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Ledges’ visitors prize the waterfall that runs through the property.
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LEDGES HOTEL
119 Falls Ave, Hawley, PA
ledgeshotel.com; (570) 226-1337
Distance by car: 2 hours
In the mid-aughts, when Grant and Jeanne Genzlinger were thinking about purchasing a vacant glass-cutting factory to repurpose as a hotel in Hawley (after establishing the Arts and Crafts-style Settlers Inn there 32 years ago), they sought advice from a longtime Settlers Inn Restaurant patron whom they had befriended over the years. A partner in the high-profile architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (BCJ), the group that designed many Apple Stores worldwide and specializes in notable “adaptive reuse” projects, the friend took one look at the gray granite skeleton of the building and its location, nestled within the natural walls of a multi-tiered flowing gorge, and exclaimed, “I’ll do it!”
Called Ledges Hotel, this is arguably the most gorgeously set hotel on this list—and the most obscure (though not for very much longer). Plus, it is up for the prestigious Architectural Excellence in Historic Preservation Award by the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
ROOM: You will have a most restful night here, with the whisper of water spilling over rocks lulling you to sleep. Rooms are comfy-contemporary with plump white duvets accented with soft-colored quilts and sparking new bathrooms with gray ceramic floors, subway tiles, glass showers, and molded green glass sinks. Each room serves as a mini art gallery for local artists; all paintings are for sale. Ask for a contemporary second-floor suite, which is really a second- and third-floor apartment, as each contains a tight spiral staircase that leads to an open and airy second-story bedroom and large bathroom.
BOARD: Graze downstairs at in-house, small-plates restaurant Glass Wine Bar & Bistro, an intimate, atmospheric, votive-lit cellar room where menu items and accompanying wines are more than reasonably priced. (There are 25 bottles of wine under $25.)
ONLY HERE: New guests often gasp audibly when they first see the tumbling waterfall through the lobby windows. Many choose not to leave the premises, preferring to take a book and a glass of wine to one of several tiered decks overlooking the flowing water.
WHILE HERE: Walk up the hill to the Hawley Silk Mill to shop or catch a poetry reading, live music, or a play. Built in 1880, with a streamlined interior also newly designed by BCJ, it’s considered the largest rough-hewn bluestone building in the world. The small building, where silk worms were once kept, is now a funky coffee and (local/organic) sandwich shop called Cocoon Coffee House.
JUST THE FACTS: Rooms are $110 to $150 per night; suites are $250 to $350. Rooms include a 32-inch, flatscreen TV, free WiFi, free parking, and pastries and coffee in the morning.
