Penn Hills: The Grounds

Panorama of the swimming pool.

Hey everyone! I showed you the guest rooms already, so today we’re going to explore more of the grounds at the abandoned honeymoon resort, Penn Hills. Right next to the wedding bell pool, there’s a building along highway 191 that houses the indoor pool. I’m assuming this building was also where check in was done, since there is a maze of offices surrounding the pool. The pool is filled with garbage of course, but there are a lot of really great graffiti pieces here.

Babes and bubbles.

This piece is above one of the hot tubs, which sketch me out because they look like giant barrels. Did hot tubs ever look like this? Was this trendy to have weird saloon tubs when the resort closed in 2009? Or is this more delightfully tacky decor? We shall never know.

Oh look, pool toys!

Anyone care for a dip?

For a really great video tour of the pool house (and the rest of the grounds), you should check out this video by Dan Bell. It’s a pretty thorough tour, and video is a really cool medium to make you feel like you’re actually there.

He’s sad the pool is ruined too.

The building directly across the street housed the restaurant, which is still mostly intact and entirely beautiful with its atrium set up:

The dining room.

Still a beautiful view.

Apparently the food was horrible by the end of the resort’s 50 year run, but with a view like that I don’t think I’d mind. Oh, and they spray-painted compliments on the walls to distract you:

Tell me something I don’t know.

Please everyone note my precious Valentine’s Day decoration I found!!!

This shot was taken around dinner time. So just IMAGINE.

There was an adjacent room painted all these bright wacky colors and my best guess is that it was a dance room? Directly below this room was the remains of a gift shop, and then a hallway to a bunch of other rooms. Does anyone know where I can find a map of this place?

Relaxing color scheme.

Ok a very important building here is the ice rink. The resort had indoor ice skating ALL YEAR LONG. It was used as furniture storage when the resort closed and has been vandalized since, but that doesn’t affect how absolutely huge this building is.

The indoor ice rink.

Ice-A-Rama! Open all year!

The entrance.

Falling apart.

I found my Valentine’s Day decoration in a little pile of trash here. Isn’t it romantic?

Trashed. But I found sparkly decorations.

Back in the room compounds, there were a couple of built in bars for the guests, which is a great idea to keep drunk people from running back and forth over a highway.

The bar.

I love the architecture of this place. I wish I could see this place all decked out and in its prime.

Little courtyard outside the bar.

A convenient path from the bar to the courtyard. Thank god someone put this here.

There was another space upstairs with a balcony. I’m not sure if these were all bars or maybe lounges or game rooms?

People in the Poconos have some anger issues, man.

We also found this menu board, which has been delightfully redecorated. I mean, this was a popular place for swingers, but I’m guessing what’s offered here probably wasn’t on the menu in 1976. (And definitely wasn’t ‘free’.)

Could I have an order of CHE F OM THE AGE, please?

In the huge maze of offices (found in the same building as the indoor pool) I found a guest itinerary from a Sunday, complete with invitations to dinner entertainment, backgammon lessons, and ice skating. From this you can get a feel for what kind of activities all the buildings were used for. The itinerary is signed “Enjoy! Pocono Bob, Smilin’ Sue, Merry Maryanne, Happy Heather, Tall Tony, and Shutterbug George.”

A guest itinerary!!

The offices are completely trashed, because people think it’s fun to throw boxes of paper. There were tons of itineraries, letterheads, checkbooks, photographs, bills, and other documents in a literally knee-high sea of paper. I found multiple copies of this photograph, but wasn’t able to identify it as part of the resort ground or not. Can anyone identify this?

Tons of old photos and documents.

Blank itineraries.

I took a few keepsakes home from the offices because they were honestly just too good not to save. On the left we have ‘Carl’ and ‘Astrid’ looking at what seems to be a map or a blueprint. Top right is some guy in a sailor hat with a total 80’s babe at the Winston Cup Series. Below is a business card for the President of Penn Hills Enterprises, Charles Poalillo (the founder of Penn Hills Resort was Frances Poalillo, so I’m assuming this was his son or some other family member- anyone know?) and lastly, an adorable little heart that says “Penn Hills In The Poconos OPEN ALL YEAR”.

Souvenirs.

Penn Hills in the Poconos…open all year. Closed forever.

Hope you enjoyed!

xo Rebecca