Update: After yet another fire, much of Penn Hills was demolished in the summer of 2021. Note: The Penn Hills Resort actually straddles a State Highway, so it can be viewed from the roadway. These visitors will continue to return to the mountains that were so important in their lives.Īddress: Analomink Road, Rtes. Yes, most of these once-majestic properties are now permanently gone (see below for an update on each property). These abandoned Poconos hotels are not dinosaurs that are being forgotten by time, they are being honored as nostalgia tourism takes hold.įor couples who honeymooned here, the old Pocono resorts are an incredibly important part of their past, regardless of their present state. Seeing them, overhearing their conversation, and then briefly talking to them, my thinking changed. They reminisced about steak dinners, rounds of golf, lounging by the pool, and even recalled the name of their favorite staff member: Julie. Returning to the abandoned honeymoon resort of their past, the years of decay and decline did not diminish the importance of the place, or its beauty in their eyes. Now in their 60s, they had honeymooned at Penn Hills in the Poconos almost 40 years ago. On a bright September day, several years after the Penn Hills Resort closed and began to be swallowed up by the forest, a couple showed up by the side of the highway to see what had become of the place. There are pictures all over the Internet of them and from the first time I saw the photos, I knew this was a place with a story.Ībandoned cocktail lounge Visiting the Poconos Honeymoon Resorts There’s a lavish spa destination that caters to the affluent as well as a number of indoor water park resorts geared to families.īut the abandoned resorts of the Poconos Mountains are truly a sight to behold. There are still many resorts in the Poconos that draw big crowds, but they are different now. And visitors began looking for something different and more contemporary. Newer resorts were built in the region and in neighboring states. In other instances, efforts to modernize were blocked by antiquated laws and a strong resistance from both the state and county governments to see the region succeed (arguably some of that had to do with shifting political demographics in the state).

In some instances the owners were filled with hubris and didn’t think things could change. Upkeep costs exceeded revenue from declining bookings. Single-family proprietors faced the mortality of the owners. Many of the old Poconos resort properties started going downhill. But in the late 1990s and early 2000s, things changed.

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