an original farmhouse and featured booths stashed away in private areas.

In the 1960s and 70s it was the place to eat in the Christiansburg and Blacksburg area but growth in the area brought Outback and other steak-oriented restaurants along with eateries for more diverse palates.

Rest in peace Farmhouse.  It was a place in history for a lot of us and I well remember most of the dinners…and some of the pleasurable activities that followed.