A week-end break – to the “endless mountains” of northeastern pennsylvania

Mother’s day week-end (May 13^th) seemed precisely the right week-end for a short get-away to an area beyond the Poconos in eastern Pennsylvania, due west of Scranton.  In fact, we had planned the trip a few weeks ago and were heading to Eagles Mere, PA – “The Town Time Forgot” – and, specifically, the Eagles Mere Inn, a distinct part of the town and local heritage since 1878. Situated about 3 hours via Route 80 west from NYC and northern NJ (best to have your GPS handy), Sullivan County, PA, is one of a 4-county region identifying itself as the “endless mountains” and Eagles Mere, really just a small village, is the region’s quiet, calm, laid-back, picturesque (with a small lake quite close to, well, everything!) crown jewel. The immediate area features historic villages, antiques, winter sports of every variety, nature/hiking trails (in and out of state parks, and, in Eagles mere, on trails protected by a nature conservancy), covered bridges, World’s End State Park (with hiking, fishing, swimming, camping, cabins), extraordinary mountain vistas (“Canyon Vista,” “High Knob”; & both overlooking views of the endless mountains and valleys reflective of the region), and, a must, Ricketts Glen, a PA state park with hiking trails and some 22 named waterfalls, of varying heights & power and covering three counties.

But, Eagles Mere – set on a 2,100-foot mountain – is unique in many respects. You just need to visit the small but rich (in photographs, artifacts, historical documents) and charming Eagles Mere Museum to find out why, exactly.  The town dates back to the late 18^th-century (actually somewhere between 1794 and 1803) and, with the coming of the railroads, was most active commercially – as a thriving resort and vacation destination (there were as many as 13 large hotels and small inns operating around the lake) – from the late 19^th-century to, roughly, the beginning of the 2^nd World War. By the end of the war, due to rising costs, and, I suspect, with the advent of the state highway system, most of the remaining hotels – with the exception of the Eagles Mere Inn and the Crestmont (also still operating as a lovely small inn, even now) – had been torn down and summer seasonal visitors, from Philadelphia and Washington, DC, had, over a short period of time, simply stopped flocking to the area “to spend their summer with cool, clean mountain air, the crystal clear water and the unspoiled beauty of Eagles Mere.”

If you go to the region, be sure to dine at the Eagles Mere Inn where you can enjoy an interesting, satisfying, multi-course evening meal – prepared by the young gourmet chef-owner, Toby Diltz – for under $50./person, including extremely tasty & inventive soups, intriguing green salads with specialty “additions”  & “infusions” and homemade dressings, individually baked breads, main courses with two veggies, desserts, coffee/tea, and even a few glasses (or bottle) of wine. The evening dinner menu changes every night, featuring different soups, salads, mains & desserts!  Most memorable were the savoury soups, the duck-filled ravioli, and several of the chocolate cake desserts with creme fraiche! There is also a pub on the premises (open on week-ends, only) with live music and which the owner stocks with a variety of draft beers & ales and some hundred (plus?) varieties of bottled beer from throughout the U.S., Canada, the UK & Europe (at very reasonable prices, from $4.00 a bottle). If you stay at the Inn, you can reserve –and thus benefit from – special food and room rate “packages,” wine/food and beer/food events, and other Inn-sponsored events.  Room rates include a daily country breakfast – with all kinds of selections on the breakfast menu, from green salads (with different tangy, homemade dressings daily), eggs (any style) and omelet dishes, special omelets of the day, pancakes, French toast, homemade sausages (patty-style & uniquely succulent!) & bacon (in thick, large, meaty strips), home fries (with browned onions), small sweet buns, toast, coffee, and juices (as much as you like of anything on the menu!). And, finally, very personable and very friendly service (informal, too) is provided at both dinner and breakfast meals.

If you prefer a slightly larger, but equally low-key establishment, you might want to try out the Crestmont Inn, overlooking the lake, perched on a small nearby mountain top. Not the original Crestmont Hotel to be sure, but a B and B, or small inn, with a new chef-innkeeper, Tony Faulkiner (also a locally trained & acclaimed gourmet chef), who provided us with a tour of the rooms, resto, common rooms, and facilities. At the Crestmont, you can (also), or so they say, “enjoy a full complimentary [country] breakfast, with coffee on the porch, the activities the region is famous for ... or, simply, hide away in a romantic, Jacuzzi for two.” They add that each room contains a king- or queen-sized bed AND contains a refrigerator “to keep the champagne cold.”  We aim to give the Crestmont Inn a week-end tryout the next time we vacation in the Eagles Mere area.  Hopefully, in the not-too-distant future!

A few additional short notes if you venture to the “endless mountains” region and to Eagles Mere in particular:  Be sure to visit the Eagles Mere historic village shops, especially the Eagles Mere Bookshop (Kathy Lyons, proprietor), with new, used & antiquarian volumes, and book “bargains,” inside the shop & out, and the Eagles Mere Art Gallery, featuring fine art & crafts, by local painters, artisans & jewelry makers, at very reasonable prices. If you’re interested in local wines, some truly outstanding in the area, there are about 12 wineries to visit along the “endless mountains wine trail”; we drove to nearby Dushore, PA, to visit Jon Crane’s (he’s an avuncular & loveable character, indeed!) Bird Song Winery (a new web site soon to be up & running) where he produces about a dozen different wines and, in honor of mother’s day, gave my wife a gift bottle of port, his Sephardic Red.  

Finally, during our drive back to NJ, we stopped (as the Eagles Mere bookshop owner suggested) in Nicholson, PA (at the intersection of US Route 92 & US 11) to see the famous Nicholson Bridge, a cement Roman-aqueduct-like structure built between 1912 and 1915. If you just pick up the Nicholson Heritage Association brochure you’ll see why we stopped; and, having stopped to view it, the bridge is a much more spectacular structure when seen from up close – but just not too close!