Town · Jim Thorpe, Carbon County
Jim Thorpe
A Victorian coal-and-railroad town packed into a steep Lehigh River gorge, with ornate brick streets, a mansion museum, river rafting, bike trails and excursion trains.
Jim Thorpe is a Victorian town wedged into a steep, narrow valley on the Lehigh River, its brick rowhouses and ornate mansions climbing the hillsides. It was called Mauch Chunk and grew rich shipping anthracite; in 1954 it merged with its neighbor across the river and took the name of the Olympic champion Jim Thorpe, whose memorial stands at the edge of town although he never lived here.
The Asa Packer Mansion, home of the founder of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and the Old Jail Museum, where men accused of being Molly Maguires were hanged in the 1870s, are a short walk apart. Outdoors, the Lehigh Gorge begins just upstream: ride the D&L Trail along the river, or join a rafting trip on the whitewater. The No. 9 Coal Mine in Lansford is a few miles away.
Make a day of it
In and around Jim Thorpe
Historic house · Jim Thorpe, Carbon County
Asa Packer Mansion
The 1861 Italianate mansion of railroad magnate Asa Packer, founder of Lehigh University, on a hillside above town, with much of its original furniture in place.
Photo: Chris18240 ( talk ), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
History museum · Jim Thorpe, Carbon County
Old Jail Museum
The 1871 county jail where several accused Molly Maguires were hanged, with dungeon cells and a mysterious handprint on the wall of Cell 17.
State park · Lehigh Township, Carbon County
Lehigh Gorge State Park
Rafters ride the Lehigh River's rapids and cyclists cruise the level rail trail beside it through a deep, rugged gorge between White Haven and Jim Thorpe, past waterfalls spilling off the cliffs.
Mine tour · Lansford, Carbon County
No. 9 Coal Mine and Museum
Ride a mine car deep into an anthracite mine worked from 1855 to 1972, then explore a museum of mining life in the old wash shanty.
Also nearby
Nearby
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Asa Packer Mansion
The 1861 Italianate mansion of railroad magnate Asa Packer, founder of Lehigh University, on a hillside above town, with much of its original furniture in place.
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Old Jail Museum
The 1871 county jail where several accused Molly Maguires were hanged, with dungeon cells and a mysterious handprint on the wall of Cell 17.
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Delaware and Lehigh Trail
A 165-mile trail from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol; here it follows the Lehigh River through the steep, wooded Lehigh Gorge, and farther south it runs on old canal towpaths.
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Beltzville State Park
Waterskiers and sailboats share a big reservoir in the Pocono foothills, with a long sandy beach, trout in Pohopoco Creek and a short trail to Wild Creek Falls.
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Lehigh Gorge State Park
Rafters ride the Lehigh River's rapids and cyclists cruise the level rail trail beside it through a deep, rugged gorge between White Haven and Jim Thorpe, past waterfalls spilling off the cliffs.
-
No. 9 Coal Mine and Museum
Ride a mine car deep into an anthracite mine worked from 1855 to 1972, then explore a museum of mining life in the old wash shanty.
