You will find my hometown in the Pocono Mountains: Hawley, Pennsylvania.
Until recently, Hawley did not have a traffic light. You can walk from one end of Main Street to the other in a few minutes (depending on your stride of course).
When I was a little girl, Main Street used to host a bakery, a fish market, two paper stores, a department store (appropriately named, The Hawley Department Store, with a big HDS logo on the front), Teeters Furniture, The Hawley Diner, a couple of bars, a doctor's office, and a few other places that I've forgotten. While a few of these old time places remain, many have been replaced by antique stores, novelty stores, a pizza joint...
While Hawley has changed and evolved a great deal, it still has that small town charm. Finally, we have a traffic light! Electronic parking meters! We have a cooking school! We've hit the big time now!
While snooping around on Google, I came across a funky "HawleyWood History Page" I remember my parents referring to that little development by Lake Wallenpaupack as the "Hawley Wood Outlet." Anyway, there are a few pictures of a newsletter from the early 1950's. The article in the upper right hand corner caught my eye:
Lots 'Way Up In Price
Owners Chalk Up Profit
Present Owners Advised to Increase Holdings
There was a quiet but sincere rejoicing in and among the
veteran Hawley Wood property owners when a new sign was
posted on the road indicating that the price of a 50x100 lot
would now be $135.
It was a "prophecy come true" - - for those woners who paid $70
and $95 for similar plots have realized 45% to 50% on their
investments...
Wow! $135 for a lot - when just a couple years before they were going for under $100. I checked the MLS and found a lot (granted, quite a bit larger in size - 136x218) in HawleyWood - the price however is over $17,000!
When the land that is now Lake Wallenpaupack was purchased around 1924, the original landowners were paid around $20 an acre, according to the Hawley - Lake Wallenpaupack Chamber of Commerce. Now, a 1/4 acre lakefront lot is going for over half a million dollars! (To be fair, prices for lots around Lake wallenpaupack start around $5,000, but that's not as impressive as the half million dollar 1/4 acre lot!)
Interesting Hawley History Page I don't think this has been updated for some time, but it is interesting to see the old pictures.
Hawley even has a big-screen claim to fame - back in the mid-1980's, a film titled Playing for Keeps was made in Wayne County, featuring our town and some other local scenery as well as a few local personalities. Hawley has changed somewhat since the movie was made - there is no Acme market, no Hawley Department Store - but it's a nifty time capsule. (Even if the movie STUNK....in spite of the fact that Marisa Tomei made her motion picture debut in this bomb...)
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Karen E. Rice is a real estate agent working in Pike & Wayne County of Northeastern PA in the Poconos. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of Pennsylvania's most popular destinations for vacations, retirement, and purchasing a home.
Hawley PA Real Estate, ©Copyright 2007 by Karen E. Rice. All rights reserved.
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My husband is from that area. And we camped there in the 70's!
Karen,
I have to admit your post caught my eye early this morning. I grew up in that area, lived at Elk Lake and had a summer job in Honesdale. I guess you are seeing vast changes now with the influx of New York and New Jersey plus the coming anticipated gambling in the Poconos, right?
We used to go to a restaurant there called The Corner House. My parents always took us there on holidays. Wonder if it's still there?
You work in a very special beautiful area.
Wow! How cool is that Linda!? Where did you camp - around Lake Wallenpaupack or Promised Land State Park? (That's my absolute favorite place around here!)
Yes, we camped around Lake Wallenpaupack. That was a long time ago but I remember how pretty it was there and not over developed. My husband lived in Sterling.
Hi Diane,
Sadly, The Corner House is no more! For a while it was CC's Cafe, (named after Cora and Caroline, the daughters of the owner at the time). Then it was The Corner Tea House and Gift Shoppe - which was really charming and adorable! Unfortunately, the owner shut it down and moved out of the area.
Hawley has some really great places to eat right in town - The Settler's Inn, which is a Victorian Bed and Breakfast with a unique menu. What used to be the dumpy Victorian Inn on the corner of Church and Main is now a very upscale restaurant known as The Falls Port (which is what Hawley was briefly named). For more simple fare, The Hawley Diner continues to be an anchor in the middle of town, and personally, I like to get stuffed at Fluff's Deli. What used to be The Eddy House, and then Langes for ages, is now Cora's Bistro - we had our office Christmas party there and it was delightful.
So if you ever came back to the area, you would not lack for interesting places to eat with a variety of unique atmospheres!
Linda, the lake is pretty built up now. It is amazing how it has just boomed in the last fifteen years.
Nestled is right! That is a great shot, was it an aerial shot? It sounds like a great place to live!
$20 for an acre; that is pretty incredible.
Marchel - no this is not an aerial shot. I took it from the Queen of Peace cemetery just outside of town. It is a breathtaking view, isn't it?
Karen: It is a breathtaking view!! You did a nice job!!
Karen: It is a breathtaking view!! You did a nice job!!