Penn Hills Resort

Penn Hills Resort was a honeymoon resort located in Analomink, Pennsylvania, in the Pocono Mountains that closed in 2009.

Founded as a tavern in 1944, Penn Hills expanded to over a hundred rooms.[1]

Penn Hills Resort, bubble bath, circa 1970's
View of the Penn Hills Resort pool, shaped like a wedding bell, suffering neglect after the resort was abandoned. August, 2012[2]

The 500-acre Penn Hills grew in the 1960s to include a ski resort and a golf course. Guest villas featured floor-to-ceiling carpeting, round beds, and heart-shaped bathtubs.[3] Distinctive, modernist streetlights from the 1964 World's Fair were installed, as well as an ice rink and a wedding bell shaped outdoor swimming pool.[4]

Billed as a "Paradise of Pocono Pleasure" and a place of "unbridled passion",[5] Penn Hills catered to young couples who enjoyed archery and tennis and danced at modestly lavish New Year's Eve parties where the motto was "No balloon goes unpopped."[6]

In 2009, Penn Hills co-founder Frances Paolillo died at the age of 102 and the resort closed less than two months later. Monroe County took over the property in lieu of back taxes.[1] Workers' final paychecks were never issued, and the resort owed the county over $1 million in back taxes.[7] Already in serious disrepair, flooding and copper thieves damaged the buildings further, and the resort was abandoned.[8]

By 2012, Monroe County had sold several small parcels of Penn Hills. However, most of the resort remained unsold.[9] A portion of the resort became the Forever green park.[10]

In January 2016, a group of New York investors purchased what remained of Penn Hills for $400,000. As of May 2016, they were still determining how best to develop the property.[11][12]

On September 4, 2017, the main building of the resort burned to the ground. This was the third time in three years that the resort had caught fire.[13][14] On December 7 of the same year, the remaining structures began to be demolished to clear the land for a heritage center being opened by the Brodhead Watershed Association.[10]

The hotel was the site of Tigers Jaw's music video for "June", from their album spin.

References
  1. Michael Sadowski, Venerable Pocono resort is deserted, Pocono Record, April 15, 2009
  2. Maurer, Pablo Iglesias. "Abandoned States: Places In Idyllic 1960s Postcards Have Transformed Into Scenes Of Abandonment". DCist. Archived from the original on 31 August 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  3. William Robbins, What's Doing In the Poconos, New York Times, April 12, 1981
  4. Worlds Fair Community message board, 2011
  5. Ethan Todras-Whitehill, Where Every Day Is New Year's Eve, New York Times, December 28, 2007
  6. Marta Gouger, New Year's bash of a decade... or 4, Pocono Record, December 31, 2007
  7. Beth Brelje, Honeymoon is ending at Penn Hills, Pocono Record, April 1, 2009
  8. Beth Brelje, Attempted copper theft lands one in hospital, one in jail, Pocono Record, May 19, 2010
  9. Michael Sadowski, Abandoned Analomink resort remains mostly unsold, Pocono Record, May 4, 2012
  10. Strunk, Brianna (2017-12-07). "Demolition Underway for New Heritage Center". PA Homepage.
  11. Kevin Kunzmann, Penn Hills acreage sold, Pocono Record, February 29, 2016
  12. Kunzmann, Kevin (May 12, 2016). "Penn Hills' new owners see opportunity where others see blight". Pocono Record. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  13. Transue, Elizabeth (2017-09-04). "Former Honeymoon Resort Catches Fire in Monroe County". WNEP. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
  14. "Penn Hills fire under investigation". Pocono Record. 2017-09-05. Retrieved 2017-12-20.

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