August 14

The last day of this segment began at Vanderbilt Mansion NHS. If you first need breakfast, stop at Eveready Diner, just a mile from the park’s entrance, on US 6. This is a throwback to the days when diners were chrome/aluminum, glass, and lit up at night with neon. Granted, the establishment was built in 1995, so well after the Vanderbilts and Roosevelts, but celebrities like Tom Hanks stop in when they are in the neighborhood. You may not want to eat too much because when you look at the opulence inside the mansion your stomach may get queasy. This is the ultimate definition of filthy rich. And this house was just a vacation home for Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt, at 174 feet long and 122 feet wide. There are four floors and a full attic. No expense was spared, with furniture, wall coverings, flooring, etc. There are 21 fireplaces. Eighteen servants were needed to keep tabs on the family. Frederick died in 1938, leaving the estate to his wife’s niece, Margaret Van Alen. In 1940, she donated all to the NPS. Therefore, everything in the house is original to the family. The remaining 200-acres of land includes walking paths, a formal garden, Crum Elbow Creek (which drains into the Hudson River), and a magnificent Coach House. If you are wondering, Frederick’s younger brother George built the great Biltmore Estate in Ashville, NC. Their grandfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt, is the one who got the ball rolling for the family’s fortunes.

Time to travel from the Hudson River to the Delaware River. The Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River is part of the longest undammed river in the eastern United States. There are some small rapids on the river, but it is mainly calm (I did see a couple of rafts in one calm section). Lackawaxen is the small town which most tourists visit in the park. This is the site of the famous Roebling Bridge (also known as the Delaware Aqueduct) for the Delaware and Hudson Canal system. John Roebling built four aqueducts for the company under the concept of “Build the Canal above the River.” This is the country’s oldest existing wire suspension bridge. The aqueducts cut the travel time on the canal by one day (bringing coal from the PA fields to market) and allowed for timber to more easily be floated down the river. The canal ceased operations in 1898, with the aqueduct being turned into a toll bridge for people wanting to get to the other side of the river. Also in Lackawaxen is one of Zane Grey’s homes, living here from 1905 to 1918. He wrote some of his greatest books in the home’s study. He is buried behind the building. Be sure to bring your bug spray when you visit. Aside from the few houses on either side of the river, the area is basically forest and water.

Going west on I-84 I reached Scranton. This is home to Steamtown NHS, highlighting one aspect of the great American industrial story. If you like railroads and train engines you need to visit this park. Be sure to come on one of the days when excursions are given on the park-owned equipment. Canadian Pacific #2317 greets visitors as they walk into the Roundhouse area. This engine is used on some of the train trips. This is a 4-6-2 style engine. The Whyte Classification system is used to identify trains. The three numbers represent the quantity of leading (piloting), driving, and trailing wheels on an engine. Therefore, #2317 has four lead wheels, six drive wheels, and two trail wheels. Since the Turntable functions, the NPS rotates the engines it displays outside the Roundhouse. This is the means to get #2317 and other Iron Horses out for their excursion work. The Roundhouse includes a History Museum and a Technology Museum. The videos in each museum will keep you glued to the tv screens, so informative and entertaining. The rangers do provide tours of the grounds, including the repair section of the Roundhouse. I watched one worker do maintenance on a large engine. There is a walking path across about eight tracks from the park to the city center of Scranton. Plenty of signage telling visitors to be careful, that the tracks are active. Next door to the park is the Electric City Trolley Museum. It also provides rides on a few of its trolleys in the summer through the city.