Honesdale, PA

Our home base for these few days has been Honesdale in the heart of the Poconos. It is a larger town than either Milford or Hawley. We chose it for the Passport America half price discount campground. This location came with other advantages as well. It is about half way between Milford and Scranton on Route 6 making exploring in either direction easy. Being a larger community it also has a big grocery and a Walmart. That is convenient since it is time to refill our prescriptions. It’s chief disadvantage is being 30 miles from the interstate. That’s a lot of back road to get across with the Montana.

Main Street

Honesdale has the distinction of being the place were the first steam engine on rails made it’s maiden run in 1829. The city is proud to have a replica of the famous Stourbridge Lion and keeps it safe from the ravages of weather in a room at the museum. It is also safe from train enthusiasts and casual viewers as the museum is only open a couple days a week. We did peek in the window and it seems like a real jewel even if it isn’t the real thing. Honesdale was a key point in the transportation of coal from Scranton eastward to New York City. It was the end point of the Deleware and Hudson Canal which united these two rivers. Coal was moved by gravity railroad from Scranton over the Pocono Mountains to Honesdale and then along the Canal to the Hudson River. The last boat load of coal left Honesdale in 1898.

Honesdale Historical Society where the train engine lives.

Today, Honesdale is a thriving community with shops, businesses, banks, and eateries along Main Street and a Home Depot, Wal-mart, hospital and car dealerships in the outlying area. Main Street is divided into to sections—on the eastern side for a distance of about 4 blocks is the business end of town and for about 3 blocks on the western side are large old homes. It is really quite lovely.

The Town House Diner

We tried the diner, of course, and were very impressed. The owner greeted us at the door, showed us to a table, and chatted with us about traveling in South Carolina. He stopped by our table several times to chat and gave us a guided tour of his diner before we left. This 1957 Mountain View seems to be in mint condition and still has those juke box like music selector consoles (I don’t know the official name) in each booth from 20 years ago. This diner was impressive and so was the apple dumpling.

Tomorrow, westward to Scranton.