The Chamber of Commerce is proud to announce it’s partnership with the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau to have made the longawaited Visitors Center a reality.

This project began with an idea of Eric Ehrhardt’s to create a beautiful Visitors Center that would compliment and showcase the spectacular scenery and destinations in our area. Over the next few years, we faced many starts and stops, as we slowly waded through government entities and requirements. We have finally reached the moment when we began to build.

As with any project of this magnitude, changes occurred. Originally the building was to be owned by the Chamber; however, it became evident that financially this was beyond the Chamber’s capability and we are very pleased and grateful that the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau was willing and able to step in to bring the project to fruition. This center will be a home for both the PMVB and the Chamber and we look forward to a productive partnership.

Now the hard work begins and we would like to ask you for your support as we move this project to completion. Whether or not you are presently a Chamber member, the benefits we provide are an integral part of our bi-county community. We hope you will be generous in supporting this endeavor either financially or with in-kind resources or both.

We would like to thank the PMVB, the Palmyra-Pike Township Supervisors, the Wallenpaupack Area School District, and PPL for their efforts. Without their cooperation, this new building could not happen.

Building Bricks Donations Available!!

Fundraising Co-Chairs of the Chamber of Commerce remind the community that “bricks” are available to purchase in support of the Lake Wallenpaupack Visitors Center building fund. Bill Murray, Wayne Bank, is shown displaying his brick “in hopes to encourage others to purchase their own bricks with a donation of $500.” Bricks will be part of the landscaping at the new Visitors Center, located on Route 6 at Lake Wallenpaupack, and occupied by the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau and the Pocono Lake Region Chamber of Commerce.

Pledges
Wayne County Commissioners
Pike County Commissioners
Dime Bank
Honesdale National Bank
Wayne Bank
Shooky’s Distributor and Lake Region IGA Supermarket
Woodloch Pines, Inc.
Misc. Essentials – A Kitchen Shop
Ehrhardt’s Waterfront Resort
Highhouse Oil
Louis & Frances Gruber
Settler’s Inn
Weichert Realtors-Paupack Group
Castle Antiques & Reproductions
AM Skier Agency Inc
Coldwell Banker Lakeview Realtors
deWit Media Group / Bob & Jet Mermell
Paupack Fuel Oil Plumbing & Heating
Lighthouse Harbor Marina
1st Klas Marina
Alice’s Wonderland
Antique Dealers Association
CWDJS Associates
Comprehensive Physical Therapy
Horizon Dental Care
David R Zeiler Nationwide Insurance and Financial Services
Highland Physicians
Pennstar Bank
VanGorders’ Furniture
Wallenpaupack Veterinary Clinic
Greshams’ Landing
Wayne Memorial Hospital
Paupack Hills Golf & Country Club
Mast Hope
East Shore Lodging / Wallenpaupack Scenic Boat Tour
Gresham’s Chop House
Gresham’s Lakeview Motel
Bakker Marine
Alice’s Wonderland, Inc.
A. Jones Electric, Inc.
The Fireplace Shop Showroom, Inc.
Wallenpaupack Lake Estates
Den-Bar Enterprises (Wallenpaupack Bowling Center)
Galasso, Kimler, & Muir, P.C.
Dutch’s Market
Hawley Garage
Lukan’s Farm Resort
Mike’s Auto Service
Paupack Blueberry Farm
Mrs. Shirley Peeters
Penny Lane Candies & Candles
Pike County Concrete
Pike / Wayne Association of REALTORS
Rex Brand Tree Experts
Dirlam Bros. Lumber Co., Inc.
John Bonham Road Equipment & Supplies
Robert Uguccioni
Stephen’s Pharmacy – Hawley
Thomas Wood
Aqua Pennsylvania
B & R Collision
Gresham’s Chop House
Barry J Newcomer Plumbing & Heating
Attorney Randolph T. Borden
Citizens National Bank
Conlin Family
Curley Family
Mark Filon
Debbie Friese
Richard & Mimi Hohn
James G. Marshall
Kathleen & Lee Hummel
Dave & Martha Wilson
Lackawaxen Telecommunication Services
Leeward Construction
Klaus J Meckele, MD
Case Tire Service, Inc.
Michael O’Dell
Pines Tavern
Seeley’s Landing
Senator Lisa Baker
Summit Realty
Sunshine Day Care
The Pines Tavern
Timely Treasures
Walt’s Landing Inc.
The News Eagle
Kathy’s License Service
Wallenpaupack Sports Shop
Watson Brothers
Wayne County Community Foundation
Weichert Realtors / Karen Histed
William Murray
Wilsonville Recreation Area
Ledgedale Recreation Area Campground & Marina
Ironwood Point Recreation Area
Blue Ridge Communications
Bold Gold Media Group
Queen of Peace Church
Urban Stables Inc
Rita’s Italian Ice
Honesdale National Bank Employees Dress Down Day Proceeds
Jim Carrigan
Cherry Ridge Veterinary Clinic
Daniel Corcoran
Tom Butler Provisions
John Bonham Road Equipment and Supplies
Roger Weeks Excavating
Judy Carella and All Brite Cleaning Service
C & C Seamless Gutters
Worthington Group & 1st Alarm Security
LockData Technologies Inc
Marshall Consulting Inc.
Charles Jantzen
Jendi, Ltd.
Col. & Mrs. Lawhon
Loch Highlands
James Locker
Thelma Nelson
NJV Plumbing & Heating
Ellen & David Odenath
Richard & Caroline Pfingst
Robert Lenthe
William Vander Plaat
Penwood Association
Jim & Marriana Ennis
Jennifer B. Pronesti
Lawrence & Bette Reinhart
Mary Lou Shuman
Carl Tate
Mr. & Mrs. John Knepley
James & Helen Mannion
Kenneth Coughlin
Craig & Yasmine Cronin
Kirk Hoffman
Donald Miller
Joseph Ruddy
Melissa Cooper-Scartelli
Doris Ulish
Betty Buckman Webster
Irene Worthington
Anthony Di Prinzio
Barbara Gilpin
Richard McGuire
Richard & Carol Winkler
Robert Fowkes
Fibronia Parkins
Grace Reindle
Chris Vollgraff

HAWLEY

In the late 18th Century, pioneers moving west through these woodlands found a place where three creeks converged. They settled here and built a sawmill, eventually rafting lumber down the Lackawaxen and Delaware to Philadelphia. The first child of the settlement was born in 1812; the first store opened in 1827; the following year the Delaware & Hudson Canal, running from Honesdale to New York, was completed, and anthracite coal began moving on barges along towpaths through Hawley to New York markets.

From the 1840′s to the 1860′s the area experienced great prosperity. The Pennsylvania Coal Company completed a gravity railroad as another route to connect coal mines to the canals. People were employed at the transfer docks, in train car and repair shops, storehouses, and other places needed for business. At first the town was known as Paupack Eddy. It was renamed Falls Port, then Hawleysburgh, in honor of Irad Hawley, the first president of the Pennsylvania Coal Company. Finally in 1851, the name was shortened to its present name, Hawley.

With the arrival in 1865 of the Erie Railroad, the canal and gravity railroad declined in use. The basin of the canal system was filled in and became a playing field. In 1929 the Albert W. Bingham family donated it to the borough as a park which bears the family name. Other industries succeeded Hawley’s lumber and coal beginnings, including fine cut glass and silk and textile mills.

Another cycle of growth and prosperity began for this community in 1925. In that year, the Pennsylvania Power & Light Company dammed the Wallenpaupack Creek for hydroelectric power and created the largest man made lake in the state. Hawley’s back yard became a new resource for recreational and business opportunities which continue today. We invite you to explore the town of Hawley and experience the spirit and legacy we are working to preserve.

LAKE WALLENPAUPACK

Prior to 1926, only a stream flowed through the area that is now Lake Wallenpaupack. Leni – Lenape Indians named it “Wallenpaupack” which means “The Stream of Swift and Slow Water”. The land at one time was owned by William Penn who deeded it to his son, and then to James Wilson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Wilsonville; the site of PPL Companies Hydroelectric Dam, and at one time the county seat of Wayne County, was named for James Wilson.

The first step in the plan to construct a dam was purchasing land from about 100 owners. Land values at that time were about $20 an acre. Farms, barns, houses, sheds, and other buildings were either razed or moved. Trees were cut and 17 miles of road along with telephone and telegraph poles were re-routed beyond the 52 mile shoreline. A cemetery was also relocated. A dike was erected near Tafton to complete the Lake bed, and a stream was temporarily diverted while the dam was built. Construction started early in 1924 and 2,700 men worked nearly 2 years to complete the project. It included the dam, the power plant, and the giant wooden flow line to carry the water from the Lake to the plant location 3 1/2 miles away. The original wooden structure, one of the worlds largest pipelines at that time, was constructed from 5 million board feet of douglas fir and transported by ship from the state of Washington.

The Wallenpaupack 44,000 KW power plant was constructed simultaneously with the dam and put into service in 1926. The plant increased PPL’s system generating capacity approximately 25% in 1926. It’s system-wide generating capacity, when the plant went on line, was only about 225,000 KW.

Before 1925, the year round population of the lake area was about 500 people and changed little except for an occasional influx of fishermen in the spring and hunters in the fall. It’s value, as an ideal recreation spot, has been evident from the time Lake Wallenpaupack was completed.

LAKE WALLENPAUPACK 75TH ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION HISTORY BOOKS

In 2001 both Lake Wallenpaupack and the Pocono Lake Region Chamber of Commerce (Hawley-Lake Wallenpaupack Chamber of Commerce) celebrated their 75th Anniversary. In honor of this occasion, a limited edition 75th anniversary history book was compiled through the efforts of the Wallenpaupack Historical Society, PPL, and the Chamber of Commerce. These hard cover informational books are available at a cost of $25, including shipping and handling. Please make your check or money order payable to PLR Chamber, and send it to the Pocono Lake Region Chamber of Commerce, 2512 Route 6, Suite 2, Hawley PA 18428. You may also email visit@lakeregioncc.com to place your order.