Pocono Manor Ski Area, Mt. Pocono, PA
In 1976 the US Interstate Highway system completed construction of a 28.5 mile connector between Interstates 81 and 84 in northeast Pennsylvania. The route crossed the sparsely populated glaciated Pocono Plateau allowing drivers to quickly travel between Scranton and Stroudsburg. For years most motorists zipped by, the undulating forest on each side of the dual highway offering a seemingly monotonous wall of trees and rocks interspersed with the occasional swamp or pond for color. The Poconos' history is often that of a place to travel across, not to settle down on. Poor land and bad weather kept European colonists mostly at bay. The era of the grand Victorian hotels brought another kind of transience. People came to sample the air and waters, stayed for a month, and then left. Post-war vacationers drove from New York for a weekend before returning to the white-picket fences of mid-century America. A few years ago the next iteration of that pattern cut itself into the forest along
