Jim Thorpe Photo Tour (for rent, gated community, living in)

[debolina]

WOW! I have been through Jim Thorpe but never saw how pretty it was! You should be a photgrapher! You do awesome work!

[vegaspilgrim]

Wow, that is beautiful! Looking at those pictures makes me wonder if I should quit this Arizona gig and move back east!

[cathyde]

BTW...Jim Thorpe is celebrating their namesake's birthday this weekend...lots of events and activities. The unveiling of a new statue in Thorpe's memory is to be the highlight of the weekend. Just FYI!!

Cathy

[Dawne]

Thanks again, Paul, for another amazing photo journey. This was poignant for me because my parents grew up in Jim Thorpe (actually Mauch Chunk when they were growing up). My mom lived on the other side of the river, the one you didn't visit. My dad was born in a house (not a hospital) that used to stand next to the old Carbon County Jail (which, incidentally is no longer the jail - the new jail is out the road that goes to Hazleton - I forget the route number at the moment). My dad's family moved to various houses right in that neighborhood, but the one I remember was the yellow one on the left in the picture you noted as "Provincetown anyone?". You can also see it behind the flat in the picture of the "Nut House". My cousin and I spent many summer nights on my grandparents' front porch watching the cars go past. My grandmother was the cook for the jail for a number of years. The chief of police lived behind her.

Did you know that stream that crosses under the road actually runs under the yard also? My grandparents had a cement place in their back yard that they called "the bridge". The stream actually ran under it and they had an access panel, about two foot square (large enough for a child to fall into) that you could open and look down to see and hear the water rushing by. They had some weep holes in the bridge and my cousin and I used to love to put stones in and hear them splash into the water below. I think some of the homes along there even had the stream running through their basements.

The Mauch Chunk Opera House is where my dad and his cousin used to go to watch scary movies as kids. They'd walk home after dark and have fun scaring each other while trying to be brave.

We actually have driven down High Street in the snow. It's an experience, let me tell you, especially in a 1970s vintage Chevrolet Caprice or Impala - not small cars at the time!

There are still some hard feelings in town about the switch to the Jim Thorpe name. The widow Thorpe had promised the town all sorts of amenities, including a huge library and a hospital, if they would bury her husband there. These things never materialized and there was quite a drive for a while to "dig up the dead Indian" and ship him somewhere else.

The restored train station is beautiful, and the train rides are a nice break from normal everyday life. Is there still a bank in the train station? My uncle worked there for a while.

The schools and a nice community park with lots of kiddie rides are on the other side of the river. We always called it the "horsie park" because they had swinging horses you could ride on. The high school is also on that side. There's a beautiful Lutheran (where my mom attended) and Catholic church there too. When my parents went to school there was the public school and the Catholic school. The two groups of kids did not associate with each other. There was an old store across from the Catholic church with a bowling alley in the back! It may still be there, but I'm not sure.

The movie, "The Molly Maguires", starring Sean Connery and Maureen O'Hara, was partially filmed along Broadway. I remember seeing the downtown streets covered with dirt or sawdust, and the actors and actresses in their period costumes. I think somewhere my mom has a slide of Sean or Maureen or both.

All my grandparents but one have passed away and she lives in a nursing home near Allentown now so I don't get to Jim Thorpe any more. I have many happy memories from my childhood and young adult life, though. Thanks for bringing them back to me with your pictures.

[KoZmiC NinJa]

Im in AWE !!
The most prolific poster on this site !
Im studying Assessment for FLA but when Im licensed
and bounce back up north Im gonna apply at Electric City Realty !

[DeLorean]

very nice pics! I like the Saab 96! you hardly ever see those anymore... Looks like a 1969 model year.



you also got a pic of a 1995 Saab 9000 CDE, also a pretty rare saab.




So where was that 96??? I need to go see if that thing is for sale! it looks great!

[joelover]

jk Going to mi for 1month south haven your dad andmomlol

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by joelover

jk Going to mi for 1month south haven your dad andmomlol

Huh?

[dkba]

hey does anyone know how I can get a rental in j thorpe???

Originally Posted by ScrantonWilkesBarre

I always liked the Black Bread Cafe. It's a small Mediterranean/Greek place in a rowhome along Race Street, just behind Broadway. The Sunrise Diner also looked quite inviting, as did the JT's Steak & Ale House next door. There was a cute little "Nana's Ice Cream Shoppe" also on Broadway to cap off a wonderful meal (it's up the hill a ways so you can burn off a few of those calories from the gyros you devour at the Black Bread Cafe!)

[NEPA-x-pat]

I go to JT a few times a year as I am a whitewater geek. I usually take some of my VA buddies up there to kayak and they just love the town. I would offer a side trip to Glenn Onoko. Really nice waterrall that was a tourist destination in the past. Take a drive up to Flagstaff Mt. for a great view of the JT town below you, hey have lunch up there. Take a bike ride through one of the local outfitters...all downhill (2% grade rails to trails), have lunch at Molly McGuires on Broadway. Lots to do in this town.