This is our first trip to northeastern Pennsylvania in our motorhome.  We didn’t know quite what to expect.

It turns out, NE PA has a lot to offer.  Our campground is very near Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.  The Appalachian Trail crosses this area.  The gap is a natural feature cutting thru a ridge of the Applachian Mountains.  The Delaware River running thru the gap is a huge favorite of conoeists and kayakers.  The park service even offers a free shuttle for kayakers on weekends during the summer.  We loved our trip down the river in our tandem kayak.

Delaware River

Lovely paddling day

Bushkill Falls is a private park providing access to 8 different waterfalls along Bushkill Creek near Delaware Water Gap NRA.  They call it the Niagara of Pennsylvania – a bit of a stretch but it was nice.

Bushkill Falls Park

Jim Thorpe PA is a beautiful old town with a tourist train, The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway.  The depot in town is a classic.  We also toured the home of Asa Packer a coal and railroad magnet.  The Old Jail Museum is a gritty tour of a facility that housed inmates until 1995.  The Molly Maguires, Irish activists in the coal mines were hung there.

Jim Thorpe depot

EMD GP30 Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway

Along the way

Crossing the Lehigh River

Coal and rail baron
Asa Packer home

The Old Jail Museum

Columcille is a very under the radar park built by a man trying to re-creat a Scottish Isle of standing stones, fairy rings, stone arches and tranquility.  Its a very peaceful place with just enough visitors daily.  Friends, Ken and Donna suggested meeting there before a nice visit at a local brewery.  Fun to catchup.

Stonehenge-like Columcille

Thanks to Ken and Donna
for sharing this

R&D tourists

Stone circles – how did they get there?

In Milford PA we checked out the local farmers market and toured Grey Tower, the home of Gifford Pinchot, the first head of the US Forest Service.  It is a very unique home and an interesting look at early 20th century America.  Grey had a huge impact on conservation in the United States.

Gifford Pinchot’s Grey Tower

The Finger Bowl

Garden path to “Baitbox”

Honesdale is home to The Stourbridge Line tourist train.  It uses a ElectroMotive Division BL2 diesel locomotive in Bangor and Aroostock colors and a EMD FP7 in Pennsylvania RR colors.  It was a nice 3.5 hour ride along the Lackawaxen River.

Rare EMD BL2 Diesel loco

Classic Pennsylvania F Unit in Tuscan green

Along the Lackawaxen River

Dorflinger Glass in White Mills PA is a cut glass factory museum celebrating the incredible work done by immigrant craftsmen during the Gilded Age.  Many Presidents had Dorflinger crystal including Lincoln.  The area had hundreds of glass shops but Dorflingers was the biggest because they produced blanks other shops could carve.  Dorflingers Glass was only sold in New York City to the elite.  World War 1, the beginning of income tax on the rich and prohibition signaled the end of Dorflingers.

Dorflinger Glass factory

Special order glass with silver

Presidential crystal from Lincoln to Roosevelt

Visualisation of 19th century factory

Nearby we visited the home of Zane Grey, the prolific author and sportsman.  His home is well preserved on the banks of the Delaware River where Grey’s love of fishing was born.  We remember hearing about his fishing camp on Long Key in Florida which was destroyed by the horrific Labor Day hurricane in 1935.  He had an amazing life and acheived great fame.

Zane Grey home in Lackawaxen PA

Grey’s writing studio