Milford, PA: Top 50 Small Towns for Fall Color

September 11, 2017 8:58 pm

Maybe you’re the sort of person who bemoans the fading of summer—and we can certainly sympathize. But here in our lovely corner of Pennsylvania, the most all-out dazzling season actually comes on the heels of summertime’s balmy R&R, so don’t despair!

We recently spotlighted the sheer fabulousness of Pocono Mountains fall foliage here at the Hotel Fauchere blog. The region is one of the standouts in that department given its geographic extent, its elevational range, and the lovely diversity of native hardwood trees and shrubs. It all adds up to a prolonged and multicolored show—and our charming home base of Milford, PA happens to be nestled right in the heart of it all.

The Secret’s Out (So to Speak)

Given our position—and the abundance of scenic drives and hikes available in close proximity—it’s little surprise that last year Country Living included Milford among its roundup of the “50 Small Towns Across America With the Most Beautiful Fall Foliage.”

The list puts our fair Pocono hamlet in company with other hubs of flashy autumn foliage such as Stowe, Vermont and Kennebunkport, Maine. The Northeast certainly gets plenty of airtime: not a shocker, given our region can pretty confidently lay claim (alongside the adjoining part of Canada) to the most all-out spectacular fall colors in the world, thanks to a propitious combination of climatic, geographic, and ecological ingredients. But Country Living does rightfully give a few shout-outs to some “leaf-peeping” outposts farther afield, from the Southern Appalachians (Gatlinburg, TN) to the aspen canvases of the Colorado Rockies (Ridgway, CO).

Local Leaf-Peeping

As we mentioned in our previous blogpost, premium lodgings at Hotel Fauchere set you up for some truly rich fall-foliage sightseeing: Daytrip drives in virtually any direction will show off the seasonal reds, oranges, burgundies, and other hues during the peak period, and the close-at-hand forests of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area set the stage for leaf-peeping to your heart’s desire.

Enjoy World-Class Pocono Fall Foliage From a Home Base at the Hotel Fauchere

Combine that sort of natural spectacle with the top-of-the-line hospitality you’ll enjoy here at the historic Hotel Fauchere—from the pinnacle of fine dining to the sumptuous treatments of the Badea & Soul Day Spa—and you’ve got the recipe for an absolutely unparalleled fall getaway in the Poconos. Keep an eye on the “foliage forecast” and reach out to us to secure your postcard-perfect accommodations!

Black Bear Film Festival 2018

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October in Milford is not only beautiful for its breathtaking fall foliage of the Delaware Upper River Valley forests but also known to movie buffs for its big-screen delights of the Black Bear Film Festival. This year’s Festival takes place October 19-21, 2018 in Milford, PA.
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Fall Foliage in Milford, PA

September 5, 2017 5:55 pm

Though we’re still savoring every last bit of Milford summer here at the Hotel Fauchere, we’re also keenly anticipating the annual bonanza of color soon in store for our Pocono forests.
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SeptemberFest in Milford, PA

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From the Festival of Wood and the Black Bear Film Festival to the Winter Lights Festival, our home base of Milford, Pennsylvania offers quite the varied feast of annual events. And just around the corner is a prime example: the late-summer soiree known as SeptemberFest!
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Pike County’s Literary History

August 25, 2017 1:18 pm

Pike County’s literary history goes back to the late 18th century, when British émigré Solomon Jackson settled in Pike County before launching The Jew, the first Jewish periodical in America. Red Badge of Courage author Stephen Crane spent the summer of 1894 camping with friends in Shohola and published a satirical newspaper, The Pike County Puzzle. In the 1840s, New York Tribune publisher Horace Greeley financed the Sylvania Colony (now Greeley, PA), although he did note, “There are five gallons of whisky to one spelling book in Pike county.”

Edmund Clarence Stedman, known as “the bard of Wall Street” wrote poetry about Pike County in the late 19th century (“…streams as virginal as when they were the Indian maiden’s bath and mirror. They tumbled over great bluffs into the… welcoming river… Shut in with woods and buttressed with mighty walls of rock (were) cascades lovely as any in the world…”)

In the summer of 1934, You Can’t Go Home Again author Thomas Wolfe lived and wrote at the Hotel Fauchère. Poets Robert Frost and Ogden Nash both visited Milford; Kurt Vonnegut set scenes in and references Milford in God Bless you, Mr. Rosewater and in his books thriller writer Harlan Coben frequently sets scenes in Pike County.

Many science and speculative fiction and fantasy writers–including Judith Merrill, Samuel Delany, Harlan Ellison and others–lived or spent time in Milford.   In the 1950s, Damon Knight and other science fiction writers launched the Milford Writers Conference, held annually until 1972 when it moved to Milford-on-Sea, Hampshire, England and renamed “United Kingdom Milford SF Writers’ Conference.”

Pulitzer Prize winner Frank McCourt wrote Angela’s Ashes while living in Milford in the 1990s; Siddhartha Mukherjee (Emperor of all Maladies), Colm Tóibín (The Master), Gloria Steinem (My Life On the Road), Robin Morgan (Sisterhood is Powerful), Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet (Glengarry Glen Ross), M.K. Asante (Buck: A Memoir), Brad Gooch (City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O’Hara), National Book Award honoree John Casey (Spartina) and many other prominent writers have all been Hotel Fauchère guests in recent years.  John Berendt (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil) is not only a frequent visitor, but wrote about Milford in Travel+Leisure magazine. 

The list above doesn’t begin to include amazing writers who live in Pike County today. We salute them, we welcome you to Milford and we are proud to be a sponsor of the Milford Readers & Writers Festival.

Milford Readers & Writers Festival 2018

July 26, 2017 1:22 pm

This year’s Milford Readers and Writers Festival aims to inspire conversations between people who love to read books and people who write them. This year’s Festival takes place September 28, 29, 30, 2018 in Milford, PA.

Building on the tradition of storytelling and the participatory energy of book clubs, the festival is an invitation to readers to share their thoughts, with the authors. Events take place at venues throughout the town and include both ticketed and free events. This year’s festival, includes Alan Alda, Susan Faludi, Tina Alexis Allen, and many more.

The Milford Readers and Writers Festival was originally conceived when, on yet, another cold and wet evening in March 2016, literary lawyer Bob Levine, author Suzanne Braun Levine, author Amy Ferris and Milford’s mayor and author Sean Strub had dinner at Bar Louis and fantasized about the possibility of creating a literary festival in Milford. Less than six months later, with a group of intense volunteers and collaborators, the fantasy became reality and Milford staged its very first Readers and Writers Festival that fall with a star line-up of authors, poets, performers, chefs, gardeners, conservationists and more.

The Milford Theater hosts the main stage. Past authors who have participated include, Gloria Steinem, MK Asante, John Berendt, Lee Child, Robin Morgan, Farai Chideya, Stephen Rubin, Patricia Bosworth, Martha Frankel, Roberta Glatz and many more.  Additional events are happening at venues throughout the town, including Grey Towers National Historic Site, The Hotel Fauchère, 403 Broad, The Dimmick Inn, the Pike County Library, The Waterwheel Restaurant and Bar, The Columns Museum and more.

As a guest of the Hotel Fauchere, you’re right in the midst of the action, within walking distance of nearly all of the event venues.

Author Conversations, Live Theater, & More!

You can purchase tickets for this year’s festival here.

Grey Towers Festival of Wood Hotel

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Here at the Hotel Fauchere, we don’t simply offer our guests the finest in Relais & Chateaux cuisine, luxury and hospitality: We also provide easy proximity to some beautiful expressions of the East’s great outdoors, not least the sublime Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area right at Milford’s doorstep, as well as heritage attractions and great shopping at our galleries, boutiques and specialty retailers.
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