10 Small Towns in The Poconos with the Best Downtowns
The best downtowns in the Poconos have walkable main streets and landmarks tied to the region's railroad, canal, resort, or conservation history. Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, often called the "Switzerland of America," has the 1861 Asa Packer Mansion, the Old Jail Museum, and the Mauch Chunk Opera House right in its historic downtown. Milford's Broad Street district includes the Columns Museum, with the former Pinchot estate at Grey Towers nearby. In places like these, the downtown still works as the center of town instead of just a preserved historic district.
Jim Thorpe
Jim Thorpe has one of the most recognizable historic downtowns in the Poconos, where steep wooded slopes frame Victorian-era buildings along Broadway and Race Street. The Jim Thorpe Historic District has former railroad and commercial buildings that now house shops and lodging. The Asa Packer Mansion Museum is a national historic landmark built for the railroad magnate whose influence shaped the town.
The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway departs from the restored railroad station near the main shopping district. The Old Jail Museum, known for its ties to the Molly Maguires, leads tours of the building. The Mauch Chunk Opera House, formerly known as the Capitol Theater, was built in 1881 on the town's historic "Millionaires Row."
Stroudsburg
Stroudsburg's downtown centers on Main Street, where shops, murals, and historic buildings give the borough culture and entertainment within a compact commercial district. The Sherman Theater opened at the end of the Roaring 20s in 1929 as a vaudeville house and movie theater and is now a downtown anchor with concerts, stage shows, and community events. Courthouse Square contains original 19th-century architecture and public monuments.
The Stroud Mansion, built in 1795 and now home to the Monroe County Historical Association, stands at Main and Ninth streets and documents the community's early development. Downtown businesses include Gallery at 530 Main, The Apple Tree, and Main Street Jukebox. Sarah Street Grill serves pub fare and sushi along with live music.
Milford
Milford's downtown has a refined appearance for a small Pocono Mountain community, with shaded streets, preserved homes, and public buildings around Broad Street. As the Pike County seat, it has the civic presence and architectural detail of a historic county town. Museums and cultural landmarks fill the town center, with the Delaware River corridor a short distance east. The Columns Museum contains Pike County Historical Society collections like the Lincoln Flag, an artifact associated with President Abraham Lincoln's assassination.
The Delmonico Room and Bar Louis serve cocktails and fine dining inside the 19th-century Hotel Fauchère. Just beyond the central district, Grey Towers National Historic Site is Milford's signature attraction. The 44-room, château-style estate was the home of Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the US Forest Service and a two-term Pennsylvania governor. Guided tours connect Milford to the early American conservation movement.
Honesdale
Honesdale's central streets contain brick storefronts and locally run businesses like Dyberry Mercantile, but the town's defining detail is its connection to the Stourbridge Lion. In 1829, the locomotive was the first steam engine to run on commercial track in the United States, helping establish Honesdale's place in early railroad history. A full-scale replica is displayed at the Wayne County Historical Society Museum, located in the former Delaware and Hudson Canal Company headquarters.
The town has galleries and performance spaces like The Cooperage Project, housed in a restored barrel-making factory, regularly hosts cultural events, markets, and music. Old Stone Jail, built in 1859, is a museum that gives tours in the spring and summer.
Hawley
Hawley's downtown occupies a scenic stretch near the Lackawaxen River and Lake Wallenpaupack. The borough developed through canal, railroad, and manufacturing activity. Remnants of that past can still be seen in its restored industrial buildings like the Hawley Silk Mill, an 1880 building that was once a silk mill. It now has shops, studios, and offices.
Hawley Antique Exchange is a multi-story antique shop that houses the Vaseline Glass Museum, home to one of the world's largest collections of Vaseline and uranium glass. Just past downtown, D&H Canal Park at Lock 31, a former canal site, has a museum and a restored historic house as well as walking trails along the river.
Delaware Water Gap
Delaware Water Gap is a small but scenic downtown at the southern entrance to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Its streets lie below the gap where the Delaware River passes through the Appalachian Mountains. The town has been designated an Appalachian Trail Community, and hikers regularly pass through its compact center before returning to the trail or heading into the national recreation area.
The Antoine Dutot Museum and Gallery, housed in a mid-19th-century brick schoolhouse, introduces the town's resort and local history. Exhibits include Lenape-related artifacts, memorabilia, and regional art. Music is another downtown draw. The Deer Head Inn, described by the borough as the nation's longest-running jazz club, hosts live performances in a setting that reflects Delaware Water Gap's long history as a resort town. The town connects with the Appalachian Trail and the river nearby.
Lehighton
Lehighton is a more relaxed, river-town version of a Pocono downtown. Its historic structures reflect Carbon County's industrial past along the Lehigh River corridor. Lehighton is close to Jim Thorpe, but its downtown draws smaller crowds.
The Gorge Eatery is a restaurant that serves made-from-scratch food, and it occupies the footprint of the former Hofford Mill. Directly behind Borough Hall, the Lehighton Borough Hall Amphitheater hosts free summer concerts.
Weatherly
Weatherly's downtown is modest, but it still has a clear link to the town's industrial past. The Weatherly Area Museum traces that history through exhibits on railroads, local industry, and the growth of the community. It gives the downtown a specific historical focus tied closely to how Weatherly developed.
Near the museum is Weatherly Train Works, the site of the town's original railroad manufacturing and repair complex. Inside Citizen's Fire Company #1, the town's volunteer fire department, is the Fireside Grille, serving comfort food in the evening.
White Haven
White Haven is a small Lehigh River borough at the entrance to the Pocono Mountains and within the northern section of the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor. Its central streets have a collection of local businesses like Powerhouse Eatery, although the main draw of the town is how close it is to the Lehigh Gorge and local hiking trails.
In the middle of downtown White Haven, the Old Red Caboose is a historic landmark free to view. The caboose itself is a preserved Delaware & Hudson railway caboose, surrounded by a small rest area near the Lehigh River with views of Main Street.
East Stroudsburg
East Stroudsburg, a neighboring borough to Stroudsburg, is livelier and more collegiate because of the presence of East Stroudsburg University. The borough was once Monroe County's industrial center because of the railroad and is now home to the university and Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono. The commercial core has a solid blend of restaurants, shops, entertainment, and community activity, concentrated between Crystal Street and Courtland Street.
The historic Dansbury Depot is a local landmark. The restored 1864 station teaches about when East Stroudsburg and Stroudsburg shared a rail stop. For an evening activity, the Pocono Cinema & Cultural Center shows art house and mainstream films. On Crystal Street, Farmhouse Crystal serves farm-to-table food, and Derailed Taphouse gastropub hosts Monday night trivia events.
Railroads, Canals, And Main Streets
Victorian landmarks in Jim Thorpe and the Stourbridge Lion legacy in Honesdale show how each Pocono downtown carries a distinct identity shaped by railroads, canals, and the surrounding mountains and waterways. They stand out because of activities like touring Grey Towers in Milford, hearing live jazz music at the Deer Head Inn in Delaware Water Gap, or boarding a train in the middle of downtown Jim Thorpe. Local history, live entertainment, and access to the outdoors all meet in these small-town centers, close to home for anyone in the region.
