Pocono Living Magazine Aug/Sept 2020 by Pocono Magazines

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

The Pocono Mountains' Magazine

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ANNUAL GUIDE TO THE DELAWARE WATER GAP NATIONAL RECREATION AREA

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Pocono Living Magazine© & Pocono Family Magazine© 1929 North 5th Street Stroudsburg, PA 18360 570-424-1000 pmags@ptd.net www.poconomagazines.com PUBLISHER/EDITOR Larry R. Sebring larry@poconomagazines.com ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVES Linda St. John, 570-856-8155 MAGAZINE & WEB DESIGN Smart Blonde Creative Food & Wine Editor Jamie Bowman PHOTOGRAPHY & ART Ricky Batista James Chesnick Julie Enterline John Galarza M. Harmon Marlana Holsten Barbara Hornstra Vinzon Lee Ann LeFevre Barbara Lewis Harry Loud Maritza McFaline

William McKee Veronica Murray Lisa Newberry Andrei Protsouk Lynn Pryor David Sandt Matt Siptroth Tom Stone Dave Trainer Nancy Tully Linda Weaver Linda Zak

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Roseanne Bottone Jamie Bowman Kimberly Blaker Kathy Dubin-Uhler Marty Wilson Amy Leiser Suzanne McCool Amanda Kuhn John L. Moore William M. Williams Jim Werkheiser Janet Mishkin Allison Mowatt ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS Kristen Sebring Linda Spalluto

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sluhn.org/COVID-19 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© 3

“No, that is the great fallacy: the wisdom of old men. They do not grow wise. They grow careful.” ― Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

> C hilds Park Photo courtesy of DWGNRA 4 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

What’s Inside August/September 2020 FEATURES 7 History of the Delaware Water Gap 18 Geotourism

FIND THE “GUIDE TO THE GAP AFTER PAGE 20 21 Tock’s Island and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area 28

F armer’s Markets: A Growing Pocono Tradition

32 4 Ways to Help Keep Your Pet Dog Protected and Happy this Summer 34 Billy’s Tips for a Showcase Lawn 36 The Nature Conservancy Protects 127 Acres on the Kittatinny Ridge

COVER By: James Chesnick

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© 5

Martin Wilson

David Pierce David Pierce is writing a book on the creation of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. The Stroudsburg High School grad left the area for nearly 25 years before returning in 2000. His journalism career has included reporting for the Kodiak (Alaska) Daily Mirror, the Alaska Public Radio Network and the Pocono Record. He served 12 years as editor of the Springville Journal in suburban Buffalo. He has won awards for news stories, editorials and opinion columns. In 2004, Pierce received the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association’s “most prestigious honor,” the G. Richard Dew Award for journalistic service.

Kevin Conroy Born in New York but raised in Barrett Township, Kevin Conroy attended East Stroudsburg State College as a townie majoring in fine art. After college, Kevin served a two-year apprenticeship with the American Culinary Federation and studied advanced baking at Culinary Institute of America. Kevin was a chef, pastry chef, artisan baker, culinary arts instructor, writer, and business owner. Sadly, Kevin passed away in 2019. He wrote on a wide array of topics for newspapers, magazines, trade journals, and blogs.

Jamie Marra Jamie Marra is a freelance writer, Penn State graduate, and lifelong resident of the Poconos. A teacher by day and a writer by night, Jamie spends her free time running and cheering for the Nittany Lions on game day.

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Martin W. Wilson, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of History at East Stroudsburg University where he teaches courses in American History, Pennsylvania History, Urban American History, and the Revolutionary Era on both the undergraduate and graduate level. He lives in Delaware Water Gap with his wife Susan. He is the Curator at the Dutot Museum in Water Gap and a member of the Board of Directors of the Monroe County Historical Association.

HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE WATER GAP By Dave Martin Wilson

> D elaware River near Bushkill, PA Photo courtesy of DWGNRA

s a sunflower seed needs fertile earth, an adequate supply of water, mild temperatures, and plenty of sunlight to grow, so too, a resort community, in order to flower, requires specific conditions. For Delaware Water Gap, those conditions existed during the last half of the nineteenth, and the first third of the twentieth centuries. During that period, America’s vacation habits and the limitations of transportation, coupled with the scenic beauty of the area and the entrepreneurial spirit of some local residents, conspired to transform the tiny borough into the heart of one of the most popular inland resort areas in the eastern United States. Each summer during that period its year-round population of about 400 was augmented by approximately 2500 visitors, many of whom stayed the entire season. Life before indoor plumbing, super highways, and airconditioning is hard to imagine for those of us who did not experience it. Summer, for city dwellers especially, must have been unpleasant and even unhealthful. Depending on individual economic circumstances, urbanites responded to unbearable summer heat in a number of ways. The wealthiest escaped for the entire season to Bar Harbor, Newport, or to other playgrounds of the rich. Working class and lower

middle class Philadelphians traveled to Atlantic City to enjoy the cool sea breezes and the ever-present holiday atmosphere. For New Yorkers, Coney Island served as the destination of choice every year. Not everyone, though, preferred the excitement and noise of these two seaside playgrounds. Many more prosperous middle-class city dwellers opted for the refreshing mountain air and the scenic beauty of America’s inland resort areas, one of which was Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania.

THE SETTLEMENT OF DELAWARE WATER GAP

In 1793, when Antoine Dutot arrived in the area with the intention of founding a city, the vicinity just north of the geological formation known as the Delaware Water Gap, had been the site of human habitation for thousands of years. Known as the Minisink by the Lenni-Lenapes, it is estimated that the area was first inhabited by the Paleo-Indians as early as 10,000 to 12,000 B.C. When the first white men reached the region in 1614, they encountered the Minsi tribe of the Wolf Clan of the Lenni-Lenape Nation (the Lenni-Lenape were commonly referred to as the Delaware Indians because they ranged from the headwaters of the Delaware River to the shores of the Delaware Bay). The Minisink was first explored by Europeans in 1614 by three travelers from New Amsterdam who descended from the AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© 7

Hudson River. They were followed in 1620 by a second group of Dutchmen who, in their report, referred to mineral deposits, especially copper, present in the region. At some point subsequent to the 1620 visit, the Dutch started to mine the copper (a reference to copper ore mined in the Minisink appeared in a 1641 journal article originating in the New Netherlands). In order to get the ore from the mines (which still exist about three miles north of the gap on the New Jersey side of the river) to Esopus (Kingston, New York), the mining company built a road connecting the two. It was along this one hundred mile-long road that the first settlers reached the Minisink. Copper mining ceased in 1664 when the Dutch surrendered New York to the English. The Copper Mine Road continued to be used, though, by Dutch, English, French, and even some Spanish and German settlers who colonized the eastern side of the river north of the Gap. The first settler on the west bank of the Delaware River in the Minisink was Nicolas Depui who, in 1727, moved his family from the Hudson Valley to present day Shawnee. Due to the difficulty of travel through the Gap (the mountains reached right down to the river leaving no room for a road or path), settlers in the Minisink knew little or nothing of settlements to the south. In 1730, Thomas Penn, son of William, sent Nicholas Scull on an expedition from Philadelphia to the Minisink to investigate rumors of settlements there. As a result of Scull’s visit, Depui was required to repurchase land from William Allen (who had obtained it from Penn) that he had previously bought from the Indians. After Scull’s sojourn, settlers from south of the mountains began to travel into the area. (Northern-bound settlers reached the area via Wind Gap.) It was not until the end of the eighteenth century, however, that the flow from the south eclipsed that of the north.

DUTOTSBURG

A settler from present-day Albany, Daniel Brodhead, moved his family to the area in 1737. Settling in present-day East Stroudsburg, Brodhead lent his name to the new town of Dansbury. The Indian wars of mid-eighteenth century led to a thinning of settlers as many moved away to avoid hostilities. By the time another settler, Jacob Stroud, returned to the area after the Revolutionary War, the Indian threat had been eliminated. Stroud was able to acquired several abandoned farms at very little cost. By 1806, he owned so much land that the area in which he lived began to be called Stroudsburg. Delaware Water Gap remained unsettled long after settlements nearby had grown. In 1793, Antoine Dutot, a French plantation owner in Santa Domingo, fled the slave uprising there and 8 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

headed toward Philadelphia. Upon arriving in the Quaker city, Dutot was advised to travel up the Delaware River to the Gap, where he purchased a large tract of land and began to lay out an inland city. He erected a dozen or more wooden buildings, designated a triangular piece of ground for a market, and named the new town after himself. Dutotsburg never became the bustling city its founder had envisioned, however. People moving into the tiny borough built their own houses and Dutot’s structures fell into disrepair. Eventually Dutotsburg became known as the borough of Delaware Water Gap, probably in order to benefit from the inherent advertising benefits associated with the well-known geological formation.

“Unlike today’s vacationer who may stay at a hotel for only one night or perhaps a week, Victorian Americans would often spend an entire season at their favorite resort — no doubt as a means of escaping the insufferable summer heat in the city.” EARLY GROWTH OF THE RESORTS

The natural beauty of the Delaware Water Gap proved to be an attraction to people traveling through the area. As early as 1820, visitors began staying in the small town where they roomed with local families in order to enjoy the scenery. Conscious of the possibilities, Dutot began constructing a small hotel overlooking the Delaware River in 1829. By 1832, however, he had run out of money and sold the incomplete building to Samuel Snyder. Snyder enlarged and completed the hotel which he named the Kittatinny. The new structure could accommodate twentyfive people and was filled the first season it opened. William A. Brodhead rented the Kittatinny from 1841 to 1851, when he bought it and increased its capacity to sixty. Over the next fifteen years the Kittatinny’s size was increased on four separate occasions, first under William Brodhead, and, after 1857, under its new manager, Luke W. Brodhead. By 1860, the hotel could accommodate two hundred and fifty guests. The success of the Kittatinny led to the establishment of other hotels. In addition, families opened their homes to visitors as a means of augmenting their income. At least one private home gradually grew into a full-fledged resort (the River Farm). By the Civil War, Delaware Water Gap’s popularity as a resort area was

> U n-named waterfall along Mountain Road Photo courtesy of DWGNRA

becoming well-known throughout the northeastern United States. The strained economy of the war years led to a decline in the budding resort industry, but the reconstruction period found city dwellers once again traveling to the Gap. By 1867, the Brainerd, the Lenape, the Glenwood, the River Farm, and the Arlington, had joined the Kittatinny in offering accommodations to visitors. On June 20th, 1872, a new hotel that rivaled the Kittatinny in size and splendor, the Water Gap House, opened its doors.

WATER GAP’S POPULARITY

“Delaware Water Gap was the second largest inland resort town in the United States after the Civil War (ranking behind Saratoga Springs, N.Y.), and its clientele were the upper classes of Philadelphia and New York.” So says one writer about the area. Although such rankings are hard to quantify, it is clear that the Gap enjoyed a national reputation for its resorts and drew prominent financiers, politicians, and society people from the time of the Civil War until World War I. Even a United States President visited the town (Theodore Roosevelt visited the Water Gap House on August 2, 1910). A publisher of world famous guide books in the nineteenth century included Delaware Water Gap among the fifteen scenic marvels of the United States. In 1906, an advertising pamphlet estimated that over one-half million people visited the Gap annually. Unlike today’s vacationer who may stay at a hotel for only one night or perhaps a week, Victorian Americans would often spend an entire season at their favorite resort -- no doubt as a means of escaping the insufferable summer heat in the city. It was the custom among those families who could afford it to pack mom and the kids off to a hotel in the country for the entire summer where the father would join them on weekends. Summer visitors returned to the same resort year after year, calling it their second home.

> B lacksmith shop at Millbrook Village Photo courtesy of DWGNRA

What did the Gap have that attracted city visitors? According to Luke W. Brodhead, one of the managers of the Kittatinny and author of a book about the history and legends of the Gap: The principal sources of amusement and recreation are the rambles over miles of mountain paths with vistas of great beauty opening at frequent intervals; carriage drives in many directions over a picturesque and interesting country; steamboat and rowboat service, and good bass fishing on the river in season and trout fishing in the adjacent streams. “Perhaps the featuring asset of the Gap, aside from its beautiful gorge, through which flows the placid Delaware, is its health giving atmosphere, which permeates everywhere and which in itself has given the region much of its charm and popularity.” This claim was made by an author extolling the beauty of the area in a book published in 1897. Whether the “atmosphere” in the region is any more healthful than anywhere else is, of course, open to debate. Nevertheless, that theme was played repeatedly in advertisements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. “The atmosphere is pure and dry, always cool evenings, and even at mid-day seldom so warm as to be uncomfortable. The whole region is free from mosquitoes or malaria.” (This from an 1895 book.) As early as 1866, the local newspaper, The Jeffersonian Republican , ran a story reporting that the hotels and boarding houses were full; thus city people were escaping the danger of cholera. In 1873, Doctor F. Wilson Hurd decided that Monroe County would be an ideal spot for his Wesley Water Cure. The Water Cure of Experiment Mills (later the Water Gap Sanitarium) was built near the present Quality Inn just off the Marshall’s Creek exit of Rt. 80, and was instrumental in increasing the influx of visitors to the area. AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© 9

For the last quarter of the nineteenth century the Gap’s popularity earned it repeated mention in The New York Times. During the summer season, four to five articles a month appeared in that paper written by a correspondent in the town. In order for families to take advantage of Delaware Water Gap as a vacation spot, good transportation was needed to insure that the patriarch could travel back to the city for the week’s labor. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, good transportation (inland) meant railroads.

TRANSPORTATION TO THE GAP: ROADS

As we have seen, the natural barrier of the Blue Mountains led to early settlement of the area by people moving south from the Hudson River valley instead of north from Philadelphia. Prior to 1800, when Abram B. Giles constructed a wagon road through it, the Delaware Water Gap was not considered a practical passage north or south. Only rough Indian trails wound round the base of the mountains on both sides of the river. (A main Indian trail, upon which a road was later built by colonists, wound through what is now called the Wind Gap as it passed over the mountains.) Shortly after Giles completed his road, a visitor traveled the route and described it as a: wagon road leading between the mountain’s edge & the river & which all the labour of the inhabitants have been ineffectual to make more than about 8 feet wide or to clear from excessive roughness as it leads over one rough hillock to another the whole distance. Around 1799, in anticipation of the completion of the road, Benjamin Bonham constructed a small inn along it -- the first in a town later to become famous for its hotels. Antoine Dutot built a road in 1798 from his saw mill, below where the Kittatinny once stood, to the site of his planned city. A few years later he obtained a charter for a toll-road and extended his existing road to the River Farm where it connected with one running from Shawnee to Tatamy Gap. Although he set up a tollgate along the way, he had trouble collecting tolls. In 1823, his road was superseded by one built by the state. In order to meet the needs of the growing county, roads were widen and improved, and stagecoach lines began to operate. By 1846, a passenger and mail stagecoach stopped in Stroudsburg on the way to Milford from Easton three times a week. By that time, the road through the Gap was sufficiently improved to carry stagecoach travel.

RAILROADS

A common ingredient in the success of the towns of Delaware 10 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Water Gap, Atlantic City, and Coney Island as resorts was the existence of railroads. The introduction of rail service to these areas resulted in their increased popularity (in fact, Atlantic City did not exist until a rail line was built to the New Jersey shore).

“For the last quarter of the nineteenth century the Gap’s popularity earned it repeated mention in The New York Times. During the summer season, four to five articles a month appeared in that paper written by a correspondent in the town.” In the early nineteenth century, Henry Drinker, owner of large tracts of land in northeastern Pennsylvania, dreamed of a rail line between the coal fields of Lackawanna County and the Delaware Water Gap. Drinker hoped to connect his line with one into New York, thus improving the marketability of the anthracite coal that had been discovered in the valley. It was not until March 11, 1853, however, that the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad was formed from the consolidation of two smaller lines. On January 21, 1856, the first train ran from Scranton to the Delaware River five miles below the Gap. It could go no further because the Warren Railroad in New Jersey was not yet open. By May 13 of that year, though, trains could travel from Great Bend (north of Scranton) to New York (actually the route terminated at Elizabethport, New Jersey, opposite the northwest tip of Staten Island). The Southern Division of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad was officially opened on May 27, 1856. A train leaving New York at 7:30 in the morning arrived in Delaware Water Gap at 1:15 that afternoon, a trip of almost six hours. With the intention of gaining access to a terminal closer to Manhattan, the D.L.& W. signed a lease with the Morris & Essex Railroad on December 10, 1868. The lease provided that the D.L.& W. would take over the Morris and Essex on December 31, 1868; thus Hoboken, right across the Hudson from New York City, became the D.L.& W.’s New York station. A ferry ran from the Hoboken terminal to the foot of Christopher Street, directly across the river in Manhattan, and to the foot of Barclay Street which is further downtown. The changes cut over an hour from the trip to the Water Gap.

In 1900, William Truesdale, president of the D.L.& W., perceived that a new route was needed across New Jersey to forestall competitors from gaining the upper hand in passenger traffic. During 1906 and 1907, three studies were conducted to examine the feasibility of shortening the trip from New York to the Gap. It was decided to build a new route from Lake Hopatcong to Slateford, Pennsylvania. The following account, published in a history of the D.L.& W., illustrates the enormity of the new line (commonly called the New Jersey Cut-Off):

“WOW, Look At All That Candy!!”

The country to be crossed was anything but level. Valleys and roads ran north and south; the railroad ran east and west. There were to be no grade crossings. The new route would require 28.5 miles of new track, two large viaducts, and a fill three miles long and from 75 to 140 feet high. West of the Pequest fill, as it was named, were six miles of continuous cuts and fills. There were thirteen fills, most of which were about fifty feet high, and with fifteen cuts with the big Cut west of Johnsonburg being a maximum of one hundred feet deep and a mile long. Truesdale staked the future of his railroad on the success of the new line. Finished on December 24, 1911, at a cost of $11,065,511.43, the new route was a fast and smooth downhill run of twenty-eight miles. It cut eleven miles and twenty-seven minutes off the trip from New York. In 1895, it cost $2.55 for a ticket from New York to the Gap. Ten years later, it cost twenty cents less. By 1933, the price was up to $2.82. With faster trains and more efficient scheduling, the time it took the train to reach Water Gap from Barclay Street gradually decreased. In 1959, it took just under three hours. Passenger service on the D.L.& W. ended on January 5, 1970. Another railroad company, the New York, Susquehanna & Western, provided passenger service to the area. Starting on October 24, 1882, the N.Y.,S.& W. ran from Weehawken, New Jersey and stopped in North Water Gap (Minisink Hills), and in Stroudsburg (near the present V.F.W.). The line crossed the Delaware just north of the Route 80 toll bridge (its stone supports can still be seen in the river). N.Y.,S.& W. service to the Poconos ended in 1940. Passenger service from Philadelphia to the Gap was available on the Belvidere-Delaware Railroad (Trenton to Belvidere). Sometime around 1850, the Belvidere-Delaware extended its track to Manuka Chunk where it connected with the Warren Railroad. Passenger service was provided until October 4, 1947. (The line had earlier been absorbed by the Pennsylvania Railroad.)

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> Childs Park Trail Photo courtesy of DWGNRA

TROLLEYS

On July 10, 1907, The Mountain View Line, connecting Delaware Water Gap with existing trolley lines in Stroudsburg, began operations. During the school year, the trolley served as a school bus, charging students fifteen cents each way. Meanwhile, trackage was being laid south of the Blue Mountain by the Lehigh Valley Traction Company that would eventually reach the Water Gap resorts. In connection with that company, on August 28, 1905, the Bangor and Portland Traction Company entered Portland from the west, having underpassed the Delaware, Lackawanna and Delaware tracks after a three year conflict. Railroad companies were reluctant to allow trolleys, their competitors, to cross rail lines. The plan was to continue the line into Stroudsburg, but the Lehigh and New England Railroad Company refused permission for trolley tracks to be laid across their rails, and the extension to the resorts was abandoned. Tourists from Philadelphia could travel north on the trolley to Nazareth where they had to change cars. From Nazareth they traveled on the Slate Belt Electric Railway Company’s cars to Bangor where they switched cars again to those of the Bangor and Portland Traction Company. At Portland, passengers could ride a bus into Water Gap, or they could take the D.L.& W. The first “Delaware Water Gap Limited” left Chestnut Hill at 9:30 on the morning of July 17, 1908, and reached the Gap six hours and forty minutes later. Wanting to gain access to the resorts at Water Gap for their 12 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

“Liberty Bell” route, the Lehigh Valley Traction Company invested $50,000 in the Water Gap and Portland Street Railway Company. On February 21, 1911, portions of the mountain at the narrowest part of the Gap were dynamited to permit space for the tracks. By October, trolleys were running between Stroudsburg and Portland on the newly created Stroudsburg, Water Gap and

Portland Railway Company. Open, screen-sided double truck cars painted lemon-yellow were in service in the summer and enclosed cars were used the rest of the year. On April 1, 1910, the Lehigh Valley Traction Company announced an arrangement with the Philadelphia and Western Railway Company to use part of its line. The use of this track with its terminal at the 69th Street Station in Upper Darby was part of a larger upgrading of the entire rail system. By 1912, passengers could make the entire trip from Upper Darby to Portland without changing cars. Passengers dined during scheduled dinner stops at hotels in either Allentown, Rittersville, Bethlehem, or Nazareth. Alterations made to the cars on the Water Gap route for the comfort of passengers on the long ride included black leather seats with arm rests; baggage racks; carpeted floors; iced drinking water facilities; a uniformed “tour guide” who pointed out points of interest along the way; and a flashy, newly painted Liberty Bell Limited sign. At Portland, where the Lehigh and New England still refused a right-of-way to the trolley, passengers had to pick up their bags, get off one trolley and walk across the L.N.& E. tracks, and then board another trolley for the ride into Delaware Water Gap.

Direct service to Portland was short-lived. Before the 1913

vacation season opened, continuous service on the Water Gap route was canceled. Passengers had to change cars in Allentown. In addition to the Liberty Bell Route, the Delaware Valley Route

of the Philadelphia and Easton Transit company ran a trolley from Philadelphia to the Gap between the years 1908 to 1915. The journey took six hours and cost $2.40 round-trip. North of Easton the line was called the Blue Mountain Route and continued in service until November 25, 1926. From Bangor to Portland the route shared L.V.T. Company’s tracks.

In 1917, the Stroudsburg, Water Gap and Portland Railway Company became the Stroudsburg Traction Company. The growing popularity of the automobile, however, rang the deathknell of the trolleys. On March 20, 1926, the Bangor-Portland was abandoned and the right-of-way was sold to Northhampton County for construction of a new highway between Portland and Mount Bethel. In November of the same year, the lease of the right-of-way between Portland and Water Gap, which was owned by the D.L.& W., was canceled thus ending service between the two towns. Stroudsburg Traction Company ceased operations in 1928 after trying unsuccessfully to compete with growing bus lines. The last trolley in Stroudsburg ran on September 8. In commemoration several hundred people turned out to witness the end of an era. A local band played “The Old Grey Mare Ain’t What She Used To Be.”

THE MOUNTAIN ECHO

For a time, beginning in 1879, Delaware Water Gap had its own newspaper. Called The Mountain Echo, the small, seasonal paper focused on activities at the hotels and on local places of interest. The editor was local photographer Jesse A. Graves. One of the services dutifully carried out by the periodical was the listing of all the guests staying at the various resorts.

THE HOTELS

names, further clouding the issue. Nevertheless, it is estimated that the town of 400 permanent residents could accommodate over 2500 people. Long-time Water Gap resident Casey Drake remembers that, as a boy, the town was so crowded in the summer that it was often difficult to walk down the street.

“On July 10, 1907, The Mountain View Line, connecting Delaware Water Gap with existing trolley lines in Stroudsburg, began operations. During the school year, the trolley served as a school bus, charging students fifteen cents each way.” The two largest and perhaps best known of the hotels were the Kittatinny and the Water Gap House. The Kittatinny was located at the present site of the overlook along Rt. 611 just south of the borough. Part of its foundation still stands beneath the spot from which visitors look out at the Delaware River and the Rt. 80 bridge. The same view was enjoyed by guests of the Kittatinny as they stood on the hotel’s large veranda. In 1874, the Brodhead brothers increased the hotel’s capacity to 275. Then, in 1892, the building was razed to make room for a larger, more elegant New Kittatinny. Able to accommodate 500 guests, the hotel boasted, in addition to spectacular views and cool breezes, the following: Electric lights, elevators, steam heat, running mountain spring water in rooms [and a mountain stream running under the kitchen -- which can still be seen from the Rt. 80 bridge], private baths, etc. Noted for its cuisine and service, and the hotel’s farm gives to the table products “par Excellence.” ...Bell phone 92; telegraph office in hotel, orchestra, social diversions.

A 1909 guide to summer resorts in the area had this to say about Delaware Water Gap:

A 1908 advertisement lists G. Frank Cope as proprietor. Similarly, one from 1917 lists John Purdy Cope as owner.

Its quota of hotels is second to none in the Unites States. They compare favorably with those in any other section of the country in size and attractiveness and are comparable only to the very finest in the matter or cuisine.

The Water Gap House was located above the Kittatinny on Sunset Hill (so named because when one stands facing east on the hill one can see the shadows on the mountain across the Delaware slowly rise as the sun sets in the West). Opened by Luke W. Brodhead on June 20, 1872, the Water Gap House had first and second story piazzas twelve to fifteen feet wide and 650 feet long looking out over one of the finest views in the area. In keeping with the mores of the times, Brodhead built the hotel with no bar.

It is difficult to accurately determine how many hotels operated in the Gap. A search in surviving pamphlets and newspapers for advertisements reveal evidence of only the larger establishments. In addition, as some hotels changed owners, they also changed

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© 13

Falling for the Poconos

> Factory Falls along Childs Park Trail Photo courtesy of DWGNRA

- Paintings by Marie Liu Brodhead Creek Heritage Center | July - September Indoor/Outdoor Reception | July 19th, 2pm - 6pm

In 1908, the Water Gap House was completely rebuilt at a cost of over $100,000. John Purdy Cope, its new owner, advertised its attractions in the June 14, 1908 edition of The New York Times :

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Capacity, 300. A MOUNTAIN PARADISE; highest altitude, coolest location, always a breeze, no humidity.... Commanding views for 30 miles in every direction of the grandest scenery east of the Rockies. Hotel is surrounded by its magnificent park of Old Shades, Rhododendron, Wild Flowers, Rare Plants, and Fine Lawns. ...entertaining refined, high-class patronage. Running mountain spring water and stationery stands in all rooms. Fifty private tile bats, also public baths. ...Telephones and telegraphs. Solariums and balconies on all floors. Steam heat, open log fireplaces. Electric lights. Hydraulic elevator. Most modern sanitary arrangements. ...Hotel supplied from own greenhouse and farm with early vegetables and poultry. Milk from our own dairy of registered cows. Every outdoor sport and indoor amusement. Orchestra and frequent social functions. Private riding academy with high-class saddle horses and instructors; nine-hole golf links; garage and livery -- all within the grounds. Coaches meet all trains. The Glenwood House opened its doors to summer visitors in 1862 after serving for a while as a boyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s academy. In 1897, it was catering to 200 guests, was opened from May to November, and could boast private balconies on the second floor. A 1909

advertisement claimed a capacity of 400. The Glenwood also supplied its tables with fresh fruits and vegetables from its own farm. Of the old resort-hotels, the Glenwood is the only one still operating as a resort today. (The Central House, now the Deer Head Inn, still functions as a rooming house and its bar enjoys a reputation as something of a jazz mecca.)

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The Castle Inn opened for business in 1909, and was the last of the great hotels built in the Gap. When it opened it had 112 guest rooms, a ball room, recreation rooms, its own power plant, and its own freezing plant. The Bellevue was known by two other names over the years. First it was the Juniper Grove House, and later it was called the Arlington. As the Bellevue, it could sleep 150 guests and claimed to be the popular hotel for young people. A big selling point for this and some of the other hotels was their proximity to the train station. The hotel located closest to the station was the Delaware House, which was situated just across the street. Open all year, the Delaware House could accommodate 50 people and offered, in addition to the normal activities such as fishing, boating, and bathing, also bowling, pool, and billiards. The Riverview, also located near the station, had a capacity of 250. The Mountain House could hold eighty guests, and the Forest House could hold 100. AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINEÂŠ 15

SHOP NEW. SHOP VINTAGE .

SHOP LOCAL .

> Tumbling Waters along Tumbling Waters Trail Photo courtesy of DWGNRA

These are just some of the hotels located in the Gap (a list follows). Many hotels, while not located in Delaware Water Gap, nevertheless maintained an address in town in hopes of benefiting from the Gap’s popularity. The Karamac, for instance, was located across the river in New Jersey, and yet advertised its Delaware Water Gap address.

THE END OF AN ERA

It’s not just a day of shopping here in the Pocono Mountains—it’s an experience. Wander our historic streets. Explore our art galleries. Find unique local goods. And stop for a bite at one of our top-rated neighborhood restaurants along the way. Discover all of our shopping and sights now at PoconoMountains.com.

At five o’clock in the afternoon of Thursday, November 11, 1915, workmen, helping to close the Water Gap House for the winter, discovered a fire which had broken out in one of the guest rooms of the hotel. An alarm was sounded and several fire companies responded; but their efforts were in vain. Though a light rain was falling at the time, the entire structure was leveled in only a matter of hours. The loss was estimated at between $150,000 and $200,000. Four days after the fire, it was announced that a new hotel, as large as the Water Gap House, would be built on the same site. The planned hotel was to be fire-proof and, hopefully, would be open for some of the 1916 season. The hotel was never built. Cope experienced another disaster in 1931, when the Kittatinny burned to the ground. He and his family were awakened at four o’clock on the morning of October 30, by a passing motorist who had seen flames coming from the Kittatinny. By six o’clock, the entire structure was engulfed -- a loss of between $500,000 and $750,000. Why was neither hotel rebuilt? Over the years the Poconos have continued to be a major resort region. Delaware Water Gap,

16 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

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however, has steadily declined as a resort community. Part of the answer for the Gap’s decline as a resort lay with changing transportation trends; there was a clear symbiotic relationship between the resort and transportation industries in the town and surrounding area. The large hotels were in an ideal location to benefit from the easy access that the rail lines and trolleys provided. The hotels also furnished the varied transportation companies with a “draw” or need for transportation which the various companies were eager to fulfill. As the business of travel matured into the automobile oriented industry of today, however, the demand for the large hotels located on rail lines diminished. The popularity of the automobile after World War I, in part, changed the way people took vacations. No longer tied to the rail system for transportation, a whole new concept of vacationing developed. In 1909, a story in The New York Times anticipated this trend when it reported that a weekend outing with the entire family, stopping for a night’s lodging at some comfortable but not too expensive hotel, was superseding the summer-long separation of the father from his family.

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The automobile was only part of the answer though. Tough economic times of the 1930’s erected a hurdle that, in combination with other factors mentioned, proved too high for Water Gap’s resorts to overcome. When the resort industry began to expand after World War II, Delaware Water Gap seemed, for the most part, content to let the resurgence pass the town by. Many of the small boarding houses were converted into private residences. Most of the old hotels were either destroyed by fire, were closed, or continued to operate as best they could under changed conditions. Water Gap’s heyday as a resort had come to an end.  AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© 17

GEOTOURISM By Dave Pierce

> M t. Tammany Photo by Tom Stone

hat do key parts of the Pocono Mountains, New Jersey Skylands, Lehigh Valley and the Catskills have in common?

Start with an evolving wider identity as the “Scenic, Wild Delaware River,” anchored by a national recreation area and other unique natural, cultural and aesthetic attractions that are defined as geotourism. Nurture it with a diverse travel guide website featuring the voices of people who live here, coordinated by National Geographic Maps. Create a stewardship council that is pursuing self-sustaining economic development strategies promoting unusual destinations, inns and restaurants unlike those typically found in a national-franchise, cookie-cutter world. For the first time, tourism stakeholders in the three-state, ninecounty region are working together.

18 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

“Geotravelers get beyond the surface and have rich, lifechanging travel experiences.” “Go light, stay local, learn about the local cultures and traditions, help sustain what makes this a special place,” says one entry at delawareriver.natgeotourism.com. “Geotravelers get beyond the surface and have rich, life-changing travel experiences.” “We’re promoting little places to stay, not just a national motel,” explained Michele Archie of the Harbinger Consulting Group, which manages the website today. “We’re really oriented to the unique stories – what makes this region special.” There have been more than 700 entries on the Scenic, Wild Delaware River website since it was launched little more than a year ago. This includes descriptions and directions to waterfalls,

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hiking trails, high vistas, historic sites, restaurants and lodging. The site also features details on the times and location of upcoming events and festivals. Site visitors can conduct searches based on a location or type of attractions. The searches produce site descriptions and suggested itineraries. Some organizations and businesses provide links from the Scenic, Wild Delaware River website to their own sites. “And people have been regularly updating their content, which is a good thing,” said Bryon Cope, Northampton County’s open space coordinator and a member of the stewardship council’s coordinating committee. “One thing we’re trying to do is to get the partners to promote the website through social media,” said Archie of Harbinger. The nine-county promotional effort was sparked by the National Parks Conservation Association, a private, non-profit

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organization that promotes funding and protection for the nation’s 407 national park units. NPCA commissioned a study by Harbinger – released in April 2015 – on how to strengthen the identity of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, which encompasses 70,000 acres in five counties, on both sides of the Delaware River. The final report authored by Archie – based partly on focus group sessions featuring dozens of regional political, cultural and business leaders – determined the DWGNRA provided local economic benefits but lacked a strong local identity as a National

Park Service unit.

The National Parks Conservation Association found a lack of collaboration between Pennsylvania and New Jersey residents near the national recreation area, NPCA Senior Director Joy Oakes recalled. The Scenic, Wild Delaware River promotional effort is working to improve ties across Monroe, Northampton, Pike and Wayne counties, Pennsylvania; Warren and Sussex counties, New Jersey; and Orange and Sullivan counties, New York. “Everybody is very proud of their own place,” Oakes said. “What this initiative tries to do is knit those places together. There are more and more connections among the park and community. “It’s not just about travel,” Oakes said. “It’s also about sustaining and enhancing the place.” The Wild, Scenic Delaware River initiative will sponsor a

conference Sept. 28 at Woodloch Resort, near Hawley. People are being surveyed now about what workshop topics are most in demand. Details will be posted on the geotourism website. “It’s very economic development oriented,” Tourism Sales

585 Main Street Stroudsburg PA 570-421-7950 20 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Manager Ann Pilcher of the Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau

said of the overall effort. “It’s representing the unique character of the Delaware River region. It’s about place-based tourism.” 

POCONO LIVING’S GUIDE TO THE DELAWARE WATER GAP NATIONAL RECREATION AREA IN COOPERATION WITH THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

> P hoto courtesy of the Pocono Mountain Visitor’s Bureau JUNE/JULY 2020 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© 21

PLACES TO VISIT & STAY... THINGS TO DO... HAVE FUN FOR SURE... WITH MORE TO EXPLORE ALL CLOSE TO THE

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2 Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

THE DELAWARE WATER GAP NATIONAL RECREATION AREA By Amanda Kuhn Photos courtesy of James Chesnick

oday, the world is an unsettling and chaotic place. As our country faces historic obstacles, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. When anxiety and unrest are at a peak, returning to nature has proven to be the ultimate remedy. Fortunately, the Poconos are the perfect place to ease a weighted mind or a heavy heart. For over 50 years, the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area has been a paradise for nature lovers of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The area spans 70,000 acres, which includes over 100 miles of hiking trails. But the Delaware Water Gap NRA offers so much more than just hiking. Located where the ranges for northern and southern species overlap, Delaware Water Gap NRA is home to a diverse number of plants and animals. The Delaware Water Gap NRA also contains a variety of incredible landscapes, thanks to elevation changes of 1000 feet. With so much to see and do, a visit (or two) to the Delaware Water Gap NRA is a must for your mental well-being. Delaware Water Gap NRA Law Enforcement Ranger, Liz Winslow, gave us the inside scoop on what to expect and what can’t be missed at the park.

Ranger Winslow stresses the importance of planning your visit before heading to the park. Considering current restrictions, it is best to research what to bring and what to leave at home. Know what you can do and where you can do it. If possible, visit during the week; it will be much less crowded than on weekends. Unfortunately, many trails within the Delaware Water Gap NRA are temporarily closed. Feel free to call a visitor’s center for information or visit www.nps.gov/dewa for your complete guide to the park and to check conditions. Here’s just a taste of all that the Delaware Water Gap NRA has to offer.

HIKE

Our area is full of amazing hiking spots, many of which reside in the Delaware Water Gap NRA. They don’t call it the Pocono Mountains for nothing! With over 40 trails spread over a variety of locations, it can be difficult to choose a spot. Thankfully, the Delaware Water Gap NRA’s website is top notch and provides information on each and every trail. Looking for a bit of a challenge? On the hunt for waterfalls? The Raymondskill Creek trail has both! Before you go, hop online and see which trails are currently open for business. 3 Guide to the Gap

BIKE

Head to the McDade Recreational Trail and get pedaling! Consisting of 32 miles of packed gravel along the Delaware River, the McDade Recreational Trail is as functional as it is scenic. Take advantage of the park’s free bus system which stops at most of the trailheads. This way, you won’t have to double back to your car on your ride. While mountain and hybrid bikes are ideal for the McDade Recreational Trail, road bikers should check out the Old Mine Road. Enjoy the view as you ride along the Delaware River on the New Jersey side.

PADDLE

Ranger Winslow highly recommends planning a trip down the Delaware River this summer. No canoe? No problem! There are several liveries in the area that will hook you up with transportation (canoe, kayak, raft, or tube), paddles, and life jackets. They’ll even deliver your equipment to the river access point of your choosing and pick it up for you at the end. Talk about service! Many businesses offer special group and family rates, making this a fun and affordable day in the sun. A complete list of area liveries, with links to their websites, is available online.

SWIM

A hot, summer day calls for a trip to the beach. Avoid traffic and save time by heading to a beach right here in the Poconos. Both Milford and Smithfield Beaches offer access to the McDade Recreational Trail, so you can cool off after a long bike ride. The beaches are also equipped with picnic areas, restrooms, pavilions, and boat launches.

PICNIC

Even eating in the great outdoors can be fun! Several picnic areas are located within the Delaware Water Gap NRA in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey and each spot is unique. Be sure to visit the Delaware Water Gap NRA website for more information and directions to each picnic area. Remember, you’re a guest in the home of local wildlife, so always follow park rules for your safety and theirs.

SEE

Remember, no visit to the Poconos is complete without catching a glimpse of the famous Delaware Water Gap. Head to a designated viewing location for a clear vantage point of the gap. Locations with directions via Google Maps are available online. All of this, and more, is waiting for you this summer at the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area! Get out there and have fun! 

4 Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

Delaware Water Gap

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

National Recreation Area

Summer 2018 - Spring 2019

Guide to the Gap

Foster-Armstrong House

Partners in Preservation 2019 m a r k e d t h e 4 0 t h a n n i v e r s a ry of t h e Mon tagu e A s s o c i at ion for the Restoration of Community History (M.A.R.C.H.), one of the many organizations who partner with the National Park Service to help preserve and interpret the park’s diverse resources and rich cultural history. Established in 1979, M.A.R.C.H. maintains two of the park’s historic buildings, the Foster Armstrong House and Nelden-Roberts Stonehouse, both listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Since its founding, the organization has worked to educate the public about the history of Montague, New Jersey, and the Middle Delaware Valley by maintaining a history museum in the Foster Armstrong House, hosting special events and guest speakers, and offering tours of the two houses during the summer.

Agricultural landscapes, ruins of water-powered mills, abandoned mines, footprints of old resorts and camps, historic villages, and the Old Mine Road Historic District reveal evidence of centuries of changing land use and settlement. Woven among these modern cultural landscapes are significant American Indian archaeological sites that date back thousands of years.

The Foster Armstrong House (c. 1790) and Neldon-Roberts Stonehouse (c. 1820) are among a collection of historic structures and cultural sites that dot the park’s landscape and reflect over 11,000 years of human history in the Middle Delaware River Valley. A variety of 18th through 20th century historic structures demonstrate the transition from the Colonial frontier to an agrarian-based economy to the early 20th century when the area became a center of working-class leisure in the wake of the industrial revolution.

To preserve these important historic and cultural resources, serve the public, and achieve the mission of the National Park Service, the park collaborates and cooperates with partners, volunteers, and state, local, and federal agencies. Non-profit organizations, such as M.A.R.C.H, Walpack Historical Society, Millbrook Village Society, Peters Valley School of Craft, Pocono Environmental Education Center (PEEC), and the Appalachian Mountain Club, and volunteer groups, such as the McDade Trail Stewards, Friends of Marie Zimmermann, and the Historic Properties Stewards, help care for sites and resources within the park and provide public access. The National Park Service could not accomplish many of our most-needed programs and projects without the support of our friends and partners. Together, we are working to preserve the park’s resources and create a safe and enjoyable experience for you.

River Activities

Trails

Auto Tours

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area includes nearly forty miles of the free-flowing Middle Delaware Scenic and Recreational River.

From ridgetop to riverside, vistas to ravines, and from easy to extreme, more than 100 miles of trail offer something for everyone.

Although the park is close to major cities, tranquil drives invite exploration. More than 100 miles of road lead to wonderful places.

River-related activities, like swimming and paddling, are some of the popular pastimes on warm summer days (page 4).

Choose a trail for hiking, biking, or boating to enjoy the natural beauty and the historic landscape of the river valley (page 9).

Explore the varied landscapes in the valley: forests and fields, ridges and ravines, historic houses and hamlets (page 19).

Following guidance from the White House, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state and local public health authorities, the National Park Service is adjusting access and services across all units of the National Park System. Before visiting a park, please check the park website to determine its operating status. Updates about the overall NPS response to COVID-19, including safety information, are posted on http://www.nps.gov/coronavirus.

5 Guide to the Gap

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Located between the Pocono Plateau and Kittatinny Ridge in close proximity to the most densely populated region of the nation, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and the Middle Delaware National Scenic and Recreational River preserve the natural, cultural, and scenic resources and values of the Delaware River valley and provide opportunities for resource-based recreation, education, and enjoyment.

The River, the Valley, and You Paddlers slip down the river between low, forested mountains; anglers wade the cool streams; and hikers explore secluded places. This valley has attracted people for 13,000 years. Abundant plant and wildlife sustained American Indians; floodplains nourished early farmer’s crops; waterfalls drew Victorian vacationers. Today, a 70,000-acre park welcomes you to the enticing Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and Middle Delaware National Scenic and Recreational River.

Millions of years of uplift, erosion, and glacial activity gave us the water gap, ridges, and streams that flow through hemlockand rhododendron-laced ravines and over waterfalls that pour off the Pocono Plateau.

Hikers on the Appalachian Trail

Exhibit at Millbrook Village

preserve the rural landscape predominate in the 18th century. In the 1800s resorts flourished throughout the region where city dwellers arrived by carriage or rail, often spending the entire summer away from the urban heat. The water gap became a scenic wonder for fashionable travelers.

Steeped in rich history, the trails, roads, sites, and traces reveal reminders of times gone. The Minsi Path and Minisink Trail converged on a Delaware River island that was once the center of a large American Indian settlement. Agricultural fields still in cultivation help

Today the natural and cultural wonders provide abundant recreational opportunities. This rural vacationland is yours to explore.

Superintendent Sula Jacobs

Contact Us Main Address Park Headquarters 1978 River Road Bushkill, Pennsylvania 18324 Email DEWA_Interpretation@nps.gov Park Headquarters 570-426-2452 Emergency 800-543-4295 Website and Social Media www.nps.gov/dewa www.facebook.com/DelWaterGapNPS www.twitter.com/DelWaterGapNPS www.instagram.com/DelWaterGapNPS The National Park Service cares for the special places saved by the American people so that all may experience our heritage.

Weather in the Poconos

Average Temperature

Spring tends to have more breezy days and less humidity than other times of the year. During the summer, humidity levels can be high, even near 100%, and afternoon thunderstorms are common. In the fall, humidity can still be high, but temperatures are generally pleasant. Winter days tend to be cloudy and the most snow falls in January and February, particularly along the higher elevations of the Kittatinny Ridge.

90°F

The Friends of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area work in tandem with the National Park Service to foster and support the historical, scientific, educational, and recreational activities of the park. The Friends accomplish its work by raising funds for various projects and increasing awareness of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. To become involved, visit their website at www.friendsofdewanps.org.

6 Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

80°F 70°F

Canoers on the Delaware River

Average Precipitation 32°C

High

27°C

Low

21°C

60°F

16°C

50°F

10°C

40°F

4°C

30°F

-1°C

20°F

-7°C

10°F Jan

Feb Mar Apr May Jun

Jul

Aug Sep

-12°C Oct Nov Dec

5 in

127 mm

4 in

102 mm

3 in

76 mm

2 in

50 mm

1 in

25 mm

0 in Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

Jul

Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

0 mm

Suggested Trip Itineraries Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area offers endless opportunities for exploration and discovery. The following are a few suggested itineraries to consider depending on your time and interests.

If you have a few hours: • Walk a section of the McDade Recreational Trail, which extends most the length of the park in Pennsylvania and presents some of the best views of the Delaware River, as well as passes by charming streams, open farm fields, forests, and historic landscapes. View Raymondskill Falls by hiking a short, but steep, trail. To avoid the crowds, visit the area before 10:00 am or after 4:00 pm on weekends or visit on a weekday. Page 10 • weekends. Select buildings are open on summer Saturdays. Page 18 • Tour the Nelden-Roberts Stonehouse and the Foster-Armstrong House in Montague, NJ, on a summer Sunday afternoon. This area is generally a good place to avoid crowds on summer weekends. Page 19 • Tour the Rosencrans House and the Van Campen Inn in Walpack Center, NJ, on a summer Sunday afternoon. This area is generally a good place to avoid crowds on summer weekends. Page 19 • Stop at the three overlooks along PA 611 for stunning views of the Delaware Water Gap. Page 20

If you have half a day: • Take a bike ride along the McDade Recreational Trail. Bring your own or rent a bike from a local outfitter. Page 14. Savor a picnic lunch at Hidden Lake and then take a stroll around the lake. This area is generally a good place to avoid crowds on summer weekends. Page 17 • Stroll around the Slateford Loop Trail to enjoy the quiet valley below the Kittatinny Ridge. Page 17 • Take a scenic drive along US 209. • Choose a trail and venture on a hike. Page 9

If you have all day: • Drive the scenic Old Mine Road, stopping along the way to explore various historic and natural features. This area is generally a good place to avoid crowds on summer weekends. Page 19 • Hike a stretch of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. Page 16 • Canoe or kayak on the Delaware River. • Enjoy a swim at one of the park’s beaches on a summer weekend. Parking at the beaches generally fills to capacity by 10:00 am on weekends. Consider visiting during the week to avoid crowds. Page 4

If you are staying multiple days: Consider signing up for a workshop offered by one of our partners located within the park. • Peters Valley School of Craft offers 2-day to 5-day fine craft workshops. For more information, visit petersvalley.org. • Appalachian Mountain Club’s Mohican Outdoor Center offers weekend getaways focusing on various outdoor activities. For more information, visit outdoors.org/lodging-camping/Lodges/Mohican. • Pocono Environmental Education Center offers weekend getaways and workshops for youth, families and adults. For more information, visit peec.org. View from Mt. Tammany (on the Red Dot & Blue Blaze trails)

Park Regulations & Safety

Pets Please follow the rules of BARK! when visiting the park with your pet.

• Launching, landing or operating an unmanned aircraft from or on lands and waters administered by the National Park Service within the boundaries of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is prohibited except as approved in writing by the Superintendent.

Bag your pet’s waste

• Climbing, jumping, diving, and rappelling is prohibited at all waterfalls, waterfall pools, and bridge abutments.

Always wear a leash

• Swimming and wading is prohibited within 50 feet upstream of waterfalls.

Know where you can go

Respect wildlife

• Entry into caves, mine shafts and unoccupied structures is prohibited.

Pets are permitted in most areas of the park, including campgrounds, picnic areas, and on paved or dirt roads.

• Privately-owned property and residences exist within park boundaries. Please respect the rights and privacy of private property owners and other residents. • Collection of plants, animals, rocks, mineral, and cultural objects is prohibited.

Pets are NOT permitted at the following sites (excludes working service animals):

• Certain types of activities require a special use permit. Some common activities that require a permit include commercial film and photography, weddings, baptisms, first amendment activities, and competitive events. • A permit is required for any road-based tour operating within the park. Road-based commercial tours are defined as one or more persons traveling on an improved roadway on an itinerary that a company or individual has packaged, priced, or sold for leisure/recreational purposes. • Campfires are only allowed at designated camp sites within metal fire grates. Personally owned grills, stoves, or lanterns are permitted at designated picnic sites (excluding Kittatinny Point and Childs Park), campground or river campsite. Fires are prohibited in all other areas. • Do not feed or approach wildlife. Always maintain a distance of at least 100 yards from bears and 25 yards from other wildlife. For a complete list of park specific closures, permit requirements and other restrictions, contact park headquarters at 570 426-2452

In Pennsylvania: Raymondskill Falls and Raymondskill Creek Trail Dingmans Falls and Dingmans Creek Trail Valley View Group Campsites This Bark Ranger always follows the rules of BARK! when in the park.

Kittatinny Point picnic area Pets must be restrained on a leash (6 feet or less). Pets may not be tied to an object and left unattended or left in a vehicle. Summer heat poses a threat to pets left in vehicles. Report lost pets to the park communication center at 570 426-2457.

Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day: Smithfield Beach, Milford Beach, and Hialeah Picnic Area (except when accessing the McDade Trailhead) In New Jersey: Turtle Beach Rivers Bend Group Campsites Watergate Recreation Site

7 Guide to the Gap

A Day on the Delaware River

The Delaware River is the longest undammed United States river east of the Mississippi, extending 330 miles from Hancock, New York to the Atlantic Ocean. The Delaware River Water Trail extends nearly 200 miles from Hancock to Trenton, New Jersey. Like a conventional trail, a water trail is a recreational corridor, but instead of hiking, it is traveled by boat, such as canoe, kayak or smallmotorized watercraft. The river boasts outstanding natural, cultural, recreational and scenic resources. In recognition of these qualities, the portion of the Delaware River traveling through Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area was officially designated as the Middle Delaware National Scenic and Recreational River in 1978. Within the park, the river is a series of shallow riffles and deep pools, making this section particularly good for canoeing. Access points every eight to ten miles allow for easy day trips, and numerous primitive campsites allow for longer journeys. A day on the Delaware River allows you an opportunity to immerse yourself in an environment of tranquil natural landscapes, striking river valley scenery, and a substantially undeveloped river corridor that is unmatched among large rivers in the most densely populated region of the United States. While the Delaware River is easy for boaters, do not be misled by its calm appearance. Always follow proper water safety precautions to ensure you have a safe and enjoyable experience.

Authorized Canoe, Kayak, and Tube Liveries Adventure Sports, Inc. Route 209, Marshalls Creek, PA 18335

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Chamberlain Canoes PO Box 555, Shawnee on Delaware, PA 18356

570 421-0180 800 422-6631

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Delaware River Family Campground 100 Rt. 46, Delaware, NJ 07833

908 475-4517 800 543-0271

delawareriver@njcamping. com

Edge of the Woods Outfitters 110 Main St., Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327

570 421-6681

watergapadventure.com

Indian Head Canoes and Rafts 3883 Rt. 97, Barryville, NY 12719

845 557-8777

indianheadcanoes.com

Kayak East PO Box 77, Columbia, NJ 07832

570 421-3432 866 529-2532

kayakeast.com

Kittatinny Canoes 2130 Rt. 739, Dingmans Ferry, PA 18328

570 296-5890 800 356-2852

kittatinny.com

Mauka Nalu Stand-Up Paddleboards 100 Shawnee Inn Drive Shawnee on Delaware, PA 18356

570 420-1905

maukanalu.com

Shawnee River Trips 100 Shawnee Inn Drive Shawnee on Delaware, PA 18356

570 424-4000 800 SHAWNEE

shawneeinn.com

Eshback, PA

Bushkill, PA

Poxono, NJ

Smithfield Beach, PA

Worthington SF, NJ

Kittatinny Point, NJ

Bushkill, PA

Dingmans, PA

Poxono, NJ

Eshback, PA

Dingmans, PA

Namanock, NJ

Access Name

Namanock, NJ

Milford Beach, PA

Milford Beach,PA

River Miles between River Accesses

Swimming Pack a swimsuit and a picnic and head to the beach - the river beach, that is. Unlike the sandy beaches along the ocean, the beaches here have soft grass on which to stretch out and enjoy the day. Milford, Smithfield, and Turtle beaches are designated swim areas. Swimming in other areas of the river is not recommended. Picnic and restroom facilities are also available at the beaches. Grills are not provided, but personal grills are permitted. Alcohol and pets are not permitted. Parking at swim beaches generally reaches capacity by 10:00 am on summer weekends.

Stop the Transport of Invasive Species: • CLEAN boots, gear, boat, trailer & vehicle of plants, fish, animals & mud. • DRAIN bilge, ballast, wells & buckets before you leave the area. • DRY equipment before launching watercraft into another body of water.

8 Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

Fishing

Places to Fish

All waters within Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area are open to sport fishing unless otherwise noted. Regulations • A state fishing license is required for those 16 and older; regulations are enforced. • Holders of either a New Jersey or Pennsylvania license may fish on the Delaware River and from either of its banks. This does not apply to the river’s tributaries. • Special fishing regulations apply within the park. Refer to the appropriate state regulations for waters within the park. Fishing is not permitted at: • Dingmans Creek within George W. Childs Park area, including foot bridges and observation platforms. (Site closed in 2019) • Dingmans Creek from the top of the Dingmans Falls to the east end of the Dingmans Falls Visitor Center parking lot from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm daily. • Silverthread Falls in the pool at the base of the falls.

PA Dingmans Creek – between Deer Leap Falls and Dingmans Falls; delayed harvest, artificial lures only

PA Toms Creek – from picnic area access upstream; catch and release only

Yellow Perch

Walleye

Rainbow Trout

Striped Bass

Sunfish 3

PA Hidden Lake – hand launch and picnic area off Hidden Lake Drive

Smallmouth Bass

Largemouth Bass

Muskellunge

Chain Pickerel

Catfish

Brown Trout

PA “Front” Pond – Pocono Environmental Education Center

Location

Brook Trout

PA Loch Lomond (Lake) – south of Dingmans Ferry; wheelchair accessible

American Shad 2

In the spring, the Delaware River offers a chance to catch American shad, a fish whose Latin name means “most savory herring.” Huge numbers of American shad once migrated upstream in the Delaware River, so many shad that the river was described as “black” and “boiling.” Industrial pollution and overfishing drastically reduced shad numbers in the Delaware River in the early 1900s. In the 1980s, pollution control programs were put in place and shad numbers began to rise again. American shad remain a favorite for anglers, putting up a fight and showing multiple jumps when caught.

Common and/or Sought-after Fish1 This table lists common game fish that can be caught from places that are relatively easy to access.

State

The area is home to both warm- and cold-water fish species. Numerous lakes and ponds have species like pickerel, catfish, and panfish. Native and stocked trout inhabit the cold streams, offering fly fishers a challenge.

N N

PA Bush Kill – entire section within park

PA Little Bushkill – entire section within park

PA Delaware River – Milford Beach & Boat Access*

PA Delaware River – Dingmans Boat Access*

PA Delaware River – Eshback Canoe Access*

PA Delaware River – Bushkill Boat Access*

PA Delaware River – Smithfield Beach & Boat Access*

NJ Delaware River – Caddoo Canoe Access*

NJ Delaware River – Turtle Beach*

NJ Delaware River – Kittatinny Point,* off Interstate 80

NJ Delaware River – Poxono Access,* relatively shallow backwater area

NJ Vancampens Brook – headwaters downstream to Millbrook Village

NJ Vancampens Brook – downstream of Millbrook Village to Upper Glen

X X

NJ Vancampens Brook – from the Upper Glen downstream to the mouth

NJ Flat Brook – entire length within the park; accesses along NPS Route 615

X X

NJ Blue Mountain Lake – access by short trail from parking area NJ Catfish Pond – Mohican Outdoor Center, access from NJ Route 602

X S

N N

*Fishing is prohibited within 200 feet of designated boat launches and swim areas.

For New Jersey state information, refer to the New Jersey Fish and Wildlife Digest, available at sporting goods stores, or visit state.nj.us/dep/fgw. For Pennsylvania state information, refer to the Pennsylvania Fishing Summary, or visit www.fish.state.pa.us. PA licenses are available online at fishandboat.com/outdoorshop.htm.

¹ X = non-native wild

S = stocked

N = native

The only time to catch adult American shad is from April to June, when the adults are migrating from the Atlantic Ocean.

“Sunfish” includes bluegill, black crappie, rock bass. pumpkinseed (native), and redbreast sunfish (native)

Shawnee Inn provides authorized guided fishing trips 100 Shawnee Inn Drive, Shawnee on Delaware, PA 18356

570-424-4000 ext. 1462 shawneeinn.com/explore/river-trips

Water Safety Planning a safe day at the river begins well before you get near the water and does not end until you return home. Even though the Delaware River appears calm in some areas, DO NOT be misled! Moving water must be respected. The information below will help you better understand how to safely and comfortably enjoy the river. In General: • Always wear your life jacket. • Alcoholic beverages are prohibited at Milford Beach, Smithfield Beach, Kittatinny Point, and Hialeah Picnic Area in Pennsylvania, and Turtle Beach, Caddoo Worthington State Forest, and Tocks and Labar Islands in New Jersey. Alcoholic beverages are also prohibited between Depew Island on the north and Depue Island on the south. • Do not drink during river activities. • Wear shoes to protect your feet from sharp stones, glass, and other objects. • Protect yourself from the sun; wear sunscreen, a hat, light clothing, and sunglasses. • Stay hydrated. Bring and drink plenty of water. Do not drink river water unless it is boiled at least 10 minutes. • Plan to be off the river before dark.

When Swimming: • Wear your life jacket even when swimming; don’t overestimate your swimming ability. • Do not attempt to swim or wade across the river. The Delaware River has strong currents and steep drop-offs. Swimming becomes more difficult with increased current and water depth. Even the strongest of swimmers should be extremely cautious. • Swim at designated beaches. • Do not jump or dive from cliffs, rocks, or bridges into the river; the water may be shallow and objects can be submerged. Rivers are constantly changing, especially with high water. Rocks can show up in places they never were before. • Do not swim alone - always stay with your group. When Boating: • Always wear your life jacket. • Children 12 years of age and younger MUST WEAR a life jacket on board a vessel. • Life jackets must be worn in vessels less than 16 feet between November 1 and April 30. • Never stand in a canoe. For better balance, kneel in a canoe when going through rapids. • If you capsize, don’t panic. Stay with your boat; even an overturned boat can support you. Keep upstream of your boat to avoid being pinned against a rock or obstacle. Float on your back with your feet pointed downstream. Use your paddle to push away from rocks and other obstacles. Retrieve boats and equipment only if it can be done safely. • Be ready for changing weather and cold water. Bring rain gear. To protect against hypothermia, bring clothing made of wool, polypropylene, high-performance fleece, or a wetsuit. • Never try to stand in rapids. Your foot could become trapped between submerged rocks. With a foot trapped, the current can be strong enough to push you over and hold you under, even if you are wearing a life jacket. • Always tell someone where you are going and when you expect to return. Arrange drop off and pick up points before you leave. Leave emergency phone numbers, vehicle description, and tag numbers with someone who can report that you are overdue. • Bring a spare paddle, a throw line, whistle, and a first aid kit.

9 Guide to the Gap

Camping

THIRSTY DEER ISLAND, NJ MASHIPACONG ISLAND, NJ

North 250

1 Kilometer

0 0

• Collecting wood in the park for fires is prohibited, except downed wood within designated campsites.

6 209

Dingmans Campground • Located near Dingmans Ferry, PA • Sites for tent and RV (some with hook-ups) • Individual and group campsites • Camp store • Weekly activities • More information: 877 828-1551 or dingmanscampground.com

In general: • Make sure there are no dead limbs or trees in the vicinity of your campsite that might come down during a strong wind. • Avoid drinking untreated water. Even clear, spring water can contain harmful bacteria. • If in a campground, lock food in your vehicle. Bears and other wildlife have a great sense of smell. • Keep your pet on a leash and never leave a pet unattended. • Ground fires are prohibited, except in a provided fire grate. • Do not bring wood from outside the park; firewood is available for purchase at Dingmans Campground.

MILFORD 6

Canoe launch Information

(Fee area)

209 245

206

Road

ne Old Mi

Mohican Outdoor Center • Located along the Appalachian National Scenic Trail near Blairstown, NJ • Individual and group tent sites • Self-service, bunk-style cabins • Water available • Camp store & food service 739 • More information: 908 362-5670 or outdoors.org/ lodging/lodges/mohican

NAMANOCK ISLAND, NJ

Milford

Namanock

3 560 240

Dingmans Ferry Access (Fee area)

560 615

Dingmans Campground

209 SHAPNACK ISLAND, PA

2001

Road

M il fo r d Bushk

Namanock Island

41.264988 -74.843964

14-17

first-come/first serve

Sandyston

41.248880 -74.855515

18-23

first-come/first serve

Dingmans Shallows

41.185276 -74.880993

first-come/first serve

Hornbecks

41.178972 -74.885157

27-29

first-come/first serve

Jerry Lees

41.153859 -74.908620

33-34

first-come/first serve

Mill Creek

41.150220 -74.912464

first-come/first serve

Toms Creek

41.127015 -74.948574

39-42

first-come/first serve

Ratcliffs

41.112459 -74.973252

52-54

first-come/first serve

Bushkill Creek

41.092099 -74.993005

first-come/first serve

Peters

41.093485 -74.989833

56-68

first-come/first serve

Quinns

41.096138 -74.967613

73-79

first-come/first serve

Freeman Point

41.093276 -74.967570

82-83

first-come/first serve

Alosa

10 Guide to the Gap

41.083544, -74.976290

R1-R6

reservation only

Park Headquarters POXONO ISLAND, NJ

Mohican Outdoor Center

209 220

Smithfield Beach

er R d

602 DEPEW ISLAND, NJ

first-come/first serve

(reservations only)

G ai s l

SAMBO ISLAND, PA

Poxono Access

Turtle Beach

(Fee area)

TOCKS ISLAND, NJ

LABAR ISLAND, NJ

DEPUE ISLAND, PA

WOODCOCK BAR ISLAND, NJ

209 SHAWNEE ISLAND, PA

215

WORTHINGTON STATE FOREST

SCHELLENBERGERS ISLAND, PA

Kittatinny Point

DELAWARE WATER GAP 611

80 ARROW ISLAND, PA

210

J E R S E Y

Ri v e

41.334419 -74.761520

Rivers Bend Group Campsites

225 (permit)

(Fee area)

De law a

Mashipacong Island

Bushkill Access

Ca m pR

Note

Fa l

Ro ad

Site #

ill

# People per site

8 (permit)

R iv

# Sites at Location

NPS 615 230

Valley View Group Campsites

River Campsites GPS

BUCK BAR ISLAND, PA

Mine Roa d

Two Night Trips: Milford Beach to Smithfield Beach and points south Dingmans Access to Kittatinny Point and points south

Eshback Access

Ol d

One Night Trips: Milford Beach to Eshback Access and points south Dingmans Access to Smithfield Beach and points south Eshback Access to Smithfield Beach and points south Bushkill Access to Kittatinny Point and points south

P E N N S Y L V A N I A

River camping is limited to boaters on trips of at least 14 miles total for one night, 26 miles total for two nights and 34 miles total for three nights.

Key Regulations • Camping along the river is permitted in designated sites only; sites are identified by signs and the presence of a steel fire grate. • Camping is limited to one night at each location. • Campsites are limited to five tents per campsite. • Tents must be erected within 50 feet of the campsite fire grate. • Fires permitted in existing fire grates only. • Self-contained stoves are permitted. • Collecting wood in the park for fires is prohibited, except downed wood within the designated campsite. • Do not bring wood from outside the park; firewood is available for purchase at Dingmans Campground. • Pack out what you pack in, including food scraps. • Use soaps sparingly; even biodegradable soap is a pollutant. • Do not urinate or defecate within 100 feet of any river or stream. Bury fecal material, including pet waste, at least six inches deep and at least 100 feet away from water. • Leave what you find; digging, collecting, or removing objects is prohibited.

NPS 615 235

N E W

For extended boat trips (14 miles or more), free primitive campsites along the river are available first-come, first-serve. Additionally, six sites at the Alosa Campsite are available by reservation only. For Alosa Campsite reservations call 877 444-6777 or go online to recreation.gov and search for Alosa. Service charges will apply when making reservations either by phone or at recreation.gov.

Lifeguarded swim area (summer) Permit-only campsite River campsite in PA (blue) River campsite in NJ (green)

MINISINK ISLAND, NJ

River Camping

State

Picnic area

Milford Beach

2001

River mileage (Mile zero is at the river’s mouth)

Boat launch

Caddoo Access

Dingmans Falls Visitor Center

# on Map River Campsite Name

1 Mile 235

QUICK ISLAND, NJ

d Roa

What better way to immerse yourself in an environment of solitude, tranquil natural landscapes, striking river valley scenery, and a substantially undeveloped river corridor than to go camping! Whether you enjoy the services available at a campground or prefer hiking or paddling to pitch a tent away from people, the park offers a campsite for you. The place you park your RV or set up your tent becomes your home away from home – make it a safe one.

Picnicking

Hiking

Numerous idyllic spots in the park await you and a red-checkered blanket. Grills are not provided anywhere in the park, but you are welcome to bring your own, except to Kittatinny Point. Ground fires are prohibited throughout the park. Do not bring wood from outside the park for any purpose; it may contain invasive insects and other organisms that threaten the survival of local plant and animal life. Collecting wood in the park for fires is also expressly prohibited, since even the smallest twig may serve as a critical habitat or food source for protected plant and animal life. Groups of 30 or more require a permit; contact 570-426-2440 for more information.

More than 100 miles of trails meander through the park, including nearly 27 miles of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. Hikers can enjoy the trails year-round, with each season offering its own special reward. During winter, the absence of deciduous leaves opens new vistas along trails and reveals stone walls, foundations, and other reminders of past residents. Spring provides a weekly parade of wildflowers and flowering trees. In summer, hikers can seek out cool retreats among the hemlock forests, and follow burbling streams to powerful falls and cascades. In autumn, hikers have crisp air to sharpen their senses and a wondrous palette of fall colors to enjoy.

Picnic Areas in Pennsylvania Bushkill Village

Alcohol and groups of 20 or more not permitted

Hidden Lake

Groups of 20 or more not permitted

Loch Lomond

Groups of 20 or more not permitted

Milford Beach

Fee area; alcohol not permitted; pets not permitted from Memorial Day to Labor Day weekends; group picnic area available - call 570-426-2440 to reserve

Smithfield Beach

Fee area; alcohol not permitted; pets not permitted from Memorial Day to Labor Day weekends

Toms Creek

Alcohol not permitted

Picnic Areas in New Jersey Crater Lake

Alcohol not permitted

Kittatinny Point

Grills and alcohol are not permitted

Millbrook Village

Alcohol and groups of 20 or more not permitted

Namanock

Alcohol not permitted

Turtle Beach

Fee area; alcohol and pets not permitted

Watergate Recreation Site

Fee area; alcohol and pets not permitted

Choosing a trail can be a daunting task. What to see? Waterfalls? Historic landscapes? Inspiring views? The following pages offer a simple guide to the many routes available. Be Prepared for Your Visit • Cell phone service is limited within the park. • Carry (and drink) plenty of water; a leading cause of injuries on the trail is dehydration. • Protect yourself from the sun; wear a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen. • Wear sturdy shoes. • Protect yourself from ticks and insects; use insect repellent, check and remove ticks when you return, and wear light-colored clothing to spot ticks more easily. • Stay alert for snakes; do not put your hands and feet into places you cannot see. • Be bear-aware; do not run if a bear approaches; make noise, wave your arms, and look large. • Be able to recognize poison ivy and avoid contact with the plant. • Trails are not regularly maintained or patrolled; travel carefully and at your own risk. • Wear bright orange (shirt, vest, or hat) during hunting season. Key Regulations • Stay on trails; taking shortcuts causes trail erosion, damages native plants, and can be dangerous. • Do not feed or approach wildlife. • Be Bear Aware; stay at least 100 yard from bears, hike in groups of three or more, make noise, and properly store trash and any products with an odor. • Pets must be leashed at all time • Pack out what you pack in; do not leave trash behind.

Biking

Riding

Cycling is a popular form of recreation in the park. The McDade Recreational Trail (page 14), a packed gravel path, parallels the Delaware River on the Pennsylvania side of the park for 32 miles and is perfect for mountain and hybrid bikes. This is the only trail where biking is permitted. A section between White Pines and Pittman Orchard trailheads is closed to biking. Motorized vehicles are not permitted on the McDade Recreational Trail.

Normally, horse riding is permitted on the Conashaugh View Trail in Pennsylvania and the Upper Ridge Trail in New Jersey for those who have their own horses. However, the Conashaugh View Trail sustained significant damage during a March 2018 winter storm and is closed to all recreational use until trail repairs are complete. Contact park headquarters at 570 426-2452 or visit the park’s website at www.nps.gov/dewa for the current status.

Old Mine Road parallels the Delaware River on the New Jersey side for 34 miles in the park (page 19) and passes through historic landscapes. Road work is planned between Flatbrook and Millbrook Village in 2019 and is not recommended for biking. Road biking on US 209 in Pennsylvania is not recommended due to heavy traffic. Road biking on River Road in Pennsylvania is strongly discouraged due to sharp, steep turns, blind curves, and the lack of shoulders.

The Upper Ridge Trail (page 11) near Layton, New Jersey, winds approximately five miles (in and back) through quiet woods, open fields and past isolated ponds. This trail is not heavily used and can become overgrown in the summer. Parking for trailers is along Jager Road. The trail is also open to hiking. Hikers should be alert to riders and must yield to horses by stepping off the trail and standing quietly until they pass. Please protect the environment by riding only on the marked trails, and crossing streams only on bridges. There are no horse rental liveries in the park.

11 Guide to the Gap

12 Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area The wetlands next to park headquarters and the view in Millbrook Village (bottom)

13 Guide to the Gap

Jun 30 - Aug 25, 2019 Sun 1p - 4p depending on volunteer availability

Year-round Daily 9a - 5p

Jun 30 - Aug 25, 2019 Sun 1p - 4p depending on volunteer availability

May - Dec, 2019 Daily 10a - 6p (Jun - Aug, Thr 10a-8p) Jan - Apr, 2019 Thr - Sun, 10a - 5p Year-round Daily 8:30a - 4:30p

May 26 - Sep 1, 2019 Sun 1a - 4p depending on volunteer availability May 26 - Sep 1, 2019 Sun 1p - 3p depending on volunteer availability

Foster-Armstrong House Montague, NJ GPS: 41.309053,-74.788919 973 293-3106 montaguehistory.org Mohican Outdoor Center Near Blairstown, NJ GPS: 41.03488,-75.001404 908 362-5670 outdoors.org/lodging/lodges/mohican Nelden-Roberts Stonehouse Montague, NJ GPS: 41.29304,-74.791698 973 293-3106 montaguehistory.org Peters Valley School of Craft Layton, NJ GPS: 41.196328,-74.850985 973 948-5200 petersvalley.org Pocono Environmental Education Center (PEEC) Near Dingmans Ferry, PA GPS: 41.17116,-74.9142 570 828-2319 peec.org First Rosenkrans House Walpack Center, NJ GPS: 41.158867,-74.880463 walpackhistory.org Van Campen Inn Near Walpack Center, NJ GPS: 41.164648,-74.892164 walpackhistory.org

Park information, house tours, Military Road trailhead

Park information, exhibits related to historic Walpack Center; grounds open dawn to dusk

Park information, exhibits related to plants and animals, public, education, and group programs, several trailheads, including a sensory trail and an accessible trail; accessible main facility

Park information, art gallery & store, artist demonstrations, self-guided village tours on Sat & Sun 2-5p, fine craft workshops during summer; accessible store

Park information, exhibits related to the Montague area, public programs and tours

Park information, Appalachian National Scenic Trail access, year-round outdoor recreationbased programs, basic lodging and camping facilities

Park information, exhibits related to the Montague area, public programs and tours; first floor of house partially accessible

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Available

Artisan at Peters Valley School of Craft (left), Van Campen Inn (top right), exhibit at PEEC (bottom right)

Operating Hours

Facility

Please contact facilities directly for updated information on operating hours, programs, and services.

Partner-Operated Facilities

McDade Recreational Trail, PA The McDade Recreational Trail extends most the length of the park in Pennsylvania and presents some of the best views of the Delaware River, as well as views of charming streams, open farm fields, forests, and historic landscapes. The trail is a wide, packed gravel path without blazes and offers hikers, bikers, and cross-country skiers areas of varied difficulty, from easy to moderately strenuous. With trailheads located one half to five miles apart, this trail offers a section for just about any visitor. Most trailheads are along the park’s free bus route that operates on Saturdays and Sundays from Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day Weekend. From the southern most trailhead at Hialeah to Owens trailhead, the trail is mostly flat as it traverses former settlements and farms. North from the Owens trailhead on Freeman Tract Road, the trail switchbacks sharply up the side of the ridge to the park’s headquarters. Observation decks on the side of the headquarters facility provide wildlife viewing areas. Between park headquarters and Bushkill Access, the terrain becomes rolling hills. Numerous structures, foundations, and other traces remain from the once thriving community of Bushkill. North of Bushkill Access, the trail follows a narrow ribbon of land between US 209 and the river and then continues through nearly level agricultural fields and forests to the Schneider Farm trailhead. Continuing north, the next several miles are dominated by the river to the east and the cliffs to the west, with the trail and US 209 squeezed between in places. From Raymondskill Creek to Milford Beach, the Raymondskill Cliff parallels the nearly flat trail. Note: A section of the trail between White Pines and Conashaugh and another section of trail between Conashaugh and Pittman Orchard are hiking only and closed to bike riding due to stairs and steep grade. The northern terminus of the McDade Trail is Milford Beach, a popular recreation site for local residents since 1945. Whether you start from Milford Beach, Hialeah, or a point in between, you are sure to find something to enjoy.

Trail Section

Length

Rating ‡

Elevation Δ

Milford Beach to Pittman Orchard

2.2 mi 3.5 km

83 feet

Pittman Orchard to Conashaugh **

2.4 mi 3.9 km

62 feet

Conashaugh to White Pines

1.8 mi 2.9 km

71 feet

White Pines to Schneider Farm

4.1 mi 6.6 km

77 feet

Schneider Farm to Jerry Lees

4.9 mi 7.9 km

50 feet

Jerry Lees to Eshback Access

1.8 mi 2.9 km

25 feet

Eshback Access to Egypt Mills

1.8 mi 2.9 km

30 feet

Egypt Mills to Bushkill Access

2.4 mi 3.9 km

39 feet

Bushkill Access to Bushkill Village

1.7 mi 2.7 km

45 feet

Bushkill Village to Park Headquarters

2.0 mi 3.2 km

231 feet

Park Headquarters to Owens

0.7 mi 1.1 km

320 feet

Owens to Turn Farm

1.2 mi 1.9 km

91 feet

Turn Farm to Riverview

0.5 mi 0.8 km

17 feet

Riverview to Smithfield Beach

2.2 mi 3.5 km

34 feet

Smithfield Beach to Hialeah

1.9 mi 3.1 km

97 feet

Things to Know • Speed limit is 15 mph. • Bikers must yield to hikers. • No motorized vehicles. • Leashed pets are permitted along the trail except at Milford and Smithfield beaches and between Smithfield Beach and Hialeah late spring to early fall. Biking Safely • Go with the traffic flow; ride on right. • Pass on left and give audible sound to alert others of intent. • Obey all traffic laws. • Yield to traffic and pedestrians. • Be predictable; ride in a straight line and signal moves. • Stay alert at all times. • Look before turning. • Walk bicycles on steep hills and stairs. • Wear a bicycle helmet. Children 12 years old and younger must wear a bicycle helmet. • Secure loose clothing to ensure it will not become entangled in bicycle gears. • Adjust the bicycle to fit. The seat should be level front to back, and the height should be adjusted to allow a slight bend at the knee when the leg is fully extended. Handlebar height should be level with seat. • Check your equipment before riding and ensure tires are properly inflated and that the brakes work. • Make yourself visible to others. • Control the bicycle by riding with two hands on the handlebars, except when signaling a turn. • Watch for and avoid hazards.

** this section is closed January through mid-July to protect nesting bald eagles

2.5

Pittman Orchard

Conashaugh

5.0

2.5

Conashaugh

White Pines

6.5

4.0

1.5

White Pines

Bike Rentals and Tours Edge of the Woods Outdoor Outfitters 110 Main Street Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327 570 421-6681

Pittman Orchard

9.6

7.1

4.6

3.1

Schneider Farm

14.9

12.4

9.9

8.4

5.3

Jerry Lees

Eshback Access

16.7

14.2

11.7

10.2

7.1

1.8

Eshback Access

Egypt Mills

18.5

16.0

13.5

12.0

8.9

3.6

1.8

Egypt Mills

Bushkill Access

20.9

18.4

15.9

14.4

11.3

6.0

4.2

2.4

Bushkill Access

Bushkill Village

22.6

20.1

17.6

16.1

13.0

7.7

5.9

4.1

1.7

Bushkill Village

Park Headquarters

24.4

21.9

19.4

17.9

14.8

9.5

7.7

5.9

3.5

1.8

Park Headquarters

Owens

25.1

22.6

20.1

18.6

15.5

10.2

8.4

6.6

4.2

2.5

0.7

Turn Farm

25.8

23.3

20.8

19.3

16.2

10.9

9.1

7.3

4.9

3.2

1.4

0.7

Riverview

26.4

23.9

21.4

19.9

16.8

11.5

9.7

7.9

5.5

3.8

2.0

1.3

0.6

Riverview

Smithfield Beach

29.0

26.5

24.0

22.5

19.4

14.1

12.3

10.5

8.1

6.4

4.6

3.9

3.2

2.6

Smithfield Beach

Trailhead Name

Hialeah

31.0

28.5

26.0

24.5

21.4

16.1

14.3

12.5

10.1

8.4

6.6

5.9

5.2

4.6

2.0

Turn Farm

Jerry Lees

Shawnee River Trips at the Shawnee Inn 100 Shawnee Inn Drive Shawnee on Delaware, PA 18356 800 742-9633 or 570 424-4000

Owens

Schneider Farm

14 Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

Milford Beach

Mileage between McDade Trailheads

Appalachian National Scenic Trail, NJ and PA The Appalachian National Scenic Trail (AT) traverses the wild Appalachian Mountain chain from central Maine to northern Georgia, for a distance of approximately 2,180 miles. Nearly 27 miles of the trail straddle the Kittattiny Ridge through New Jersey and Pennsylvania within Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Numerous other trails connect with the AT and are described on page 15 and 17.

RIDG

To Milford

Culvers Gap

560

To Branchville

206

INNY

615

A p p al ac h i a Nation n al Sc e ni c Trail

STOKES e Road

S TAT E

M in

FOREST NPS 615

Ol d

KITT AT

Peters Valley School of Craft

Distance indicator

0.5mi

Appalachian Trail Other hiking trail Unpaved road Parking Restroom

7.2mi

Walpack Center

Drinking water Information

0.9mi

Crater Lake

D rive

Skyline kes R o a

No trail shelters exist within the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. The nearest are Kirkridge Shelter in Pennsylvania, 6.4 miles south of the Interstate 80 bridge, and Brink Road Shelter in New Jersey, 4 miles north of the Buttermilk Trail spur. Mohican Outdoor Center offers lodging and camping at NJ mile 10.3 and the Worthington State Forest campground can be reached via the 1.6-mile Douglas Trail at NJ mile 4.6.

i a n N at io n al Scenic Tra il

Blue Mountain Lakes

Trail

3.6mi

l ue

A p p al a c h

M ou

ntai n

Old

Mine

Ro a d

209 2.0

Things to know • Carry sufficient water for the entire hike. Water along the trail may not be suitable for consumption. All water should be chemically treated or boiled for ten minutes. • All human waste must be buried at least six inches deep and 100 feet or more from any stream, trail, unpaved road, or park facility. • Carry out all trash. • Self-contained stoves are permitted; ground fires, charcoal stoves and grills are prohibited. • Cutting, defacing, or removing any natural feature is prohibited. • Pets must be on a 6-foot leash at all times. • Horseback riding, biking, and all types of motorized vehicles (except authorized vehicles) are prohibited on the trail within Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Camping Regulations • Camping is restricted to through-hikers who are hiking for two or more consecutive days; starting at one location along the trail and ending at another. • Camping is limited to one night and ten persons per campsite. • Self-contained stoves are permitted; ground fires, charcoal stoves and grills are prohibited. • Hikers may not camp: • Within 100 feet of any stream or water source; • Within 0.5 mile of an established roadway; • Within 200 feet of another camping party; or • From 0.5 mile south of Blue Mountain Lakes Road to a point one mile north of Crater Lake.

Buttermilk Falls

NPS 615

The AT is marked with white blazes. Side trails to water, scenic viewpoints, or shelters are marked with blue blazes. Appalachian Mountain Club’s Mohican Outdoor Center at NJ mile 10.3 offers several self-service cabins, individual and group campsites, and simple dining options. Numerous weekend hiking activities are offered throughout the year. For more information, contact Mohican Outdoor Center at 908 362-5670 or visit their website at outdoors.org/lodging/lodges/mohican.

Millbrook Village

Length

0.6mi

1.4mi

650 feet 290 feet

Route 602 to Mohican Outdoor Center

3.5 mi 5.6 km

390 feet

9.1 mi 14.6 km

1220 feet

Forested ridgetop, descending into the Delaware Water Gap, passes Sunfish Pond

1.8 mi 2.9 km

200 feet

Through the Borough of Delaware Water Gap, climbing to forested ridgetop

7.2 mi 11.6 km

934 feet

Blue Mtn Lakes Road

10.1

Route 602

13.7

3.6

Mohican Outdoor Center

17.2

7.1

3.5

Kittatinny Point

26.3

16.2

12.6

9.1

Kittatinny Point

Lake Lenape

28.1

18.0

14.4

10.9

1.8

Lake Lenape

(Fee area)

Mileage between Appalachian Trailheads Blue Mtn Lakes Road

1.9mi

P E N N S Y L V A N I A

Turtle Beach

Mohican Outdoor Center to Kittatinny Point

Lake Lenape to PA 191

J E R S E Y

1.5mi

Camp Rd

Coppermine

PA 191

35.3

25.2

21.6

18.1

9.0

7.2

1.5

RIDG

Sunfish Pond

Trailhead Name

WORTHINGTON STATE FOREST Y

INN

Forested ridgetop through Stokes State Forest and the park Forested ridgetop Forested ridgetop, passes Catfish Fire Tower

Forested ridgetop

Please visit www.nps.gov/appa for updates on trail facility openings and closures due to COVID-19. Campsites on the trail in the park and in Worthington State Forest remain closed with no date set for re-opening. Other AT facilities such as privies and shelters also remain closed until further notice.

KIT

1.6

TAT

Old Mine Ro ad

209

US 206

2.3mi

N E W

Kaiser

Upper Yards Creek Reservoir

Highlights

3.6 mi 5.6 km

Kittatinny Point to Lake Lenape

Gaisl er

Mohican Outdoor Center

Poxono Access

602 Road

Park Headquarters

Elevation Δ

Blue Mtn Lakes Road to Route 602 Bushkill

209

Rating ‡

10.1 mi 16.5 km

US 206 to Blue Mtn Lakes Road

Mohican Outdoor Center

Layton

Route 602

645

1.8mi

Park & Ride Lot

River Rd & Broad St

Kittatinny Point 1.8m

Lake Lenape

7.2

Columbia

Portland

A pp

erry

al a

Valley

611

RID d oa

611

c hia S ce n N at i ni c o Trai nal l

DELAWARE WATER GAP

191

North

0 0

2 Kilometers 2 Miles

View from Raccoon Ridge along the Appalachian National Scenic Trail

15 Guide to the Gap

nderm

Constructed in the mid-1600s, Old Mine Road connected the Hudson River and Philadelphia to the Pahaquarry Mines and provided an important conduit for New Jersey farmers taking crops to area markets, making it one of the oldest commercial roads in the country. Today, Old Mine Road stitches together sections of several roads into the park’s main passage in New Jersey and still retains much of the flavor of 100 years ago, making it a popular driving and biking route.

Nelden-Roberts Stonehouse Built around 1820, this house’s construction is attributed to George Nelden, who acquired the property in 1816. The Roberts Family was the last owners of the house, along with the farmstead located across US 206. Page 13

Minisink Dutch Reformed Church

Milford Beach (Fee area)

Nelden-Roberts Stonehouse Montague

Westbrook Bell House Jager

Hainesville

R o ad

Namanock

2001 209

Walpack Center

Layton 560 739

560

BevansHellwig Kitchen

615

re Delawa

Like other villages along the Old Mine Road, the Kittatinny Ridge to the east and the highlands of New Jersey to the north isolated the hamlet of Walpack Center. Area farmers found what they needed at the village’s general store, post office, blacksmith shop, church, and school. By the early 20th century, however, automobiles and larger farms proved to be too much competition and the village began its decline. Today, the Walpack Historical Society operates a museum in the First Rosenkrans House on summer weekends. Page 13

206

Alonzo Depue House

Dingmans Falls Visitor Center

Van Campen Inn

Peters Valley

O l d M i n e Ro a d

Minisink Dutch Reformed Church The Minisink Church was the heart, both spiritually and geographically, of the four original Dutch Reformed congregations established in the Upper Delaware Valley in 1737. The present structure was built in 1899, and tombstones in the cemetery date to 1805. Though it remains small, the vibrant congregation is one of the oldest in the country.

Montague Grange #140 Foster-Armstrong House

River

Foster-Armstrong House Owners of this home operated a ferry, sawmill, and gristmill. The house was used as a tavern and inn for river travelers and reflects the standard of living of a prosperous family in the early 19th century. The Montague Association for the Restoration of Community History (MARCH) operates this historic house museum for tours weekends and during special events. Page 12

MILFORD

O l d M in e Ro a d

Montague Grange #140 The National Grange, founded in 1867, is an organization that advocates for rural America and agriculture. The local Montague Grange was founded in 1904 and this hall was built in 1906. The local group remains active and continues to use the building for meetings and community activities.

the area and had them intersect outside of his home in 1867. Over the years, the hamlet’s name changed several times, including Hen’s Foot Corner and Bevans, before its current name of Peters Valley. Through a partnership with the National Park Service, Peters Valley School of Craft operates an active school of fine craft. Stop by the Craft Store and Gallery to browse artisan’s wares, learn about workshop offerings, and find out more about the weekend self-guided tours of the village. Page 13

6 209

PA .

ark

Touring Old Mine Road

While it is called an “inn,” it is more accurately a “yaugh house”—a rural residence in a remote area that was licensed under colonial law to provide food and shelter to travelers. During the French & Indian War (1754-1763), the Van Campen Inn “provided a safe haven when settlers fled for protection from Indian attack” and in November 1763, 150 settlers sought shelter in the “stout walls” of the house. The Walpack Historical Society offers tours of the house on most Sundays during the summer. Page 13

NPS 615

Van Campen Inn

209

Walpack Center

Pompey Ridge Road

Buttermilk Falls

Delaware View House Constructed in the early 1800s, numerous changes over the years enlarged this once small house. As the house expanded, it also changed uses, including serving as the Flatbrook Hotel hunting lodge, the Losey Boarding House, and Salamovka – a summer retreat for Russian emigrants.

Mi n

Ro a

Crater Lake

Millbrook Village

Alonzo Depue House As with other historic homes along Old Mine Road, the landscape would have been quite different one hundred years ago – open fields, a clear view to the river, and several farm outbuildings. For 48 consecutive years, Alonzo Depue recorded temperature and precipitation readings for the U.S. Weather Service from a weather station near the road without missing a day. Bevans-Hellwig Kitchen In the late 19th century, this little stone building was the rear kitchen attached to a large farmhouse. Local tradition holds that the original structure was used as a French and Indian War fortification, known as Fort Carmer.

LV AN

602

Calno School 209

Poxono Access

Turtle Beach (Fee area)

Ri v

Pahaquarry

16 Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

Park Headquarters

The Coppermine Trail passes by the foundation of the Pahaquarry Copper Mine processing mill and mine shafts. Brief periods of mining attempted during the past three centuries were never successful, despite improved technology and mineral extraction methods. In 1925, this area became the Pahaquarry Boy Scout Camp and operated until 1971. It was just one of numerous scout and church camps that once existed within the park boundaries. NOTE: Mine shafts are closed to protect critical bat habitat.

Peter Van Nest, a land surveyor, laid out the roads in

PE NN

NE W

Calno School In the 19th century, schools were located in places that would allow students to walk no more than four or five miles to attend. In 1881, the Calno School District counted 48 school-age youth, but only 30 were on the school’s register and the average daily attendance was only 15. The poorly paid teachers boarded with local families and seldom stayed more than a year or two. When this school was in operation, there was also a school in Millbrook Village, only five miles north.

Peters Valley

Watergate

(Fee area)

Pahaquarry

ar e

While nothing remains today, this was the site of Fort Namanock during the French and Indian War (17541763). Forts in this time and era were little more than sturdy houses with a wooden defensive fence surrounding them.

Bushkill

la w

Namanock

Millbrook Village

Built by Johannis Westbrook, this is the oldest house located in Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, possibly predating 1730, and was lived in by nine generations of the family until the acquisition of the property by the federal government.

Delaware View House

Old Mine Road

WORTHINGTON STATE FOREST

Alternate Route to avoid gravel road

Ro ad

Westbrook-Bell House

Blue Mountain Lakes

Flatbrookville

In 1832, Abram Garis built a grist mill along the Van Campen Brook. The mill soon attracted other businesses and by 1875, Millbrook was a thriving farm village. By 1910, most businesses had closed their doors. Today, only a handful of original Millbrook buildings remain. Other buildings have been moved from other sites or are newly built to help depict village life in the valley during the late 19th and early 20th century.

North

Old Mi ne

Nelden-Roberts Stonehouse

NPS 615

Old

2001

5 Kilometers

0 0

5 Miles

Kittatinny Point 94

DELAWARE WATER GAP 611

The Delaware Water Gap

Overlooks in the Gap

Point of Gap Overlook

Tourist attractions of all sorts once lined River Drive through the Delaware Water Gap. This route, now known as PA 611, passes by many former attractions—but other than the stone guardrail lining the road, little remains of that historic past. Still, the stunning beauty of the water gap makes this short 2-mile drive a must-do during your visit.

This overlook is in the heart of the Delaware Water Gap, between Mt. Minsi in Pennsylvania and Mt. Tammany in New Jersey. Just as it is a popular place for viewing today, this was also a popular stop for the Victorian vacationer. The Indian Head Lunch, a tourist attraction named for its view of the cliff with the same name across the river, offered meals and souvenirs, while the Myrtle William’s Gap Inn provided a place for picnicking and camping.

Resort Point Overlook The best known part of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is the distinct notch in the Kittatinny Ridge known as the “water gap.” In order to enjoy the area’s beauty, visitors in the early 1820s rented rooms with local families. By 1832, a 25-guest hotel overlooking the Delaware River opened in Delaware Water Gap, and in 1860, the Kittatinny Hotel expanded to accommodate 250 guests. The popularity of the area surrounding the water gap continued to grow, and additional hotels opened to meet the lodging needs of vacationers. Typically, vacationing families consisted of mothers and their children spending the entire summer in one of the hotels while the fathers joined them on the weekends. Visitors occupied themselves by hiking, swimming, fishing, dancing, playing tennis and golf, visiting amusement parks, shopping for souvenirs, and delighting in carriage, steamboat, and rowboat rides. According to the manager of the Kittatinny Hotel, “perhaps the featuring asset of the Gap, aside from its beautiful gorge, through which flows the placid Delaware, is its health giving atmosphere, which permeates everywhere and which in itself has given the region much of its charm and popularity.”

Arrow Island Overlook Today, this overlook provides a wonderful view of the water gap and the trailhead for the Arrow Island Trail. In the early 1900s, however, this was a bustling tourist stop. Minsi Mountain Park encompassed about 200 acres, and a hotel with a few outlying cottages was located on the hill overlooking the river. Inventive owners marketed a nearby slate quarry as a romantic enticement called “the Grotto” and boasted of the clear waters found in the “Minsi Health Spring.” In the location of today’s parking area, the Bear Stop roadside attraction featured caged bears and deer for the tourists’ amusement.

By the early 1900s, many people had private automobiles. Magazines and newspapers extensively advertised various appealing destinations for city dwellers. At the same time, improved roads gave people a greater choice of holiday retreats. Weekend excursions began replacing summerlong holidays, and the traditional resort business of the Delaware Water Gap began to decline. The economic depression of the 1930s changed the nation’s way of life, and grand hotels could no longer compete with the new and popularly priced year-round weekend resorts in the nearby Pocono Mountains. A re claimed the Kittatinny Hotel in 1931, and today, all that remains is the view from the location of this once grand hotel.

Kittatinny House hotel c1906 (above) Watercolor painting of the water gap c1820 (right)

17 Guide to the Gap

People of the Delaware River Valley Human occupation in the Delaware River valley dates back over 12,000 years when small family bands moved across the landscape, hunting game, fishing the rivers and streams and gathering food from the forests and grasslands. About 8,000 years ago, groups began to travel less and relied on a variety of foods found locally, such as acorns, nuts, sh, deer and turkey. Families began farming about 2,000 years ago, leading to a more settled lifestyle. The Lenape (len-AH-pay) or Delaware lived in an area they called “Lenapehoking,” which means “Land of the Lenape.” Lenapehoking included eastern Pennsylvania, all of New Jersey, southeastern New York, northern Delaware, and a small section of southeastern Connecticut. While some Lenape lived in large villages of about 200 people, most lived in groups of 50 to 75.

The arrival of Europeans in the mid-1500s meant drastic changes for the Lenape. European explorers traded iron axes, cloth, and copper kettles with the Lenape for valuable animal furs. In addition to the rich natural resources, Europeans also wanted land. Conflicts arose between the Lenape and European colonists over land ownership. Additionally, the introduction of diseases devastated the native population, who had no immunities. By the mid-1700s, warfare and diseases contributed to an estimated loss of 90% of the Lenape people. During the 1700s, most Lenape people either voluntarily moved or were forcibly moved west, eventually settling in Canada, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma. Today, most Lenape decedents still live in Canada, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma. Their arts and oral traditions reflect their culture, and they continue to stay connected to their ancestral homeland. The Lenape legacy remains, and their impact is honored through various place names in the park today.

Left: Painting depicting William Penn entering into 1683 peace treaty Right: Tish-Co-Han, Lenape Chief in the 1700s

Waterfalls Raymondskill Falls

Buttermilk Falls

Dingmans and Silverthread Falls

Raymondskill Creek Trail, Pennsylvania GPS 41.290231 -74.840853

Buttermilk Falls Trail, New Jersey GPS 41.137164 -74.888793

Dingmans Creek Trail, Pennsylvania GPS 41.229294 -74.887212

The loop trail that leads to the waterfall is only 0.3 mile, but is steep. The three tiers of Raymondskill Falls have a combined height of approximately 150 feet, making it one of the tallest waterfall in Pennsylvania. If the drops from each tier are added together, the waterfall is only a few feet shorter than Niagara Falls. The upper viewing area overlooks the upper pool and the narrow chute of the first drop. The lower viewing area provides an outstanding view and photo opportunity of the falls. A spur trail leads to the creek, but not to the bottom of the waterfall. Trail map on page 10.

The waterfall is located at the trailhead for the Buttermilk Falls Trail, and, therefore, requires no hiking to view. The cascading Buttermilk Falls is considered the highest waterfall in New Jersey at approximately 200 feet. A set of stairs climbs to a viewing platform at the top. The trail continues a nearly 1.5-mile steep climb to join the Appalachian National Scenic Trail at the top of the ridge. Trail map on page 15.

An accessible boardwalk trail meanders 0.3 mile through a pristine hemlock ravine. Shortly after starting the trail, Silverthread Falls gracefully drops 80 feet in a thin ribbon of water through a narrow geometric chute. The boardwalk continues through dense rhododendron shrubs and ends at the base of Dingmans Falls, the second highest waterfall in Pennsylvania at 130 feet. A wide rock ledge provides the backdrop for this cascading waterfall. The final tenth of a mile is a staircase that leads to a birds-eye view from the top. Trail map on page 11.

Things to Know: • Pets are not permitted on the trail. • Swimming and wading is not permitted in the creek and waterfalls. • Stay on the designated trail. • Restrooms are located at the parking lot. • The parking lot at the trailhead fills quickly on summer weekends. To avoid the crowds, visit the area before 10:00 am or after 4:00 pm on weekends or visit on a weekday.

Things to Know: • Swimming and wading are not permitted in the waterfall and the pools. • Stay on the designated trail. • The drive to the waterfall is via a rural gravel road. Driving Mountain Road from Walpack Center is the recommended route, since Mountain Road south of Buttermilk Falls is very rough

18 Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

Things to Know: • Pets are not permitted on the trail. • Swimming and wading is not permitted in the creek and waterfalls. • Fishing is not permitted between Dingmans Falls and the trailhead parking area between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm. • The parking lot fills quickly on summer weekends. To avoid the crowds, visit the area before 10:00 am or after 4:00 pm on weekends or visit on a weekday.

Hunting

Closed to Hunting

Hunting is permitted in most parts of the park. In addition to all applicable state regulations, park-specific regulations are provided below. Please note that you are in a national park; other outdoor enthusiasts are using the same area in which you are hunting. Respect private property located within the park boundaries. Hunting Regulations The possession of firearms on federally-owned land within Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is permissible consistent with state and federal laws, as outlined in the Digest of Pennsylvania Hunting Regulations, New Jersey Fish and Wildlife Digest, the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Compendium of Regulations, and Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The Compendium of Regulations for Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is available at park headquarters in Bushkill, PA. All firearms must be unloaded and cased or broken-down while in motor vehicles on roadways or shoulders; bows must be cased. Wear fluorescent orange in compliance with state regulations.

The following are prohibited: • Trapping • Spotlighting • Bow hunting on Sundays • Hunting in closed areas • Hunting in plowed and planted fields or in fields with unharvested crops • Hunting from, along, or across roads, or from any kind of motorized vehicle • Using artificial or natural bait • Driving or pursuing an animal through closed areas with intention of killing it • Screw-in foot pegs or attaching a stand to a tree with nails, spikes, lag bolts, screws, or similar devices; tree stands must be free-standing and removable • Releasing any animal or bird into the recreation area for the purpose of hunting or dog training • Target practice • Off-road driving • Parking that blocks gates or access roads • Backcountry camping and campfires • Rifles, handguns, and shotguns with shot larger than #4 shot in PA between River Road and the Delaware River and from Shawnee to six miles north of Shawnee, except during the PA big game hunting season when the use of rifles, handguns, shotguns, flintlocks, and muzzleloaders is allowed (the use of a shotgun using steel or other approved nontoxic shot larger than #4 shot is permitted while hunting waterfowl during established seasons)

More Information PA Game Commission 570 675-1143/5065 pgc.state.pa.us

Accessibility

NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife 908 735-8240 state.nj.us/dep/fgw/ hunting.htm

Delaware Water Gap Nat’l Recreation Area Ranger Office 570 828-2321 nps.gov/dewa

All areas within 450 feet of any regularly used or occupied structure, including: Pennsylvania • Bushkill Meeting Center • Bushkill School • Cliff Park grounds and golf course • Dingmans and Bushkill ranger stations • Dingmans Campground and Valley View Group Campsites • Dingmans Ferry, Eshback, and Bushkill accesses • Dingmans Maintenance Facility area • George W. Childs Park area • Milford and Smithfield beaches • Park Headquarters • Pocono Environmental Education Center • Raymondskill and Dingmans falls area • Slateford Farmhouse • Toms Creek, Hidden Lake, Loch Lomond, and Hialeah picnic areas New Jersey • Camp Ken-Etiwa-Pec area • Chado Maintenance Facility area • Kittatinny Point Visitor Center area • Millbrook Village • Minisink Reformed Dutch Church • Mohican Outdoor Center area • Peters Valley School of Craft, including Thunder Mountain area • Rivers Bend Group Campsites • Turtle Beach • Van Campen Inn • Walpack Center area • Walpack Ridge Trail • Watergate Recreation Site • Weygadt Facility area

Trails Dingmans Creek Trail (page 11) is a flat, quarter-mile boardwalk to the base of Silverthread and Dingmans falls that is wheelchair accessible. Trail for Everyone (page 11) is wheelchair accessible and has several benches along the one-way, third of a mile route. The Sensory Trail (page 11) is a quarter-mile, rope-lined trail. Swim Beaches Accessible restrooms and bathhouses are located at Milford and Smithfield beaches. Assistance is needed to the swimming area at these sites. Overlooks Resort Point, Point of Gap, and Arrow Island overlooks along PA 611 offer wheelchair accessible views of the Delaware Water Gap. Boat Launch A boat loading ramp is available at Smithfield Beach. The ramp provides access to trailer-mounted boats. Fishing Pier A pier at Loch Lomond is wheelchair accessible.

Service Animals Service animals are allowed in all facilities and trails, but must always be leashed. Picnic Areas Accessible restrooms and picnic sites are located at Milford Beach, Toms Creek, Smithfield Beach, Hialeah, Watergate, and Kittatinny Point.

Campgrounds Dingmans Campground has wheelchair accessible sites. The Dingmans Campground store and bathhouse are accessible. Valley View Group Campsite #1 is wheelchair accessible. Audio Described Exhibits Audio files for the Dingmans Falls Visitor Center exhibits and many wayside exhibits throughout the park are available for download at the park’s website: nps.gov/dewa/planyourvisit/accessibility.htm

19 Guide to the Gap

> P ond at park headquarters Photo courtesy of DWGNRA

20 Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

CURRENT CONDITIONS *AS OF AUGUST 1 ST, 2020

> D ingman’s Falls Photo courtesy of DWGNRA

uring this time many public facilities, including some restrooms, remain temporarily closed. Before you arrive, please know that emergency and maintenance services are limited. Visitors are personally responsible for all trash accumulated during your visit. Please avoid crowded trailheads and note that parking lots for trails to Mt. Tammany, Mt. Minsi, Raymondkill Falls, Dingmans Falls, Hackers Falls, and Buttermilk Falls are usually full by 9:00 am on Saturday and Sunday. Avoid crowded trailheads by hiking early, on weekdays, of choosing a less popular trail.

LIMITED SERVICES AVAILABLE: VISIT RESPONSIBLY

Most park trails and boat launches are open, but some bathrooms are closed and services are limited. Law enforcement is on duty. All park regulations apply. • Avoid crowded trailheads • If the parking lot is full, find a different trail. • Park only in designated areas • Illegally parked cars will be ticketed and towed. • Maintain social distance • Even when outside, stay at least 6 feet from other people. • Pack out your trash • Please help us keep you, wildlife, and employees safe. • Hike Safely • Protect search and rescue personnel. Stay out of closed areas, mark the location of your car, and know your limits.

TEMPORARY CLOSURES

Following guidance from the CDC and recommendations from state and local public health in consultation with NPS Public Health Service officers, the following public facilities within Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area are temporarily closed: • Bushkill Meeting/Visitor Center

• Dingmans Fall Visitor Center • Hialeah Picnic Area • Valley View (PA) and Rivers Bend (NJ) Group Campgrounds and Campsites at Mohican Outdoor Center. • Backcountry campsites on the Appalachian Trail within Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area • All volunteer-operated buildings including the FosterArmstrong House, the Nelden-Roberts Stonehouse, Montague Grange, Van Campen Inn, and those at Millbrook and Walpack Center • Restrooms and public buildings at Pocono Environmental Education Center, Peters Valley School of Craft, and Mohican Outdoor Center are closed until further notice. Trails and grounds remain open at Peters Valley School of Craft. • Blue Mountain Lakes Road (in New Jersey) above the Blue Mountain Lakes trailhead parking area • Dingmans Falls Road (in Pennsylvania) • Skyline Drive (in New Jersey) • Mountain Road • Some public restrooms at sites around the park remain closed

AREA CLOSURES

The following areas are closed to all public entry due storm damage and ongoing repairs and trail reroutes: • Conashaugh View Horse Trail in PA • George W. Childs Park Trail in PA • Adams Creek in PA • Lower Van Campen Trail and Parking Area in NJ Pay attention to road and trail closure signage, and visit www. facebook.com/DelWaterGapNPS for the latest updates. Note: a Facebook account is not necessary to view posts on Facebook.

21 Guide to the Gap

RAPTOR CLOSURES

• Milford Cliffs are closed to rock climbing and hiking off trail along the Cliff Trail area through approximately early August to prevent human disturbance to nesting peregrine falcons. • The McDade trail is closed between Conashaugh trailhead and Pittman Orchard trailhead through approximately early July to protect nesting Bald Eagles.

22 Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

• The Flying Hawks Airfield, located between the Delaware River and US Route 209 north of PA Route 739, is closed to the use of remote controlled model airplanes through approximately early August to protect nesting peregrine falcons.

PLACES TO VISIT & STAY... THINGS TO DO... HAVE FUN FOR SURE... WITH MORE TO EXPLORE ALL CLOSE TO THE

DELAWARE WATER GAP NATIONAL RECREATION AREA

inisin hotel

DELAWARE RIVER TRIPS

Canoes - Kayaks Rafts

ANTOINE DUTOT

Edge of the Woods Outfitters 570-421-6681 www.WaterGapAdventure.com 129 Main St. Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINEÂ© 43

23 Guide to the Gap

> S ilverthread Falls, Dingmans Falls Boardwalk Trail Photo courtesy of DWGNRA

44 Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

TOCK’S ISLAND AND THE DELAWARE WATER GAP NATIONAL RECREATION AREA By Dave Pierce

oday’s Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is a popular destination for world-class hiking trails, spectacular waterfalls, canoeing and kayaking, taking in historic buildings and sites, or simply enjoying the steep, rocky, treelined views from high vistas. But for generations, family farms, full-time residences, parttime summer cottages, and a few inns, boarding houses and small resorts dotted the landscape overlooking the Delaware River. Some 12,000 residents in Pennsylvania and New Jersey were forced to give up their properties for today’s 70,000-acre national park. Silt from the river-fed valley enriched the farm soil, but most farmers lived on the surrounding high ridges that spared them from the worst of the great 1955 flood. No one died along the Delaware River but about 100 people died on the river’s tributaries, including 76 who lost their lives on Monroe County’s Broadhead Creek.

The deadly flood provided a reprieve for upper Delaware River Valley residents in Pennsylvania and New Jersey who were threatened in 1955 by a two-state proposal to build a dam at Wallpack Bend, near Bushkill, with a 30-mile reservoir for urban water supply. The respective governors and state legislators finalized the project just weeks before the great August 1955 flood wiped out homes and cottages along river tributaries that included the McMichael, Brodhead and Pocono creeks. The flood prompted Congress and President Eisenhower to put the two states’ dam project on hold while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers coordinated a multi-agency review of the entire Delaware River Basin’s needs. When the federal review was released in 1962, Congress authorized a new dam at Tocks Island, downstream from Wallpack Bend near Shawnee. The slow post-flood shift in official river basin policy left residents and business owners in limbo. Should they rebuild their flood-ravaged properties, only to have the state or federal

> D ingmans Creek at Childs Park (Fulmer Falls in background) Photo courtesy of DWGNRA

governments acquire them for a dam and reservoir within a few years through a forced sale, called eminent domain? Would anyone want to buy their property, knowing the government likely would take possession in a few years? Bushkill businessman Captain Harold Auten raised that issue immediately after the 1955 flood. The retired British Navy officer and U.S.-Australian film distribution executive wanted to know whether to rebuild his Bushkill Manor resort and nearby commercial holdings, or get out of the way of the planned dam. That's what he told Army Corps Lt. Col. John C.H. Lee in an early 1956 letter. Col. Lee noted Auten had received the British Victoria Cross for his command of an anti-submarine vessel during World War I. "The number of people living through a Victoria Cross is far less than those that live through a Congressional Medal of Honor," Lee told those attending a Pennsylvania and New Jersey legislative forum in early 1956. "He just does not know what to do. He is afraid to rebuild where he is and then have his land condemned, or something of that sort." Buying out residents after they rebuild would only drive up acquisition costs, Lee said. "Something is going to be built there to conserve water, and 22 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

“The Pennsylvania General Assembly approved legislation in 1982 to donate the 150-acre George Childs State Park, near Dingmans Ferry, to the federal government for inclusion in the national recreation area.” therefore it seems wise now to face up to the problem of the losses to those residents in the Bushkill area from the August floods and to indemnify them now," Lee said. "In other words, it makes eventual construction cheaper." The Pennsylvania Legislature agreed in 1958 to provide $500,000 for property acquisitions from willing sellers who suffered 1955 flood loses. That funding wasn’t nearly enough to meet demand for buyouts. Pennsylvania acquired 17 properties, mostly in Pike County. But Auten and many of his neighbors were bypassed when it came to buyouts. The fate of his holdings remained in doubt for six years after he died in 1964.

The Pennsylvania General Assembly approved legislation in 1982 to donate the 150-acre George Childs State Park, near Dingmans Ferry, to the federal government for inclusion in the national recreation area. The bill also resulted in state transfer – for one dollar – of another 270 acres the state bought from the 17 landowners back in 1958-59, as part of a "hardship" purchase for the eventual dam so those landowners, at least, could immediately move on to new lives. The federal government, meanwhile, reluctantly agreed in 1961 to form the Delaware River Basin Commission – an unprecedented watershed regulatory agency in which the federal government shares co-equal voting power with each of the four member states including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Delaware. The states – which pushed for the DRBC’s formation – were represented by their governors. The federal government was represented by the U.S. Interior secretary. Congress still held the most power over Delaware River development decisions, through its ability to fund construction. In 1962, Congress authorized construction of a dam at Tocks Island – about six miles north of Delaware Water Gap. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed legislation creating a national recreation area that would surround the planned 37-mile reservoir for the Tocks Dam. The Army Corps of Engineers was put in charge of all land acquisition. By then, Shawnee mother Nancy Shukaitis – whose family was to be displaced by the Tocks projects – had emerged as a major opposition leader. When Shukaitis testified in early 1965 before a Senate committee considering the national recreation area’s formation, she urged the committee to leave Washington and hold hearings in the Tocks region. “A project of this enormity, representing not only 60,000 acres of privately owned land but affecting more than 100,000 permanent residents in and around the park’s perimeter, certainly indicates that one hearing should be held in each of the states concerned before Washington hearings,” she testified.

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Many residents who wanted to testify were too poor, too old or too tied up with work to go to Washington to express their opinions, Shukaitis said. Subcommittee Chairman Ralph Rivers, D-Alaska, wasn’t impressed. AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© 23

> S mithfield Beach picnic area Photo courtesy of DWGNRA

“That committee chairman was so mad,” Shukaitis recalled years later. “He said, ‘Don’t think we’re going to go to every nook and cranny across the country.’” Rivers said the committee nearly always conducted its work in Washington, D. C. “This committee or its predecessors established the Point Ray National Recreation Area in California, the Padre Island Seashore in Texas and the Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts without holding hearings outside Washington,” Rivers replied. Two days after the Washington hearing, Shukaitis launched a petition drive demanding a Monroe County hearing. More than 600 signatures were collected within three days and sent to Congressman Wayne Aspinall of Colorado, chairman of the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee which had jurisdiction over Rivers’ subcommittee.

“We firmly believe that any American citizen whose land is required by the federal government should be given the courtesy of a hearing and has the inalienable right to a hearing,” Shukaitis wrote. “We firmly believe that the Department of Interior should require all its sub-departments to initiate local public hearings as a matter of policy wherever private property and citizens’ rights may be touched, and that these hearings take place before Congressional hearings.” The petition drive was successful and hundreds attended the April 22, 1965 hearing at East Stroudsburg High School. But the national recreation area bill won final approval. The anti-dam campaign picked up steam in 1967 when Shukaitis became the first woman elected a Monroe County commissioner. Her new position gave her more clout when testifying before Congress against funding for the Tocks projects. Joan Transue Matheson of Dingmans Ferry, Pike County – wife of a retired career officer and engineer in the Army Corps – started an “underground” newspaper dedicated to defeating the dam.

Several New Jersey and Pennsylvania residents directly impacted by the projects formed the anti-dam Delaware Valley Conservation Association. (They would lose their homes to forced government acquisition. But they and hundreds of others helped defeat the dam.) Activists that included Casey Kays of Hacketstown, N.J. and Glenn Fisher of East Stroudsburg organized a mass movement to prevent private power companies from using a glacial lake in Worthington Forest, New Jersey called Sunfish Pond as a storage site for a Tocks Island hydroelectric project.

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Nearly the entire 70,000-acre site – stretching from just south of Delaware Water Gap in Northampton County nearly to Port Jervis, N.Y. – became a national park. Most of Worthington Forest – including Sunfish Pond – remained a New Jersey state forest. The middle and upper Delaware Rivers were granted special federal preservation status.

“The anti-dam campaign picked up steam in 1967 when Shukaitis became the first woman elected a Monroe County commissioner. Her new position gave her more clout when testifying before Congress against funding for the Tocks projects.” The dam’s eventual defeat was rooted in the politics, division and changing attitudes of the time. The costly Vietnam war of the late 1960s and early 1970s forced Congress to cut spending in nearly all other sectors, including money for the reservoir and park. As land acquisition funds slowed, inflation and land speculation drove up property values, adding to the ultimate project cost. Even as residents were driven from their homes, the Army Corps in 1969 and 1970 offered to temporarily rent 33 properties it had acquired in Monroe County and Warren County, New Jersey to the highest bidder. The Army Corps suspended the rental program about a year after it had begun. But by then, people began occupying abandoned homes without a lease. Others refused to leave when their leases expired.

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It would take four years and a protracted court battle before armed U.S. Marshalls evicted 65 remaining squatters in February 1974. Contract workers quickly followed to knock down the homes with heavy equipment. Monroe and Warren County voters, meanwhile, voted against the dam in separate, non-binding 1972 referendums. Organizations as diverse as the Sierra Club, hunting and fishing groups, Daughters of the American Revolution and the Student Council On Pollution and Environment (SCOPE) formed a new coalition in 1971 dedicated to defeating the dam. Their efforts were aided by the 1970 enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act, which required an environmental review of any construction project using federal funds. The act required an environmental impact statement that included consideration of alternatives to a proposed project.

“Much of today’s McDade Recreational Trail would be under water if the dam had been built. The vibrant wetlands behind the National Park Service headquarters on River Road, near Fernwood, would have been part of the shoreline of the 37mile artificial lake.” The Delaware River Basin Commission staff authorized a study that recommended building a $362-million network of sewage treatment plants around the perimeter of the federal project, from the Stroudsburgs to Milford, Port Jervis, N.Y., and along the New Jersey portion of federal property down to Delaware Water Gap. The central sewer system was aimed at preventing oxygendepleting pollution of the reservoir. Matheson derisively called the sewer project “Frankenstein’s john.” Federal officials demanded that New York State take steps to drastically reduce runoff of cow and chicken manure from upper Delaware River Valley farms, fearing the downstream flow of animal waste would turn the still waters of the proposed reservoir into a putrid green algae field that would destroy plant and animal life.

The governors of New Jersey and New York balked at the astronomical cost of complying with these anti-pollution measures. The growing anti-dam movement also objected to calls by downstream electrical utilities to harness mass quantities of Tocks reservoir waters to cool newly proposed nuclear power plants. In July 1975, the governors voted 3-1 to suspend development of the dam. The federal government’s DRBC representative abstained. Pennsylvania Gov. Milton Shapp was the lone holdout for building the dam. The entire 70,000-acre site, including the planned dam and reservoir, were added to the national recreation area. Congress didn’t officially agree to de authorize the dam and reservoir until 1992. Much of today’s McDade Recreational Trail would be under water if the dam had been built. The vibrant wetlands behind the National Park Service headquarters on River Road, near Fernwood, would have been part of the shoreline of the 37mile artificial lake.

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Conversion of the entire acreage to a national recreation area without a dam has forced the National Park Service to manage scores of rural roads and hundreds of decaying structures with a limited budget. A partial foundation is all that remains of a former Lutheran Church camp just north of Shawnee-OnDelaware. An historic brick church along the steep ridge above River Road survives – despite vandalism and one aborted government attempt to demolish it with heavy equipment so that squatters couldn’t occupy it. Pardee’s Beach, once and still a popular Monroe County swimming site, is operated today as Smithfield Beach. Hidden Lake, targeted in the mid-1960s as a private housing development even as the federal government prepared to buy the site for the recreation area, has been converted to a hiking and picnicking area. The Eshback Boat launch in Pike County is named after the late former landowner – a Pennsylvania state legislator – who lost his property to forced government acquisition. Today’s national recreation area exists for the public to enjoy, built on the sacrifices of those who lived there before. 

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FARMER’S MARKETS: A GROWING POCONO TRADITION Written by the late Kevin Conroy, updated by Jamie Marra

he age-old tradition of outdoor farmer’s markets has taken on a life of its own in the Poconos. For decades, only one farmer’s market existed in Monroe County, but things have changed since then! Interest in fresh produce has cultivated personal loyalty between many of us and growers, leading to the rise in popularity of these open-air venues. Here are some of the farmer’s markets in our area:

Stroudsburg Olde Time Farmers Market, held on Saturday mornings from May through October, is located on Ann Street in Stroudsburg. Unlimited free parking offers easy access to farm stands and allows shoppers to conveniently stow purchases in their vehicles and go back for more! The Olde Time Market is all about local farming. Proud of their hard work and accomplishment in a time when hard work may not always be appreciated, the farmers here grow everything for sale in their own fields, and goods like honey come from the hives of the beekeeper. 28 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

The market boasts so much more than just fresh, local produce. With mushrooms from Marleys Mushrooms, the first USDA certified organic mushroom farm in the Pocono Mountains, and all-natural dog treats, there’s something for everyone at the Olde Time Farmers Market. A large selection of baked goods and artisan breads are also available. Delicious fresh produce continues into the fall, including sweet corn and apples from Gould’s Produce in Brodheadsville, whose goods are sold at both the Olde Time and Dansbury Markets. “We grow more than 33 varieties of apples in our orchard. From Honeycrisps to Cameos, there’s an apple for every occasion,” declares Denise Gould. The Farmer’s Basket, open seven days throughout spring, summer, and fall, is a four-season market located at 1309 N. 5th Street, Stroudsburg. Their supplying farmers are dedicated to stewardship and committed to quality. Those of us who value fresh food can support local farmers by buying here.

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“Proud of their hard work and accomplishment in a time when hard work may not always be appreciated, the farmers here grow everything for sale in their own fields, and goods like honey come from the hives of the beekeeper.”

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They carry everything from plants and herbs in the springtime to produce and hanging baskets in summer, local cider and apples in the fall, and holiday trees, wreaths and poinsettias in winter. The Farmer’s Basket receives farm deliveries every day, which means their produce is fresher than a supermarket’s. It is tastier and more nutritious as well. And it helps keep family farms in business. AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© 29

> D ansbury Farmer’s Market

> T he Farmer’s Basket

The Dansbury Farmer’s Market is up and running Wednesday mornings from 8:30am until 12:30pm through October. Just off Crystal Street (behind Trackside along the tracks) in East Stroudsburg, PA, you’ll find many of your favorite items that are also available at Stroudsburg Olde Time Market. With a variety of fresh produce, baked goods, frozen dinners, and soups, you won’t go home hungry. Don’t forget to visit in the fall for hay bales, corn stalks, gourds, and pumpkins, too. “This small market gives the community easier access to fresh goods mid-week,” says Rich Whitby, a farmer and member of The Dansbury Farmer’s Market and Stroudsburg Olde Time Market. 30 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

> T he Farmer’s Basket

Since 1976, the Village Farmer and Bakery has been serving the Delaware Water Gap with some of the tastiest treats in the Poconos. What started as an open-air farm market has now evolved into a bakery and breakfast and lunch spot. Located at 13 Broad Street in Delaware Water Gap, the Village Farmer and Bakery offers fresh, local produce and a beautiful variety of plants. In addition to over 30 flavors of delicious pies baked daily, the Village Farmer and Bakery offers breakfast anytime along with unique pot pies and barbecue. And you won’t want to miss the lobster roll, available for the summer. “We are a Pennsylvania preferred market,” explains Susan Cooper of the family-owned and operated Village Farmer

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and Bakery. “We buy whatever we can locally, even baking ingredients, like flour. We do our best to promote Pennsylvania whenever possible.” The Village Farmer and Bakery is open 8am-8pm every day, except Christmas Day. There are many important reasons why we should buy from local farmer’s markets. The fewer people that handle food, and the less time it sits in a truck being transported, the better it is. Also, government figures show farm markets are a proven asset to the economic health of local agriculture and to other businesses in their vicinity. Most important, though, they allow us to feed our families from the beautiful, nutritious bounty of the earth and sun. 

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4 WAYS TO HELP KEEP YOUR DOG PROTECTED AND HAPPY THIS SUMMER Courtesy of BPT

ith the country beginning to reopen, don't forget about your pet. While you return to your favorite summer activities including hiking and swimming with your dogs, it is important to be aware of a few things first. Senior Technical Services Veterinarian at Bayer Animal Health, Dr. Zach Miller, shared these four simple tips to keep your pets happy and active in the coming months: * Transition your dog back into a normal routine - Many Americans have been home due to COVID-19 restrictions, in turn making their pets very happy. Over time, your dog may have become used to the non-stop attention, so reverting back to our normal schedules where many will be out of the house more often may cause separation anxiety among pets. To help ease your dog into the transition, start by creating a predictable routine and slowly getting them used to you not being home. Grab your keys and leave the house at the same time each morning for a short period of time. This will help them get used

to the action of you leaving, without going cold turkey. As time goes on, you can stay away from home longer, until your pet no longer experiences anxiety. * Don't forget to stay on top of flea and tick prevention - During the summer months, pet owners tend to bring their pets along for their many outdoor adventures. While enjoying the great outdoors, whether you're on a hike or going for an afternoon walk, it's important to help protect your pets from pests including fleas and ticks. A recent survey conducted by the makers of Seresto® found that nearly half (48%) of pet owners who use a monthly flea and tick medication forgot to apply the treatment at least once over the past six months. These lapses in treatment can open pets up for new infestations or cause expensive treatment setbacks. A great way to overcome these forgotten doses is to instead use a flea and tick preventative that doesn't require monthly application - like a Seresto®

collar, which prevents fleas and ticks for eight continuous months. This eliminates the hassle of remembering and applying monthly treatments and creates no mess because of its nongreasy formula. * Be cautious of stagnant bodies of water - It's natural to want to let your pets play in a body of water in warmer temperatures, especially if you begin venturing out for hikes or camping. However, many pet owners are unaware of the danger that swimming in stagnant ponds or lakes may pose for animals. Blue-green algae, commonly found in stagnant bodies of water, can be potentially lethal to animals when ingested, causing particularly catastrophic harm to their liver. As a pet owner, it's best to make sure your dog avoids drinking or playing in standing water with a visible film on its surface. Help your dog cool down by bringing plenty of water along with you instead!

“Many Americans have been home due to COVID-19 restrictions, in turn making their pets very happy. Over time, your dog may have become used to the non-stop attention, so reverting back to our normal schedules where many will be out of the house more often may cause separation anxiety among pets.” * Reach out to your vet to find out about any new protocols - Because COVID-19 restrictions vary by state, one of the most important things to do as a pet owner is proactively reach out to your local vet clinic to find out more about their current policies. If you have an emergency, are they accepting walk-ins or are they by appointment only? Are they currently doing wellness exams? By taking the time to find out protocols of these locations, you and your pet will be prepared in case of an emergency. There are still many unknowns about what the future will hold. Keeping your pet happy and protected doesn't have to be one of them! 

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ou’ve probably heard the old adage, “fall is for planting,” and it’s true - fall really is the best time to plant. But when the weather gets cool and the leaves start to fall, it’s also a great time to pay attention to your lawn. Putting in the work now will ensure that your lawn is in good shape come springtime.

encourage blade growth, something your grass is likely in need of after the heat of summer. Later in the fall, apply a fertilizer high in phosphorus which will help foster strong roots before heading into winter. You may also need to add some lime to your lawn if your soil is too acidic. If your yard is yellow, bare, or mossy, this may be a result of overly acidic soil. To be sure, opt for a soil test which will measure pH levels as well as other nutrients present in your soil. You can contact your local Penn State Extension Office for more information on soil testing.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or filling in bare spots, don’t be afraid to plant grass seed. In fact, late summer through early fall provides some of the most ideal conditions for new grass growth. But before you get started, it’s best to aerate. This helps ensure that seed, nutrients, and water are able to penetrate the soil. This time of year is perfect for aeration to help relieve your lawn from the stresses of summer.

Though not as often, you’ll still need to mow your lawn until roughly late October. It’s best to go into the winter with short grass to reduce the likelihood for snow mold to grow. And don’t forget to remove leaves which can be a breeding ground for fungus and may suffocate your grass.

One of the key elements to growing and maintaining a lush lawn is fertilization. Your grass will benefit from adding a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer to the soil in September. Nitrogen helps

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THE NATURE CONSERVANCY PROTECTS 127 ACRES ON THE KITTATINNY RIDGE By: John Hinkson, Communications Manager Photo courtesy of The Nature Conservancy

PROTECTED PROPERTY ADJACENT TO THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL, NEAR ALLENTOWN Harrisburg, Pa.—The Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania and Delaware is delighted to announce that it has acquired 127 acres of forestland in West Penn Township, Schuylkill County, with financial assistance from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) through the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund, the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. The parcel was transferred to the Pennsylvania Game Commission and has been added to State Game Lands 217 and is directly adjacent to the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. Its protection will help buffer the Trail and protect the wilderness experience along the Trail. 36 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

“The protection of this parcel represents another vital move to conserve the landscape that scientists have identified as critical to the future of a diversity of species by enabling them to migrate and adapt to a changing climate,” says Lori Brennan, Executive Director for The Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania and Delaware. The Kittatinny Ridge—also known as Blue Mountain in some regions—runs through Pennsylvania for 185 miles, from the Delaware River to the Mason-Dixon Line. The Ridge is the first prominent landscape feature you encounter as you move north or west from Philadelphia, and it marks the entrance to Pennsylvania’s Ridge and Valley region. It is one of the Commonwealth’s most treasured landscapes, providing the scenic backdrop to life in twelve counties. The Kittatinny Ridge is designated as a Globally Important Bird Area. As a premier raptor migration corridor in the

northeastern U.S., one of the leading such sites in the world, it is used by tens of thousands of hawks, eagles, and falcons each fall. The Nature Conservancy is focused on continuing to protect these critical migratory bird corridors. “The

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“The conservation of this property will provide additional open space for public recreation and further protect an important wildlife corridor,” conservation of this property will provide additional open space for public recreation and further protect an important wildlife corridor,” says Victor Motts, land protection specialist with The Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization working in 79 countries and territories that is dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends.

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This purchase was supported through the Wild East Action Fund, which seeks to accelerate the pace of conservation within the Appalachian Trail landscape.  AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 POCONO LIVING MAGAZINE© 37

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