MONROE COUNTY HISTORIC PHOTO ALBUM
Recreation & Tourism
The Pocono region has long
been a playground for visitors, celebrities and dignitaries
drawn by the spectacular Delaware Water Gap and beauty of
the surrounding mountains and woodlands.
A ferry and wagon road transported visitors along the
Delaware River to the Delaware Water Gap – listed as one of
the country’s 15 scenic marvels in 1910 when President
Theodore Roosevelt visited. The Water Gap’s attraction to
musicians and artists drew such famous entertainers as John
Philip Sousa, Fanny Brice and Enrico Caruso. In Paradise
Township, Roosevelt and Presidents Grover Cleveland,
Benjamin Harrison and Calvin Coolidge stayed at the
Henryville House Fishing Hotel, which also hosted such
celebrities as Buffalo Bill Cody.
Hotels, motels, lodges, campgrounds, taverns, restaurants
and resorts are as abundant as the waterfalls, wooded
hills, festivals and recreation facilities that lure
visitors. One of the first to lodge tourists was the famous
Kittatinny Hotel in Delaware Water Gap, initially
constructed in 1829 and destroyed by fire 102 years later.
The now defunct Inn at Buck Hill opened the Poconos’ first
golf course in 1904 and introduced the region to such
winter sports as skiing and tobaggoning. Skytop is famous
for its five-story-high resort with fantastic views and a
reputation in its early years for such novel activities as
ice skating while being pulled by a tractor or skiing with
aid from an airplane.
In the mid 1870s, the railroad led to development of the
Mount Pocono area as a resort region treasured for its
views and outdoor recreation.
The first state park was located at Snow Hill in Price
Township and was an outgrowth of a Civilian Conservation
Corps Camp during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Today,
there are many parks, state game lands and lakes that are
favorites for hunters, anglers, hikers and campers. The
world-famous Appalachian Trail now brings travelers by
foot, as they stop in Monroe County for a rest and supplies
while hiking from Maine to Georgia.