History

In the early 1870s, Dr. Laban Lewis of New York City constructed his summer vacation home, the Glenmere, on approximately 200 acres of land in the small town of Canadensis, Pennsylvania. Today his 1870 farmhouse remains as the oldest section of the Inn, beginning behind the main fireplace and rising three stories to the Penthouse. Dr. Lewis's daughter and her husband, Mr. Brewer, expanded the Glenmere, adding three floors of rooms in front of the farmhouse, as well as a dining room and front porch.

Throughout the Depression land belonging to the original parcel of property was sold, and exists today as High Acres Park and Birch Lake at Buck Hill. The family became self-sufficient at the Glenmere, growing fields of vegetables and fruit orchards, raising cows, pigs, chickens, and horses, and harvesting ice from the property's main lake.

The Glenmere operated as a summer vacation home for guests from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, who arrived in the nearby village of Cresco via the Erie Lackawanna Train. Today, the Cresco Train Station exists as a historical museum, highlighting the town's fame.

The Brewers' daughter and husband Milton Carlton, former assistant greens keeper at Buck Hill Falls, sold the property in 1968 to Patricia and Chick Daniels, the newest residents of Canadensis. The Daniels operated a boys' summer basketball camp north from the Glenmere at Camp Swiftwater. The camp had opened in 1960, offering weeklong camping, basketball games and instruction, nature hikes, swimming, fishing, and frog races. Camp Swiftwater, later renamed Daniels Top-O-The Poconos, became one of the east coast's premiere basketball camps, featuring coaches such as Bobby Knight, John Wooden, and John Bach. Only a half mile from the camp, the Glenmere Resort property was purchased in 1968 as lodging for campers' family members, who were checking on the progress of their sons' games.

Eventually the camp property was sold to High Acres Park as the Daniels Family focused primarily on their growing mountain resort. In 1980 the indoor pool replaced the Hemlock Motels and in the winter of 1982 the Main Dining Hall replaced the "Barn Loft". In 1984 two outdoor pools were added, and the resort continued to grow through to the present day. Patricia and Chick's sons, Chuck and Matt, now manage the resort along with their wives, Carole and Barb. Open year round, Daniels Top-O-The Poconos, located on Glenmere Road, continues its basketball camp history of accepting reservations by the week during the Summer months, and on weekends during the Fall, Winter, and Spring.