Route 6 Diners

Today we went over to Edinboro to see the diner we suspected would be the best one of all. We went in for breakfast at the Crossroads Dinor. The original diner is there but the diner aura is gone. We were disappointed. The Crossroads is a 1913 Niles Trolly and before becoming a diner in 1929 it was just that—an electric street car. Over the years it has been added on to and is so large now it seems like just another restaurant. We learned from our waitress at Crossroads that Sally’s Diner in Erie is closed for the season. That explains why there was no one there yesterday. Sally’s Diner, the red, white, neon extravaganza is a 1957 Mountain View and will be similar inside to the Town House Diner in Honesdale as well as the Hawley Diner. When viewing Sally’s from the outside, I was really reminded of a 50s drive in serving hamburgers and shakes rather than home cooked meatloaf and mashed potatoes with grandmas apple pie.

We visited 5 diners in the past 10 days. I’m about burnt out on diners so this might not be the best time for an unbiased critique of what we experienced. But I’m plunging ahead anyway. Our favorite for the real diner experience was at the 1938 Sterling Wellsboro Diner. We went in shortly after the lunch hour on a weekday and it was a beehive of activity and a full house. We had to wait for a place to sit. We were there for cookies and coffee, but obviously the rest of the food was good or there wouldn’t be the crowds. It looked like the diner it has been all these years. The food was still being prepared on the grill just the other side of the counter not in some back room somewhere. It was great. Our second favorite place was the1957 Mountain View Town House Diner in Honesdale. It is still pretty much its original self, but we liked it because everybody was so friendly and made you feel like you were part of the family. Wasn’t that a big part of the original diner experience—locals coming in for lunch and to catch up on the gossip (or create new gossip) with their friends?

After our breakfast at Crossroads Dinor we drove back up to Erie to check out Tom Ridge Environmental Center. It was a very nice facility, but geared more to school children with several hands on exhibits. We didn’t stay long.

Sally's Diner

Tomorrow will be our reflections on Pennsylvania’s Route 6 and a preview of what’s coming up next as we turn south and head home for the holidays.

Wellsboro, PA

Courthouse

We are settled once again in a small campground just outside of Wellsboro. We made the drive from Honesdale without incident. In fact, it was a pretty relaxing day and the scenery was beautiful. We drove along Route 6 to Scranton where we got on I-81 north. Back in New York we jumped on I-86 west for a great drive across to US 15 which we took south to pick up Route 6 just barely west of Mansfield. It was truly the better choice, rather than driving through all those tiny towns with narrow streets.

Main Street in the historic shopping district

Before I get started with Wellsboro, let me mention Mansfield briefly. Mansfield is about 15 miles east of Wellsboro on Route 6. We have tons of brochures on Pennsylvania and especially Route 6, but nothing ever mentions Mansfield. We couldn’t understand why because it looks like a fair sized town on the map. We had to go there because that is where the Wal-mart is and that is who had my drugs. We soon discovered why there was no mention of Mansfield—the old historic town (if there ever was one) has been torn down and a very utilitarian business and industrial district is in its place. Not very pretty to look at.

Center of Main Street (Rt 6) with
it's glass lights

A better view of one of the gas lights

Wellsboro, on the other hand, is the quintessential late nineteenth century village with boulevard type streets still with gas lights, a beautiful village green, a vintage diner and everything all decked out for fall. This is superb.

School Board

Village Green with fountain in the center

The fountain is Winkin, Blinkin, and Nod

As you have probably guessed, we stopped by the diner. It was built in 1938 (the 8th diner of the year) in Merrimac, Mass. It is porcelain inside and out and it just glistens. It is much smaller than the two other modular type diners which we visited. This is much more reminiscent of a rail car diner—long and narrow. I don’t know if you can actually see it or not in the photo, but the counter is a glass cabinet. As you sit at the counter eating your meal you can look down into the glass cabinet at the wide assortment of homemade cookies on one end of the counter or at the homemade pies at the other end. This is the best.

Wellsboro Diner

Inside the diner

Coming up tomorrow—the Grand Canyon.

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.

Morning Coffee and So Much More

One of our favorite things to do is eat. We do it everyday. Generally, we eat at home. There are various reasons for that, but the result is the same. When we do eat out, we try to go some place that serves something that we like, but I can’t fix very well, or some place that is special or unique. On our way to Watkins Glen yesterday, we went by way of Penn Yen. Gene wanted to go there just because the name was so different. It was a small village and after we walked around a bit we wanted coffee. We had about given up when I happened to notice a diner sign down a side street. Diners usually have pretty good coffee and that was all we really wanted.

When we got close we realized this little diner was the real McCoy. You could clearly see, once inside, the shape of a rail car. A small dining area with restrooms had been added to the side and a larger kitchen added to the back. We were more interested in the original diner. In that space was a short order griddle and counter seating complete with chrome bar stools. On the “front” wall was a row of windows and between each window was a coat hook. When our waitress brought our coffee and bagel, we had a chance to talk with her about the diner. She said it had been moved to its present location by rail in 1926 and she thought it still had its wheels underneath. The owner (who was cooking pancakes at the griddle) said that the exterior of the building was wood; it had never been metal like many other diners we’ve seen. I’m no expert on diners, but it is my understanding that the true vintage diners were built during the 20s and 30s in factories. The common design was the long, sleek shape of railroad cars.

Gene wanted to order pie, but it was 10 AM and I dissuaded him from that. Instead, we shared a bagel to give our arteries a fighting chance. However, this may have been the place for the perfect piece of pie. Another couple who were obviously regulars came in shortly after we arrived. They ordered pie along with their breakfast and ate the pie first. Another gentleman (again a local) brought an out-of-town guest in with him just to “try the pie”. The one day I didn’t have my picnic cooler with me. Oh, well.

What a special place and one we just stumbled upon by accident.