Wellsboro Photo Tour

[Evergrey]

Wellsboro is beautiful!

[wanneroo]

These should be saved as "pre natural gas era" photos. It's very interesting to see things 5 years ago before the tidal wave hit. I don't think in 2007 anyone could have predicted how this town and area would fundamentally change forever. Time marches on I guess and there are always new developments.

Of what has changed:

The country side of course. There are gas wells everywhere, along with tons of infrastructure and support equipment and the traffic is off the charts. Car crash fatalities and injuries are high. The roads here were never designed for this volume of traffic. Route 6 between Wellsboro and Mansfield is very dodgy.

The West End Market now is a very small cafe.

Some of the main street shops have gone out of business or changed. Almost all the space on the main drag is occupied though.

The B&B with the french name is up for sale, but might be out of business.

The old main street storefront next to Carson Finance has been totally restored into a new theater and meeting room complex(The Deane Center). It retains it's old appearance externally with some sprucing up and the interior(which was a furniture store for a long time) was redone.

The empty lot between the post office and the Penn Wells Motel(NOT the hotel) is the site of a multi million dollar multi level construction site that is going to be a modern business class hotel. Hopefully they will also renovate the scruffy 1960's motel complex with it.

A new big bank was built catty-corner to the Wellsboro Diner and sits behind main street on what was an empty lot next to the Canyon Motel.

The truck traffic has totally overwhelmed the town so I hear a bypass is back on the table again. A lot of people in those old homes on route 660(what I call main street) are selling up because the noise is 24 hours a day.

All of the old houses you see in the photos are pretty much intact as they were.

Some of the trees in downtown have been removed as it was felt they were getting too big and too much of a hazard in storms.

[CosmicWizard]

wanneroo....just curious if you like the changes that have taken place or did you like it better the way it was prior to the energy boom?

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by wanneroo

The B&B with the french name is up for sale, but might be out of business.

La Belle Au Berge? Well, that breaks my heart. We've stayed there many times, including the Valentines day weekend before we got married and we also started our Honeymoon there.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by FrickParkMtBiker

If anyone ever travels to Wellsboro and wants a great place to stay, this is the bed and breakfast we always stay at. It is called La Petit Au Berge, and is owned by the owner of the Wellsboro Diner. She also owns another b and b in town called La Belle Au Berge.

Waneroo, this is now called the Inn on the Green, is that still open? EDIT....shoot the picture didn't copy over, but is that b and b still open?

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by scottrpriester

La Belle Au Berge? Well, that breaks my heart. We've stayed there many times, including the Valentines day weekend before we got married and we also started our Honeymoon there.

I'll check today but I thought the sign was taken down and it was up for sale. Also the website is down.

I think the Inn on the Green is open.

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by CosmicWizard

wanneroo....just curious if you like the changes that have taken place or did you like it better the way it was prior to the energy boom?

In some ways it is better. What is better is a lot of economically depressed people and businesses have got a shot in the arm. Whether it was landowners getting gas leases with signing money or royalties or businesses that stay busy. Anyone that wants a job can get a decent job now. The restaurants are staying busy, shops are staying busy, old falling down buildings have been renovated or torn down and redeveloped.

The downside is real estate is going to take a while to catch up with demand. The truck traffic is over the top, which the roads here were never designed for. A lot of the new people that came in brought in a lot of crime that never existed before.

One nice thing is Shell Oil bought out the previous wildcat company that was in here. They seem to be much more organized and professional and community oriented.

I think a lot of it will calm down once all the pipelines are in(they can also carry water to the wells) and other infrastructure is in place. Instead of randomly jamming in wells everywhere, Shell is doing extensive seismic modeling to determine the best places for wells.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by wanneroo

I'll check today but I thought the sign was taken down and it was up for sale. Also the website is down.

I think the Inn on the Green is open.

Just checked, and the Inn's website is definitely still up. Very sad regarding La Belle.

The owner of La Belle also owns the Wellsboro Dinor, and she owns a restaurant just off Route 6 as you come in to Mansfield, I believe called the Crows Nest?

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by scottrpriester

Just checked, and the Inn's website is definitely still up. Very sad regarding La Belle.

The owner of La Belle also owns the Wellsboro Dinor, and she owns a restaurant just off Route 6 as you come in to Mansfield, I believe called the Crows Nest?

To my knowledge, no. They don't own the Wren's Nest but Lamb's Creek which is next to the Comfort Inn.

It's quite possible with all of the shortage of housing(a 3bd apartment here goes for around $2500 a month) they merely turned the B&B into a flop house for gas workers and are making a mint from that and don't need to waste all the time fluffing pillows and making breakfast.

I ate at Lamb's Creek a few years ago when it opened and it was OK but I never went back, but it seems to be thriving well with gas workers enough they are serving food until midnight on some nights. I'll try it again.

The Diner is considered a bit of a tourist trap and overpriced by local standards, but I will also try it again soon, it's been years.

The Wren's Nest is pretty good, but it's a bit more formal of a place.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by wanneroo

To my knowledge, no. They don't own the Wren's Nest but Lamb's Creek which is next to the Comfort Inn.

It's quite possible with all of the shortage of housing(a 3bd apartment here goes for around $2500 a month) they merely turned the B&B into a flop house for gas workers and are making a mint from that and don't need to waste all the time fluffing pillows and making breakfast.

I ate at Lamb's Creek a few years ago when it opened and it was OK but I never went back, but it seems to be thriving well with gas workers enough they are serving food until midnight on some nights. I'll try it again.

The Diner is considered a bit of a tourist trap and overpriced by local standards, but I will also try it again soon, it's been years.

The Wren's Nest is pretty good, but it's a bit more formal of a place.

Lambs Creek, that's it. We were there the first weekend it was open and it was pandemonium. We know Nelle, the owner, personally and had made reservations weeks before. We were seated, got our appetizers, and then close to an hour went by. The waitress forgout our dinner order, and we ended up getting a dinner that came to well over 90 dollars free. We agreed with you though, the dinner wasn't what we had expected. We love Steak House.

It's hard to believe locals think the dinor is expensive. The last time we ate there, we looked at the bill and laughed and said we couldn't even do that good at Bob Evans. They have good dinner specials, especially on Sundays. Or I should say, they did.

I talked to my wife last night and told her how anxious I am to get back. I propsed a simple overnight stay, but we're both saving up our time because we kinda sorta have a baby coming along. I still think I am going to get away for an overnight.