Just Listed in the Poconos: Contemporary in Camelot Forest
This move-in ready house sits at the end of a gravel driveway nestled in the woods. That’s about as rustic as this place gets, though.
The setting of this contemporary house in the Camelot Forest community outside Blakeslee certainly looks rural enough: It has loads of trees and a gravel driveway. But step through the front door of 421 King Arthur Rd., Pocono Lake, PA 18347 and what you will encounter is anything but countrified. / Photos: Jason Wolfe via Redstone Run Realty and the Pocono Mountains Association of Realtors MLS
“A law was made a distant moon ago here:
July and August cannot be too hot.
And there’s a legal limit to the snow here
In Camelot.
The winter is forbidden till December
And exits March the second on the dot.
By order, summer lingers through September
In Camelot.”
—from “Camelot”; lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe
Like President John F. Kennedy, who was enamored of the 1960 musical about a mythical medieval monarch, the developers who turned Austin Blakeslee’s 400-acre dairy farm in Tobyhanna Township into a resort community in the early 1970s also had a thing for “Camelot.”
Perhaps fortunately, the developers of Camelot Forest couldn’t decree that winter hold off until December or set a cap on the snowfall. Doing so would have thrown a monkey wrench into the operations of the ski resorts located near this Camelot Forest contemporary house for sale. But thanks to the raised elevation of the Poconos, July and August aren’t as hot and steamy as they are down here, closer to sea level.
And it’s the combination of pleasant summers and snowy winters that have made the Poconos a year-round vacation destination.
The woodlands that give Camelot Forest its name also inspire local builders to produce houses that incorporate rustic, or rustic-looking, elements into their design. Including most of the contemporary houses that dominate the Poconos.
This particular contemporary, however, is an exception to that rule.
The deer head mounted on the dining room wall is the most rustic item you will find in this otherwise very urbane house. Even the artwork that depicts the woods and lakes of the area has a sophisticated, citified look to it.
But even though you won’t find a single board of stained or unfinished wood in this house, you will find most of the things people like about Poconos contemporaries.
Main floor
Living room
Like an open-plan main floor whose living room area has a modern fireplace and a vaulted ceiling that rises two stories high. A metal spiral staircase leads to the two bedrooms on the second floor.
Dining room
Beneath those bedrooms lie the dining room and kitchen. Sliding glass doors lead from the dining room to the deck that wraps around the back and one side of this house.
Kitchen
The kitchen next to the dining room features Shaker-style cabinetry, which was modern before anyone knew what modernity even was.
Main floor bathroom
Primary bedroom
A hallway off the foyer leads to a full bathroom and the primary bedroom. That bedroom serves here as a place for the kids to sleep, with two twin beds and a foosball table.
Primary bedroom
Rear deck
Sliding glass doors open onto the rear deck from it as well.
Second-floor bedroom
One of the second-floor bedrooms is configured to function as the primary bedroom.
Second-floor bathroom
Between the two bedrooms is a second full bath. Both bedrooms have vaulted ceilings. There’s also enough space in the balcony hallway to put a table or desk.
Front deck
A second deck sits in front of the front door. You’ll find a gas grill there, but there’s nothing keeping you from moving it around back — that deck has plenty of room.
And speaking of pleasant summers, they’re apparently so pleasant here in Camelot Forest that this house gets by with only ceiling fans for summer cooling.
In addition to the amenities the house itself contains, including everything you see in these pictures, you also can enjoy what Camelot Forest has to offer. Its amenities include two lakes: You can go catch-and-release fishing on Lake Katheryn and lay about on the Lake Guinevere beach. Non-powered boating (electric motors are okay) is allowed on both lakes.
The community also has tennis and volleyball courts, an annual summer picnic and a clubhouse for meetings. You can find places to eat in nearby Blakeslee and even more dining and recreational options in nearby resorts such as Split Rock, Jack Frost and Big Boulder (these two will reopen this winter) and the Kalahari indoor water park.
Not to mention the abundant forests and game lands for hiking and hunting.
So does all this make this Camelot Forest contemporary house for sale a most congenial spot for happily-ever-aftering? That’s ultimately up to you, but it seems to me that it at least makes a great place to get away from it all when you feel like it. And when you don’t, you can rent it out and let your tenants pay your bills and then some.
THE FINE PRINT
BEDS: 3
BATHS: 2
SQUARE FEET: 1,842
SALE PRICE: $329,900
OTHER STUFF: Conservation association dues, currently $400 annually, cover maintenance and operation of the common facilities and trash pickup (Tobyhanna Township maintains the roads). A fee is also required to offer the house for short- or long-term rentals; contact the Camelot Forest Conservation Association office for more information.
421 King Arthur Road, Pocono Lake, PA 18347 [Xander Weidenbaum | Redstone Run Realty]
