On the Market in the Poconos: Historic Guest House in Marshalls Creek

In the 1700s, the livery boy would keep an eye out for dust from the attic window of this historic guest house at 5265 Milford Rd., East Stroudsburg, PA 18302, in order to prepare to welcome travelers seeking rest or stagecoach drivers changing horses. Today, guests book themselves via Airbnb or Vrbo, but they still get a taste of the 18th century — and a heaping helping of the 1940s — in this historic house. | Pocono Mountains Association of Realtors MLS images via Keller Williams Realty – Stroudsburg

U.S. Route 209, first designated in the 1920s, connects a number of scenic and historic destinations in Pennsylvania, including Jim Thorpe, the Stroudsburgs, Bushkill Falls and the historic town of Milford in the upper reaches of the Poconos.

From East Stroudsburg northward, Route 209 is known as Milford Road because it heads there, passing through Marshalls Creek and Bushkill on the way.

Milford, however, had yet to be established in 1763, the year the French and Indian War ended. In that same year, this historic Marshalls Creek guest house for sale was built. Known today as the Hastings 1763 Guest House, it has been welcoming travelers along what we now know as Milford Road, or Route 209, since its doors first opened.

Of course, the house has been altered and improved over the years, but its 18th-century heart still beats.

Rear exterior showing 1940s addition

The chief alteration was the addition of a three-story clapboard-covered rear wing to the house in the 1940s, and many of this house’s interior features also date to the time of that addition. But they have been exceptionally well maintained over the eight decades since and look as good now as they did when they were new.

Main entrance

You enter the property via a driveway that approaches it from the south. Surrounding it is a stone terrace with sculptures and a picnic table on the side.

Inside, a simple vestibule leads past the living room to the kitchen.

Living room

The living room has a corner fireplace as well as the deep-silled windows characteristic of 18th-century stone houses.

Dining room

Behind the living room lies the most prominent link to this house’s origin: The original kitchen fireplace in the dining room. The walk-in hearth fireplace now has a heat stove installed in it.

Dining room

The rest of the room is a product of the 1940s renovation, with knotty pine paneling and a built-in bookcase.

Den

Beyond the dining room lies a den, one of two main-floor rooms in the 1940s addition.

Breakfast nook

Both rooms are distinguished by their tray ceilings and picture windows that look out over the guest house’s grounds. The breakfast nook is the other room in the addition on this floor; a powder room separates the two.

Kitchen

Next to the breakfast nook is the present-day kitchen, also built in the 1940s. Its original cabinets and stainless-steel countertops still look like new. The appliances and most of the countertops, however, did get upgraded much more recently.

Bedroom

Bedroom

Six bedrooms and two bathrooms on the second floor house both the current owner-proprietors and their guests. The original hardwood floors in the bedrooms have all been replaced, and the hallway has a tile floor, quite likely installed in the 1940s.

Bathroom

One of the two bathrooms on this floor retains its 1940s appearance.

Bathroom

The other, in the original house, has been updated with a walk-in shower, large face basin and wood-framed linen closet.

Besides the flagstone terrace surrounding the house, you will find a fire pit and nature trails threading through its 3.67-acre lot.  You should also find gardens and farmland, for owner-proprietors Seth Hastings Richards and Patricia A. Griffin, both artists and committed preservationists, produce 60 percent of the food they consume at home, according to the Hastings 1763 website. They also grow edible and decorative organic plants for the garden center they operate near here, and they rent the entire house to their visiting guests, mainly on the weekends.

Driveway entrance to basement apartment

You will also find a one-bedroom apartment in the house’s basement, accessible via a door in the rear addition and served by its own driveway entering from the north. Should you for some reason decide not to continue the guest house tradition upstairs, you could still rent this space to either visitors or long-term residents and help cover your mortgage payments that way. It needs some fixing up, however — or you could conceivably use the space to create additional amenities for you and your guests, such as a game room or media room.

I hope, however, that you do continue this house’s history should you decide to buy it. It’s convenient to a number of Poconos attractions, including the Delaware Water Gap, Bushkill Falls and Raymondskill Falls, the tallest waterfall in Pennsylvania. Milford, Dingmans Ferry, Marshalls Creek, Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg are also within easy driving distance, and the Kalahari water park in Pocono Manor is just a little further away. That makes this a great home base for a visitor wishing to explore the Poconos.

If you enjoy being a gracious host, then, you now have a golden opportunity to live your dream while taking this historic Marshalls Creek guest house for sale into its 27th decade of service and comfort for travelers.

THE FINE PRINT

BEDS: 6

BATHS: 2 full, 1 half

SQUARE FEET: 3,190

SALE PRICE: $569,000

5265 Milford Rd., East Stroudsburg, PA 18302 [James A. Dellaria | Keller Williams Real Estate – Stroudsburg]