Milestones tell the visitor story of northeastern Pennsylvania’s picturesque Pocono Mountains region. First inhabited by Native Americans and then settled by Europeans in the 17th and 18th centuries, this 2,400-square-mile expanse of mountains, forests, woodlands, lakes and rivers saw its first boarding house hotel in 1829. By 1900, summer vacationers from New York and Philadelphia were coming en masse, drawn by the region’s high-altitude charms and flourishing resort industry.
In 1927, the area’s original CVB, the Monroe County Publicity Bureau, christened the region ‘Pennyslvania’s Playground,’ and in 1934, 10 major area resorts decided to pool their advertising resources and collectively promote the Poconos as a unified tourism destination. Thus was born the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau (PMVB). With the region now welcoming 8 million leisure and business visitors annually, the organization has much to celebrate in 2009, its 75th anniversary year.
“That’s a significant accomplishment for any destination management organization, reflecting just how far we have evolved as a destination,” says David Jackson, sales director for the PMVB.
With a robust meetings offering to match, the four-season, four-county (Pike, Monroe, Wayne and Carbon) Poconos is ideally suited to capitalize on the “bleisure” trend—blending or extending business travel with leisure travel—and in the current economic climate, the region’s accessibility, affordability and year-round availability are major pluses.
“It’s our own version of a stimulus package,” Jackson says. “Plan on bringing the family and spending an extra day or two, and you’ll have the business and leisure resources for a productive, rejuvenating and enjoyable time.”
Enhanced Experiences
With little industry (other than coal) or agriculture to rely upon, the region had a paramount need to transform its natural assets into a lasting tourism product. Refinements came through the decades, with meetings and conferences steadily added to the leisure mix.
Popular with GIs on leave during World War II, the Poconos welcomed those soldiers back on their post-war honeymoons, around the time the region’s first ski resorts were opening. The completion of Interstates 80 and 81 in the late 1950s and 1960s greatly enhanced drive access, and the introduction of heart-shaped tubs at Caesars Cove Haven in 1963 sealed the area’s reputation as a mecca for romantics. The 1970s brought the Pocono International Raceway and NASCAR; the 1980s marked the growth of outdoor adventure programs, golf and shopping; and the 1990s emphasized capital improvements and quality assurance programs.
“The focus now is on expanding our meetings capabilities while continually enhancing the visitor and delegate experience,” Jackson says.
From large resorts to luxury hotels, there are meeting facilities for every speed.
Opened in 1928, the 193-room Skytop Lodge is a historic estate property set on 5,500 acres. With 17 meeting rooms, the Lodge boasts the new 10,000-square-foot Executive Conference Center and the new Adventure Center, offering corporate recreation and team-building activities such as geocaching and wilderness survival.
Popular with groups and reunions, the newly renovated, 166-room Pocmont Resort & Conference Center in Bushkill, set on 170 acres, comes with an expansive meeting facility, the Star Room nightclub and nighttime mountain views from the Skyview Lounge.
Located next to the historic, 16-room Hotel Fauchere in Milford, the Emerson House is ideal for board meetings, retreats and special events. Accommodating 65 for sit-down dining and approximately 80 people for cocktail parties, the Emerson House includes a private bar and three breakout rooms.
Other meetings-capable properties include the 188-room Mount Airy Casino Resort in Paradise Valley, which will soon add golf to its gambling and nightclub offerings; the 152-room Chateau Resort and Conference Center, located at the base of Camelback Mountain in Tannersville; and the 250-room Inn at Pocono Manor, dating to 1902.
Shawnee, site of the region’s first permanent European settlement in 1725, is home to the Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort, featuring private cottages, a dozen conference spaces accommodating up to 300 people and a famed private island golf course.
Varied Villages
Count reunions, association meetings and corporate retreats among the frequent gatherings in the Poconos, which is within convenient reach of every major East Coast city from Boston to Washington, D.C., and a host of other regional drive-in markets. For delegates from New York (75 miles away) and Philadelphia (85 miles away) especially, getting to the Poconos is a snap, and the spirit of escape and rejuvenation starts upon arrival in historic centers such as Milford and Jim Thorpe.
Set on an escarpment above the Delaware River, Milford, a mid-19th century summer resort in the northeastern Poconos, typifies the authentic yesteryear appeal found in the region’s collection of Victorian-era villages. Whether viewed from the Knob—a 400-foot bluff overlooking the town—or along Broad Street, Milford’s skyline of gables, church steeples and bell towers easily evokes the past.
Tucked into the steep folds of the Pisgah and Flagstaff mountains, the village of Jim Thorpe—formerly Mauch Chunk, renamed in 1954 in tribute to the famed Native American Olympian—is rich in history.
Attractions include the preserved 1860 mansion of Lehigh Valley Railroad and Lehigh University founder Asa Parker, and old-fashioned train rides on the 25-mile Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway. An international cycling mecca, Jim Thorpe is also home to Skirmish USA, a multi-environment complex for serious paintball enthusiasts.
The 45-room Inn at Jim Thorpe is an event-friendly charmer from 1845; Penn’s Peak is a popular performance venue with room for 1,800 concertgoers and 50-mile views of the Applachian Mountains from its outdoor deck; and the historic mountaintop Flagstaff Ballroom, ideal for day retreats and weddings, has plans for an aerial tramway and a new condo-hotel.
Home to more than 45 dealers, Wayne County is an antiquer’s paradise. In Hawley, a restored Victorian town along the Lackawaxen River, groups can take cooking classes at the Torte Knox Restaurant, housed in a former bank building from 1902. Located in Hawley’s scenic lake territory, the meetings-capable Woodloch Resort includes the luxurious new 60-room Lodge at Woodloch destination spa resort.
The village of Honesdale is famed as the birthplace of the American railroad. Shipped over from England, the Stourbridge Lion was the first steam locomotive to run in the U.S., back in 1829. An exact replica resides at the Wayne County Historical Building. (The original is in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.). The experience steams on via the Stourbridge Line Railroad.
Great Outdoors
Fittingly enough, since Pocono is a Native American word meaning “stream between two mountains,” water flows abundantly throughout the region. With 150 lakes, 170 river miles and springs and brooks everywhere, it’s only natural that white-water rafting, boating, fishing and other water activities are mainstays of the Poconos group recreation experience.
As waterparks such as Great Wolf Lodge and Camelbeach come into the resort mix, waterfalls remain a natural highlight. As described by Travel+Leisure, Milford is home to a natural phenomenon known as fluviarchy, meaning a network of waterfalls. Nearby is the magnificent Bushkill Falls, a forested wonderland of trails and footbridges winding around and over multiple cascades that seems inspired by Lord of the Rings.
Approximately 25 miles of the Appalachian Trail pass through the Pocono Mountains, within the 70,000-acre Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, one of two local national parks. A mile-high Ice Age glacier once stretched down from Canada to the Poconos; Hickory Run (one of eight state parks) is strewn with post-glacial rocks.
In 1946, Big Boulder became the region’s first ski area. Still in operation, this old-timer is now one of seven major area ski resorts, including individual mountains evocatively named Jack Frost, Alpine and Blue. The Poconos also enjoys a strong golf legacy, dating back to the 1940s when Arnold Palmer and other greats played area courses. Today there are over 35 courses, including championship layouts designed by Jack Nicklaus and other top course developers.
There are many more off-site venues besides, including the Pocono Raceway and the Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts in Bushkill.
“Meetings do not disappear in trying times,” Jackson says. “Rather, they adjust to the times, and for that, we offer the perfect business and leisure mix.”
For More Info
Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau 570.421.5791 www.800poconos.com
