Take a journey through time and relive the history of the Delaware Water Gap at the Antoine Dutot Museum & Gallery. A charming old brick school house (circa 1850) with a museum of local history and a restored 1930s-era classroom on the second floor. The downstairs gallery is updated regularly with rotating exhibits from regional artists. Remember to call in advance to confirm the hours of operation.

Take a guided tour of this historic Pocono Mountains mansion. Built in the Victorian Italianate architecture style in 1861, this beautiful home was the residence of Asa Packer. Among his many accomplishments, the multi-millionaire built the Lehigh Valley Railroad and founded Lehigh University. Today, you will see his mansion just as it stood during Packer's lifetime. Remember to call in advance to confirm the hours of operation.

Some of the finest master artisans in the nation have pursued and perfected their crafts in the Pocono Mountains. In the 1860s, glassmaker Christian Dorflinger opened a factory midway between Honesdale and Hawley in the small town of White Mills along the Lacakawaxen River. Christian had learned glassmaking in his native France before emigrating to the United States as a young boy. He and his brother slowly grew their own business until they became the leading glassmakers in the country, receiving orders for fine cut lead crystalware from distinguished clients including the Lincoln White House. Located in two of the original factory buildings, the Dorflinger Factory Museum showcases glassblowing, decorating, and engraving exhibits so visitors can see how the exquisite tableware was made. Across the street, a separate, complementary museum, the Dorflinger Glass Museum, has a crystalline timeline so visitors can stroll past pieces produced throughout Christian’s career, including items designed by Tiffany’s for a Vanderbilt wedding. But the tour doesn’t stop there! When Christian Dorflinger opened his glassworks in town, he also purchased a peaceful farm with hundreds of acres. Today, this space is home to the Dorflinger-Suydam Wildlife Sanctuary. Throughout the seasons, the miles of sanctuary trails provide opportunities to surround yourself in nature. The sanctuary is also the backdrop for the annual open air Wildflower Concert Series held under the pines every summer.

The Gallery at 530 Main is a vibrant community art space in the heart of downtown Stroudsburg, showcasing a diverse collection of works from local and regional artists. With rotating exhibitions, special events, and a welcoming atmosphere, the gallery celebrates creativity across various styles and mediums. Whether you're an art enthusiast, collector, or simply exploring the area, the Gallery at 530 Main invites you to experience inspiring artistry in a beautiful historic building in downtown Stroudsburg. Open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

By George, I wish I could come back 100 years from now and see my trees.” So spoke Gifford Pinchot in 1920 when he planted the copper beeches, birches, maples, and many other spectacular trees that you’ll find towering above the grounds of Grey Towers National Historic Site in Milford, PA. This 100-acre estate and chateau style mansion overlooking the Delaware Highlands was first built as a summer home for the Pinchot family in 1886 when Gifford, newly graduated from Yale, was just embarking on a lifelong, pioneering career in forestry and environmental work. He gained experience in Europe and around the United States, managing the woodlands of the famous Biltmore estate, before transforming the United States Forest Service under President Teddy Roosevelt and serving as the 28th Governor of Pennyslvania. Throughout his life, Gifford advocated for responsible stewardship of America’s natural resources. When President John F. Kennedy visited Milford to dedicate Grey Towers in 1963, he called Gifford Pinchot "the Father of the Conservation Movement." Learn more about the legacy of the Pinchot family as you take a mansion tour or wander the beautiful grounds of the estate. Gifford’s parents, James and Mary, and his wife, Cornelia, left their own unique marks on Grey Towers, adding beautiful features inside and out like the magnificent library, the Bait Box playhouse, and the Finger Bowl outdoor dining room. You’ll also find traces of the Pinchot family downtown in Milford landmarks like Historic Forest Hall, once home to the Yale School of Forestry. From the past to the present, don’t forget to keep an eye out for seasonal events at Grey Towers like summer picnics and the Festival of Wood which happens every fall.

Little Bethel Historical Association is a a non-profit organization dedicated to the restoration of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church building on 3rd Street in Stroudsburg, PA. It was established in 1868 and it was the only church that minorities could go to at the time. The last time this was an operating church was back in the 1970s.

The winding mountain streets of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania are rich in history. Back at the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the town was known as Mauch Chunk, more millionaires lived here than in any other place in the country. Most made their fortunes through mining the rich anthracite coal deposits in the surrounding mountains, and their elegant Victorian mansions can still be seen at the bottom of Broadway Street. But if you follow Broadway further up the hill, you’ll find the Carbon County Jail standing sentinel above the town. Now home to the Old Jail Museum, this building was once at the center of the infamous Molly Maguires mining conflict. By the 1870s, Irish immigrants formed a large portion of the local workforce. They faced discrimination and dangerous conditions both in the mines and aboveground, as violence and conflicts were common in the area. As miners worked to unionize, the president of the Reading Railroad hired a Pinkerton detective to infiltrate the group and gather evidence against an alleged secret society of destructive Irish immigrants called the Molly Maguires. Ultimately, 20 men were sentenced to death based on the detective’s testimony, and 7 were hung on the gallows in the Old Jail’s courtyard. But the guilt of the Molly Maguires is still debated today. One of the condemned Irishmen put his left hand on the wall of cell 17 and proclaimed that his handprint would remain as proof of his innocence. Pay a visit to the Old Jail Museum to examine it for yourself! You’ll also be walking the same hallways as Sean Connery, who starred in a 1970 movie about the Molly Maguires that was filmed on the premises.

The Pocono Historic Trolley is elegantly restored and harkens back to a bygone era with authentic interiors, turn-of-the-century design, and the music of Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians flowing from the loudspeakers. Your ride down memory lane is delivered in open-air comfort as you visit the quaint town of Delaware Water Gap, the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and surrounding areas.

As you explore the Pocono Mountains region, you’ll pass many scenic crop fields and historic barns and farm buildings. Farmers have worked this land since the first European immigrants arrived in the area in the late1700s, and one local museum allows visitors the chance to step back in time and see firsthand what life was like in the Poconos in the past. In 1765, the Depper family sailed from Rotterdam to Philadelphia and settled just outside of Stroudsburg at what is today the Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm. A Hessian soldier serving in the Revolutionary War married the only daughter, Katherine Depper, and the farm stayed in the family for close to 150 years. The 114 acres remain much as they would have been in generations past, with pastures and woodlands that are home to livestock like pigs, chickens, and the farm’s workhorses Jenny and Judy. First-person interpreters share what it was like to make a living off the land in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, from baking bread to braiding rugs. It was a time when most tasks were completed by hand rather than by machine, and many heritage crafts and skills are on display. Life in that time moved along with seasons, and Quiet Valley marks the passing of the year with events like Farm Animal Frolic weekends in the spring, a chance to meet adorable baby bunnies, lambs, and goats, a Civil War Encampment in the summer, a Harvest Festival with candle dipping, spinning wool, and scrapple making in the fall, and Old Time Christmas weekends in December celebrating the yuletide traditions of days gone by. Whatever the time of year, Quiet Valley Farm offers a chance for visitors of all ages to step back in time.

Did you know that New York City’s famous Brooklyn Bridge has a younger brother right here in the Poconos? Built in 1847 about 20 years before John A. Roebling would design the Brooklyn Bridge, Roebling’s Delaware Aqueduct in Lackawaxen is the oldest existing wire suspension bridge in the United States. It's also a U.S. National Historic Landmark and a National Civil Engineering Landmark. The Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River is now one of the peaceful National Parks in the Poconos, but this area once hummed with industrial activity from the historic Delaware and Hudson Canal. Constructed in the 1820s, the D&H was a 171-mile transportation network that brought fuel from the hills of Pennsylvania to power nineteenth century homes and businesses in New York City and beyond. Moving Anthracite coal from the mines to Manhattan presented many engineering challenges. In Honesdale, another spot along the Pocono History Trail, the nation’s first steam locomotive to run on commercial tracks brought the coal to the river, where it was transferred to canal boats, but coal wasn’t the only cargo that needed to cross the water. When frequent collisions between canal boats and timber rafts became a problem, John Roebling stepped in with a plan to move the canal above the river. For fifty years, the aqueduct helped alleviate river traffic until the canal closed in 1898. Today, cars and pedestrians have taken the place of canal boats and mules crossing the bridge. Book a kayaking trip or launch your own boat from the nearby Zane Grey Public Access Boat Launch to get an up close view of the aqueduct from the water. Keep an eye out for bald eagles who make their winter home in the area. Continue your trip along the Pocono History Trail with a visit to the Zane Grey Museum!

The Poconos has been a favorite getaway destination for generations of vacationers. A hundred years ago, tourists from New York and Philadelphia loved to escape from the city for a rural retreat just as they do today. Many wealthy industrialists built stately summer homes in the town of Milford near the scenic Delaware River: Grey Towers National Historic Site, former home of the Pinchot family and another stop along our History Trail, is one of them. The elegant Columns Museum on Broad Street is another. In the late 1800s, savvy Irishman Dennis McLaughlin rose from newspaper boy to largest landowner in Hudson County, and he had this neoclassical mansion built as his quiet place in the country in 1904. You’ll find memories of the McLaughlin family inside, including angels carved to represent Dennis’s eight children on the second floor, but the building now houses a wide array of artifacts as the home of the Pike County Historical Society. The most famous exhibit showcases items from the infamous Ford’s Theater. The actress Jeannie Gourlay was performing on stage at Ford’s on the night of President Lincoln’s assassination in 1865. The 36-star flag, stained with Lincoln’s blood, that was used to cushion the President’s head after he was shot was brought to Milford by Jeannie, where it is now on display along with several of her stage costumes. Plan a visit to the Columns Museum to see the flag for yourself along with other exhibits that chronicle the history of the area’s residents, from the Lenape Indians to war veterans to famous Pragmatist philosopher Charles Saunders Peirce.

When you look up at the imposing Victorian façade of the Harry Packer Mansion in Jim Thorpe, you may think grim grinning ghosts are about to come out to socialize. That’s because this building was referenced by Disney imagineers when they designed the Haunted Mansion attraction at Walt Disney World! Built in 1874 and designed by the architect Addison Hutton, this historic luxury inn was originally the home of Harry Packer. Harry was born in the town of Jim Thorpe, then known as Mauch Chunk, and was the youngest son of industrialist and philanthropist Asa Packer. Harry graduated from the university founded by his father, Lehigh University, in 1870 and married Augusta Lockhart in 1872. Asa lived in the other mansion on the hill just a stone’s throw away, now a museum and another stop along the Pocono History Trail. He had the Harry Packer Mansion built as a wedding gift for his son and his wife. Harry later succeeded his father as a leader in town and as president of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Today, the mansion is a bed and breakfast where guests can book an overnight stay to surround themselves in the elegance of the past. The rooms are decorated in Victorian opulence, and the mantlepieces, mirrors, chandeliers, and doors are original. The front veranda offers a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains which give the area its nickname of “Little Switzerland.” Some of the bed and breakfast rooms are located in the adjacent Carriage House which was built in 1861 and served as home for the Packer family’s horses and coaches. Although this mansion isn’t haunted, the inn does offer Murder Mystery Weekends, and ghost tours are popular in town in the fall.