4 Once-Thriving Pocono Mountains Resorts That Are Now Eerily Abandoned

While many destinations want to be the world's capital of something, for a time, there was only one "Honeymoon Capital of the World": the Poconos in Pennsylvania. The region's first boarding house opened in 1829, and resorts emerged after the construction of Lake Wallenpaupack in 1926 to accommodate those enjoying the outdoor fun and peaceful scenery of Mount Pocono, but it wasn't until World War II that couples flocked to the area. GIs on leave took their girlfriends on romantic getaways to the Poconos and honeymooned there after the war.  

The Poconos' first honeymoon resort, the Farm on the Hill, opened in 1945. Available only to newlywed couples, the resort asked women to make the beds and men to wait tables as preparation for married life. The baby boom era began in 1946, as couples reunited after the war; this spike in marriages and the later rise of the sexual revolution led to a new market of honeymoon resorts. The Poconos' honeymoon hotels transformed when Morris Wilkins opened Caesars Cove Haven and introduced the heart-shaped bathtub in 1963, which became a sensation after being featured in Life Magazine in 1971. A boom of gaudy couples' resorts followed with heart-shaped everything (mirrors, bars, you name it), champagne glass tubs, and mirrors everywhere. 

The couples resorts' popularity started declining in the 1990s as more affordable airfare offered easy access to Orlando and Las Vegas, which had adopted the cheesy style that the Poconos pioneered. Other resorts, like retreats for labor union members, were rendered obsolete by the changing demands of globalization. For these reasons, many resorts became too costly to maintain. Now, they're either eerily abandoned with dirt-filled heart-shaped tubs that stand as an unsettling symbol of an era lost to time.

While abandoned buildings are hardly ever not spooky (check out these once-thriving abandoned island resorts to see for yourself), some are creepier than others. Among the abandoned resorts in the Poconos, though, Birchwood may take the heart-shaped cake thanks to its dark history. Open from 1953 to 2000, Birchwood had something that few, if any, other resorts had: its own airstrip. Built in 1969, this resort offered an exclusive service, as people flew into Allentown and were picked up by a private plane to be escorted to Birchwood. Other amenities included a bowling alley, nightclub, and shooting range at this all-inclusive couples' resort that was one of the area's most popular in its heyday.

When business started declining in the '90s and 2000s, Birchwood decided to target a niche audience and began hosting S&M and spanking parties. The local paper, the Pocono Record, advertised these events, which caused a flurry of negative publicity that made the hotel cancel them. Birchwood closed not long after, and its buildings and airstrip were left empty and unused for years.

That is, until Eric Frein, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, was found hiding out in the resort's airport hangar in 2014 after a seven-week manhunt. After Frein's capture, the abandoned resort was sold. There was a plan to develop it into an upscale resort and waterpark, until the owner was hit with tax-related felony charges. One of the buildings was destroyed in 2021 in an act of arson, while others continue to decay. Trees grow through windows, vintage telephones gather dust on tables, and linens lie crumpled on beds in this eerie location that's often patrolled by police to keep people out.

Open from the late 1960s to 2002, the Summit was one of the later honeymoon resorts to open in the Poconos, but it was no less popular than others. The Summit leaned heavily into the heart motif to attract couples. An old advertisement shows a heart dotting the "i" in the name just below the image of a happy couple in a bubble-filled heart-shaped tub. A heart-shaped bar was the centerpiece of the Arabian-themed lounge, where a singer set the mood on stage or at the seat of a baby grand. Rooms featured heart-shaped beds and floor-to-ceiling mirrors to offer couples a few different options for having fun.

The Summit closed in 2002, and now, this once-thriving honeymoon resort is an eerie, abandoned relic. As one Google reviewer who spent her honeymoon there in 1992 wrote, it "ended in shambles just like my marriage did!" A tree grows inside the lobby, wine glasses and bottles remain left behind, and knocked over chairs and tables are scattered in front of a David Lynchian red stage with gold curtains. The ceilings of some rooms have collapsed, leaving a mountain of leaves and debris on heart-shaped beds, while some of the tubs are half-filled with dirt. 

Other rooms still have 1970s-style shag carpets surrounding empty heart-shaped tubs that once overflowed with ... well, let's not think about what they once flowed with. Certainly, the memories remain, however faded, in these relics that stand "to remind us later when we try to recall just what it was like for those strangers, ourselves," as Life Magazine wrote when it introduced the world to these tubs. While the Summit is a desirable location for urban explorers, some have noted that visitors will likely be caught by law enforcement. 

One of the Poconos' non-couples resorts was the Unity House, bought by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) in 1924. ILGWU was the biggest women's union in the country and one of the most progressive, and the Unity House was an important site for meeting and planning. The union's vision for the Unity House was for it to be a "worker's play land," so it subsidized fees so members could pay minimal costs. 

They enjoyed shows at the 90-foot stage modeled after Radio City Music Hall, 3-D movies at the cinema, and drinks at the lakeside bar. The administrative building showcased Diego Rivera's murals of the U.S.' history of exploitation and extremism (the building burned down in 1969). There were lectures on economics, current events, and art, and the resort became an important stop for politicians. Both John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy visited, and Eleanor Roosevelt was so impressed that she wrote in 1945 that "you could not put children in a more favorable environment."

Unfortunately, changing times brought the resort's decline. The ILGWU had over 450,000 members in the '60s, but lost more than half by the 1980s as garment work moved overseas. In keeping costs for its members low, the resort was never profitable, and it closed in 1990. Failed music venues have been built on the site, like the Mountain Laurel Center for Performing Arts (closed in 2008), and Poconos Park, which doesn't have any upcoming events. Other buildings remain abandoned, like a cinema with a decaying ceiling and a retro white building that's a haunting reminder of a once-thriving retreat. These buildings are privately owned, so it's best to observe them from afar in this location, just 30 minutes from the festival and cafe-packed East Stroudsburg.

Located next to Unity House, Camp Tamiment also had its beginnings in a political space. Both Unity House and Camp Tamiment were on the land of Forest Park, a 19th-century resort for German Jews, which faced a decline with the anti-German sentiment of World War I. New York's Rand School of Social Science, dedicated to socialist workers, bought part of Forest Park and opened Camp Tamiment in 1921. 

Camp Tamiment brought income to the school and educated workers through lectures and classes interspersed between leisure activities in this serene forest location. It became a haven in the 1930s for middle-class, progressive Jews, and the Tamiment Playhouse launched the careers of some of the country's most influential artists. Known as a "boot camp for Broadway," the Playhouse was built in 1941 for writer-producer Max Liebman, who became a pioneer of television comedy. Liebman staged weekly variety shows, where folks like Carol Channing, Carol Burnett, and Neil Simon honed their craft, with Simon once saying Tamiment is where he learned to write. Mel Brooks' dancing Nazis in "The Producers" even originated in a Tamiment production.

Originally a non-profit institution, Camp Tamiment lost its tax-exempt status in 1956 and was sold in 1965 to a corporation that demolished the iconic Tamiment Playhouse and replaced it with conference rooms and an indoor tennis court. Wayne Newton briefly owned it in the '80s, and in the 2000s, the resort was leveled and turned into condos that seem to have been abandoned by its owner. But still, among the ruins of old buildings, the clubhouse still stands, a once-peaceful lounge whose green, yellow, and beige tones reflected the forest around it. Now it's just a ghost of this once-influential place that's 40 minutes from the views, food, and fun of Tannersville.