7 Small Towns In The Poconos That Come Alive In The Fall
When the leaves turn, the Pocono Mountains put on one of the best shows in the Northeast. The region spreads across the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania, above the Delaware River, and its old railroad and resort towns lean all the way into autumn: foliage train rides, harvest festivals, and Main Streets framed by red and gold. These seven Pocono towns are the ones that come alive once the color hits.
Jim Thorpe
Jim Thorpe is the Poconos town that gets called the "Switzerland of America," and fall is when it earns the nickname. Set in a steep river gorge, the town was a 19th-century coal-shipping hub known then as Mauch Chunk, rich enough to draw Gilded Age millionaires; it took its current name in 1954 after the Olympic athlete. What survives is a downtown of cobblestone streets, brick storefronts, and Victorian mansions like the Asa Packer Mansion, all set against hillsides that blaze orange and red in October. The signature fall event is the Fall Foliage Festival, held across several October weekends, with vendors in Josiah White Park, live music, and rides on the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway that run straight through the color.
Honesdale
Honesdale bills itself the birthplace of the American railroad, the spot where the Stourbridge Lion, the first commercial locomotive to run on U.S. rails, made its 1829 debut. That heritage still drives the town's best fall outing: the Stourbridge Line runs foliage excursion trains out through the Lackawaxen River valley when the leaves peak. In town, the Wayne County Historical Society keeps a full-scale replica of the Lion, and Main Street's shops and cafes fill in the afternoon. Just outside town, Prompton State Park wraps 290-acre Prompton Lake in hardwood forest, and the climb up Irving Cliff delivers a wide view over the town and the color below.
Hawley
Hawley sits in the Lake Region of the Poconos, right beside Lake Wallenpaupack, the largest lake in the area, and its shoreline is a front-row seat for the foliage. The Lake Wallenpaupack Trail follows the water through hardwood stands that turn deep amber, and downtown Hawley leans into its industrial past: the enormous 1890 Bellemonte Silk Mill, once among the largest bluestone buildings in the country, has been reborn as a shopping and dining complex. The town's real novelty is rail biking, where you pedal a two- or four-seat rail bike right down the old train tracks through the trees, a genuine only-here fall adventure.
Milford
Milford is the polished one, a small Pike County seat with a downtown of well-kept 19th-century buildings that looks its best under a canopy of turning leaves. The landmark is the Hotel Fauchère, an 1852 inn founded by a Delmonico's chef and still one of the finest tables in the region. Above town, Grey Towers National Historic Site is the château-style mansion of Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service, and its grounds are made for a fall walk. Milford is also the gateway to the northern Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area: Raymondskill Falls, the tallest waterfall in Pennsylvania at 178 feet, drops through three tiers just a few miles out and is framed by amber and gold in autumn.
Tannersville
Tannersville is the mountain-resort base of the central Poconos, sitting right below Camelback Mountain. Once the leaves start turning in October, the resort keeps running its scenic chairlift and mountain coaster for foliage seekers rather than skiers, so you can ride up for a panorama of color without a hike. For the classic view, Big Pocono State Park caps nearby Camelback at nearly 2,000 feet, with a summit road and overlooks that take in three states' worth of hardwood forest at peak. Back down the mountain, the town's outlets and restaurants handle the rainy-afternoon backup plan.
Bushkill
Bushkill is a tiny community with an outsized draw: Bushkill Falls, the privately run system of eight waterfalls known as the "Niagara of Pennsylvania," open since 1904. A network of bridges and boardwalks threads the gorge past the 100-foot main falls, and in autumn the hemlock ravine fills in with the reds and yellows of the surrounding hardwoods, one of the most photographed fall spots in the region. The hamlet sits inside the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, so the trails, overlooks, and quiet river access of the park are all close by. It is more waterfall stop than downtown, but in fall it is one of the Poconos' essential mornings.
Stroudsburg
Stroudsburg is the Poconos' downtown hub, and its walkable Main Street is the region's best bet for a fall day spent on foot rather than a trail. Independent shops, restaurants, and the restored Sherman Theater line the blocks, and public murals turn the side streets into an open-air gallery as the sidewalk trees turn overhead. It is also the jumping-off point for some of the area's best foliage hiking: the Appalachian Trail crosses just south of town, and the climb to the Lunch Rocks vista on Kittatinny Mountain opens a wide view of the valley in full color. For anyone who wants Pocono fall without giving up a real town, Stroudsburg is the pick.
The Poconos in Full Color
What these seven share is a way of turning autumn into the main event. Jim Thorpe and Honesdale run the foliage trains, Hawley puts you on the lake and the rail bikes, Milford and Bushkill deliver the waterfalls, and Tannersville and Stroudsburg cover the mountain overlooks and the walkable downtown. With hundreds of miles of trail and peak color usually landing in mid-to-late October, the hardest part is picking which corner of the Poconos to start in.
