Where Did Our Love Go? Abandoned Birchwood Resort ⚤ Poconos Honeymoon Resort -

The Poconos has several active and abandoned honeymoon resorts that continue to draw me in. Today, a roadside stop at a resort with a pretty colorful history, the abandoned Birchwood Resort.

Once known as “the honeymoon capital of the world,” Pennsylvania’s Poconos region offered lovebirds expansive resorts to celebrate their love. But like much of the ethos of the 60’s, many have faded with passing time. Each site, unique in its decay, draws me in. These spaces, after all, were created and sustained with… love. And it’s love I bring back to them. And my camera.

According the interweb, the Birchwood Resort’s featured prominently in the characteristic excess of this aforementioned “love.” When ownership of the resort was in the hands of Wally Hoffman Jr., Pan Am pilot and founder and president of Pocono Airlines, it included an airstrip and airplane-themed details to appeal to adventurous jet-setters.

Despite so many visitors sharing their memories of it serving as their honeymoon destination, another lure would the rumors of the resort being rented by fetishists in the 90’s. As reported by “Guerrilla Historian” Cheri Sundra:

According to the Pocono Record, Birchwood hosted its fourth annual spanking party on April 20, 1999. Spankers from around the world paid $500 dollars each for a weekend of erotic play at the resort. The weekend after that was devoted to bondage. These events weren’t exactly a secret. The staff, who had the unpleasant task of cleaning up, knew about them. Neighbors of the resort heard rumors about naked hide-and-seek events in the woods, and gossip about a game called “spank the naked bowler”. The police knew because the spankers had a website where the curious could download pictures from their events.
The local newspaper exposed the fetish events at Birchwood, and the story was picked up by the national news. Even comedians on late night TV were cracking jokes about the Poconos. After the Pocono Record exposed Birchwood, the Pocono Mountains Vacation Bureau put pressure on the resort to cancel these events. A few years later, the resort closed.
Source

After that it gained fame as the chosen hide-out for accused cop killer Eric Matthew Frein before he was arrested after a 48-day manhunt. Today, still and quiet. And though I encountered the security patrol man; who has been affiliated with the property since he was a young boy–seeing all of its history including satanic rituals, he said; the exterior of the cabins that remain after years of neglect are enough to make a visit worthwhile, though much to the frustration of the patrolman.

Here is what I saw on my maiden visit.