My Vacation, Part 3 of 9 -- Thursday, July 23, 2009

[lblanchard]

I'm a failure as a note-taker. I have nothing about breakfast. But I think we ate at the Milford Diner again -- in fact, I'm sure of it. I probably had another of those nice primavera omelets. We took a couple minutes to get a few pictures of the local Presbyterian church and also Forest Hall, a building at the main intersection that was designed by the architect of Grey Towers and that once housed a forestry school. The previous day's pictures were not wholly satisfying because the light wasn't right.

At the outset of our drive across Route 6, it seems a good place to remark on a couple of things that surprised and delighted us: even when a place needed a coat of paint, or was festooned with moldering human artifacts, the lawns were always manicured. Most of the houses we passed were well maintained, with fresh paint (this is lumber country and most of the houses are wood, not stone or brick), and abundant flower gardens. And American flags everywhere. Big ones on flagpoles, medium-sized ones flown from house fronts, little ones in flowerbeds. One sees an American flag so rarely in Philadelphia where we are all far too sophisticated to show any patriotism… I stopped flying ours a few years ago because it had gotten so ratty but I swear I'll get a new one now. (I do put out little flags in my window boxes for Memorial Day, Flag Day, and the Fourth of July.)

Just this side of Honesdale is the tiny village of White Mills, once the home of arguably the nation's finest cut glass manufacturing facility, the Dorflinger Glass Works. The works are long gone, and the village is a shadow of its former self. But some Dorflinger descendents donated the family farm for the creation of a wildlife sanctuary and glass museum ( http://www.dorflinger.com/ ) where I spent quite some time admiring the glass and talking with volunteer, donor, and self-taught glass expert Walter B. Barbe (who is also restoring a canal lock and lock house in his copious free time).

The displays span Christian Dorflinger's early work as, among other things, a deviser of chimneys for kerosene lamps in the 1850s, through the elaborate cut glass creations of the later nineteenth century and the simpler art deco glass of the early 20th century. An elaborate and award-winning set created for the Centennial Exhibition in 1876 is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (I must look for it!), and Dorflinger's glass works provided glass for many successive U.S. presidents, beginning with perennial spendthrift presidential spouse Mary Todd Lincoln and ending, I believe, with Woodrow Wilson. The factory did not long survive its founder's death, closing its doors in 1921.

Again, we arrived before the museum opened, allowing us to wander the grounds and marvel at the number of artists who were setting up easels for a session of panting en plein air. We learned from one of them that this was a group, "Come Paint with Me" ( http://www.joanpolishook-art.com/comepaintwithme.html ), founded by artist Joan Polishook, for artists of any skill level who want to paint out of doors and want a little companionship. They select locations that offer varied scenery and have restrooms -- a practical touch.

We had planned to stop in Honesdale and do a little forensic railroading, as it was a significant rail site. However, when we got there we found the sidewalks crowded with merchandise and shoppers for its "Wild West Days" celebration. This not being our idea of a good time, we decided to defer a visit to Honesdale for a future trip. Highlights of the trip to Wyalusing including a look at a wind farm atop the Moosic Mountain (High Knob), just outside of Carbondale, and an incredible Victorian painted lady in Tunkhannock. I took copious photos of the latter.

One destination had been on my life list for a long time, so we stopped there before going to our hotel. That is French Azilum, ( http://www.frenchazilum.com/index.html ),a 1790s refugee settlement in an ox bow formed by the northern branch of the Susquehanna a few miles below Towanda. We crossed the Susquehanna on a small bridge near Wyalusing and took Route 187 for what seemed like an impossibly long ride on a narrow, hilly, twisty road (actually, it was about 13 miles) before turning onto a side road and going another three miles.

French Azilum was settled on a 1600 plot of land purchased for refugees from the French and Santo Domenican (Haitian) revolutions with the assistance of Philadelphians Robert Morris, John Nicholson and (possibly) Stephen Girard. In the fall of 1793 some 30 cabins had been built for the refugees as well as a Grande Maison intended to house Marie Antoinette and their children in the event of their escape (which of course was not to be). In its heyday the settlement was visited by the likes of Talleyrand and Louise Philippe, later King of France.

Although the settlers had comforts unusual in a pioneer settlement, such as wallpaper, chandeliers, and window glass, they weren't particularly happy with their primitive lifestyle. They spurned the suggestion that they shop in Athens, PA some 16 miles to the north and set up their own shops -- and commissioned their own weekly postal service directly to Philadelphia, as opposed to the more circuitous route taken by other settlers' mail. Distressed by the living conditions and especially the harsh winters, many returned to France and Haiti as soon as the political situation improved, and others drifted off to other, more settled regions with more congenial weather -- Savannah, Charleston, New Orleans.

There are no remains of the original settlement other than traces visible only to archaeologists, but an 1830s-vintage house, built by the son of one of the settlers, is preserved as a house museum and is filled with possessions from the original settlers and their descendants. Our house tour was followed immediately by a driving rainstorm, so we weren’t able to get all the photographs we wanted, at least not this day. We returned via Rt 187 to Wysox and sought out the two scenic overlooks, "Marie Antoinette" and "Wyalusing Rocks." We'd been warned by our guide that the signage for Marie Antoinette was down but that signage for a roadhouse that shares the space was still up, so we turned at the sign of the "Cold Beer" and were rewarded with some splendid views here and at the nearby Wyalusing Rocks overlook.

Arriving in Wyalusing, we were startled at how small the town is and intrigued by just how idiosyncratic the Wyalusing Hotel is. Our room was decidedly odd, having no window and a skylight, but we were warned about that when I made the reservations. They were otherwise fully booked -- a local summer camp was having its parents' night the second night of our stay.

The one-block historic district had obviously been spruced up about ten years ago in a great burst of civic/commercial optimism, but has suffered a bit in the intervening years. A massive construction project that closed one end of the street wasn't helping. We checked in at the bar -- a regular occurrence in lodging-cum-food establishements in these parts -- and were directed outside and then into another door, and up a flight of stairs. The top of the stairway was blocked by a massive toolbox, the property of the hotel owner, Chris Woodruff, who was working on a new guestroom. He told us the hotel had come with an inhabitant who'd been there for 36 years and had just been moved to a nursing home. The room was indescribably nasty, he said, and he was repainting and taking up the carpet. When it's finished it will be lovely but idiosyncratic -- lovely bow window with stained glass transoms, but the private bath is down the hall (!).

Our own room was down a hallway that wasn't entirely governed by the parallel line or the right angle, with walls, trim, and doors painted in some startling shades of pink chosen by the owner's ex-wife. It would have been a pleasant enough room, I think, if it had had a window (but we knew it was windowless when we made the reservation -- it was the last available room with a big bed -- and it did have a skylinght). The air conditioning was anemic but eventually got the job done and was mercifully quiet. The water pressure was...variable. Broadband defeated us. I never was able to get a combination of userid and password that worked. If I's been really highly motivated I would have taken the computer to Chris and said here, *you* get me on this sucker. But since we had started out by asking him to find us a light bulb we thought we'd rather not. Instead...

Having struck up a conversation with Chris, we offered him a taste of our fine bourbon. Brightening visibly, he said he'd go off and get us some glasses. We repaired to the second floor porch where we joined the rest of his crew -- Eric, Mike, Mike, and Courtney. They're all Wyalusing natives and happy to remain in their town of 550. Chris told us that he purchased the hotel from an old family friend, who has gone on to run a small eatery and music venue in Towanda -- the Weigh Station, housed in the old Lehigh Valley Railroad freight building. The hotel was built in two phases. The first -- the brick building -- dates to the 1860s. The gingerbread addition was built by its owner, J. Morgan Brown, styled the King of Gingerbread in the hotel's literature. Brown also designed/built a block of three buildings just to the left of the hotel. Chris told us that despite the economic downturn and the road construction his business was booming. A lot of energy companies in town to work the Marcellus Shale and the planned pipeline through Bradford County and on to Hoboken (I think).

The Wyalusing Hotel features a well-appointed dining room that seats 100 as well as a bar with ample dining areas. The same menu is available in both. For our first night, we ate in the dining room. We started with a glass of "seyval chardonnay" from nearby Grovedale Winery. It was, ummm, sweet. Roy had a steak; I had chicken and shrimp alfredo. Both were of the quality one expects of the "nice restaurant" in a small town. I would not encourage any food snob friends to come here for a refined culinary experience, but I'd have no hesitation about eating in the dining room again -- although the bar food was better, as we found out the next night.


There are 43 photos from this day, beginning here. All entries for this trip are tagged "anniversary trip".




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