Just Listed in the Poconos: Turn-of-the-Century Traditional in Buck Hill Falls

One of the oldest houses in one of the Poconos’ oldest resort communities, “Crestwood” stands out in several ways, inside and out. You’ll find this atop a hill at 128 Falls Dr., Buck Hill Falls, PA 18343 | Pocono Mountains Association of Realtors MLS images via Keller Williams Real Estate – Stroudsburg

The Poconos have been welcoming city folk seeking refreshing mountain air for nearly 200 years. From the 1820s onward, fashionable Philadelphians and New Yorkers alike flocked to the region to see its natural wonders and relax in its hotels and lodges.

Some of those fashionable folk loved the Poconos so much they decided to build homes instead. The ungated private community of Buck Hill Falls contains some of the oldest of those Poconos vacation homes. From what I’ve been able to research, the only other Poconos resort community as old as Buck Hill Falls, begun in 1901, is Pocono Manor, whose first “cottages” were built that same year.

(Both of these communities, by the way, were founded by Quakers from Philadelphia. Like the robber barons who built opulent summer “cottages” in Newport, RI, the swells who built the earliest Poconos resort homes decided to give them misleadingly modest names. But in their defense, these houses are indeed more modest than those over-the-top palaces in  Newport.)

This Buck Hill Falls traditional house for sale, built in 1905, is one of those old-timers. And “Crestwood” has a bunch of unique design elements that make it stand out from not only all those other Poconos houses you see (and that I’ve featured) but also its other Buck Hill Falls neighbors.

Exterior rear and garage

For starters, there’s its cruciform layout and octagonal central section. This house wants to embrace you even before you enter it.

Foyer

And once you enter it, you encounter a Teddy Rooseveltian foyer whose grand staircase features banisters fashioned from tree trunks.

Foyer inglenook

Off on one side of the foyer sits a cozy inglenook.

Living room

Dining room

You will also find fireplaces in both the rustic living room and the more elegant dining room.

Kitchen

The kitchen, by contrast, is a 1980s affair that has had its appliances upgraded. I’d recommend updating it more along the lines of the style of the rest of the house.

Primary bedroom

The second floor contains seven bedrooms, all with beamed ceilings and shiplap paneling on their walls. Some are bright and cheerful, others warm and earthy.  Four full bathrooms serve you, your brood and your overnight guests, and a half bath on the main floor handles your visitors.

Den

There’s also a home office, a mudroom with laundry and a recently redone den for indoor relaxation on the main floor.

Side porch

Back porch

And for outdoor relaxation, the house has a large side porch at the end of one wing, a wraparound back porch running from the dining room to that den, and a deck off the den.

Here’s what you see from that deck and porch:

View from deck

Observation room

And topping it all off is the octagonal observation room, where you can take in a bird’s-eye view of the surrounding hills.

Membership in the Buck Hill Falls Company comes with the purchase of this house. And along with that membership comes access to the many amenities, activities, restaurants and recreational facilities the community offers, including a 27-hole golf course and 10 tennis courts.

Living in this distinctive Buck Hill Falls traditional house for sale, you will enjoy modern creature comforts — including air conditioning — in a house that channels the spirit of the community’s founders, who sought to “rough it” in a civilized manner.

THE FINE PRINT

BEDS: 7

BATHS: 4 full, 1 half

SQUARE FEET:  4,010

SALE PRICE: $925,000

OTHER STUFF: An annual association fee of $15,375 covers use and maintenance of all community facilities.

128 Falls Dr., Buck Hill Falls, PA 18323 [Elizabeth M. Haser | Keller Williams Real Estate – Stroudsburg]