Poconos Gardens Lodge • The Last Resort

On February 22, 1996, my wife and I drove to the Poconos for a nice weekend away. We had reservations at the Pocono Gardens Lodge courtesy of my mom. We had never heard of this place but knowing the reputation of the Poconos we had a feeling it would be cheesy. We never expected it to be completely deserted. 

We found the place easily, checked in at the front desk and then went to our room. It was on the ground floor, in the very last building — in a string of buildings lined with tall bushes. As we had imagined, there was a big round bed, tacky furniture and thick dated blue carpeting. In the middle of the room was an ornate iron decorative divider that probably looked nice back in the '60's. Then again, it was probably tacky back then, as well. The room also had a large hot tub, a fireplace (with lion heads on either side) and an old TV on an old TV stand.

Once settled, we decided to do a little exploring. The first thing we noticed was that our car was the only car in the parking lot and there wasn't anyone else walking around. Not being familiar with the place, we thought maybe we were just in a secluded area and things were probably hoppin' just around the corner. No such luck. 

We found a large round indoor pool, but again, no other guests. There were plenty of statues, though. One was the Greek God, Poseidon, who looked like the devil holding a pitchfork. There was also music being pumped into this big empty space — echoing — which made it even creepier. It was right out of The Shining.

There was also a game room, all lit up with pinball machines, flashing lights and video arcade noises ... but again, no people. The gift shop was closed and had a big padlock on the door, as if it had been closed for years. There was a large restaurant with a big-screen TV that was on, but the restaurant itself was empty — other than the few people that were working there. A sign in the doorway directed guests to the sister resorts, "Mount Airy Lodge" and "Strickland's Inn."

We took a little ride down the road to Strickland's and had dinner in their restaurant. There were some people there but it was still a strange vibe. After eating we found a huge indoor recreation center. We went inside, where there was no one playing miniature golf, basketball, ping pong, shuffle board, swimming or skating. We actually had to wake up the guy working at the roller rink to get some roller skates. We skated for awhile — just the two of us.

When we went back to our room at the Pocono Gardens Lodge, we were so creeped out we propped a chair up against the door. We tried to relax and headed for the hot tub. Of course when we started to fill up the tub .. brown, dirty water came out. When was the last time someone had turned this water on? Or even stayed in this room? We tried the sink and got the same thing. We called the front desk and they said they would send someone out to look at it. We waited and waited and waited. We called the front desk again, but this time got no answer. The phone just rang and rang.

Enough was enough. We packed up our stuff and drove to Mount Airy Lodge down the street. This place looked pretty sad, too — but did have a parking lot full of cars. We went straight to the office and told the manager that we were from Pocono Gardens Lodge and no one over there was helping us. He quickly offered us a room at Mount Airy, but we said, "no." All we wanted was our money back, which he gave us. 

To add to all the weirdness, there was a freaking peacock on our car when we came out of Mount Airy Lodge. Since when do you find a peacock sitting on your car? We chased him off, got in the car and drove 80 miles home to Elmwood Park. We couldn't believe that we had driven all the way to the Poconos and then back home the same day. Not the way the weekend was supposed to go, that's for sure. 

Now, fast forward to 2004 —it gets better. I took a little drive out to the Pocono Garden Lodge. The gigantic billboard was still there at the entrance to the resort. Could that place still exist? Sure enough, only it was now abandoned, officially. It probably closed down the day after we left in 1996. Now there was plywood covering all the windows ... well, almost all the windows. How weird was it that the plywood had been ripped off of the window to the room that we stayed in eight years earlier? 

I did not have the courage to crawl inside, but I was able to stick my camera in the window and take a few shots. The whole room looked like it had been burned. The furniture was gone, but the tacky ironwork that divided the room was still there., along with the headboard from the big round bed. The fireplace with the lion heads on each side was to my right and there was an impression on the wall from the mirror that used to be there. 

Seeing our old room creeped me out so much that I left. On my way out of town I passed by the other two resorts, Mount Airy Lodge and Strickland's. Both were abandoned and tightly boarded up. There were "No Trespassing" and "Road Closed" signs everywhere ... which means I will definitely have to go back some day. 

After doing a little research, I found out Pocono Gardens Lodge was closed in 2000. Frankly, I'm surprised they stayed open that long.