SHOHOLA a hidden gem

As an abandoned places and urban exploration photographer, I am always looking for those out of the way places that are interesting enough but not off limits to photograph. If you are ever looking for Urban Exploration Photography: Rhoman’s Inn & Pub in Northeast PA, just over the Delaware River from the Catskills town of Barryville, NY. is a perfect little gem.

I had been hearing about this place for years, the unique barstools and the rare bowling alley upstairs. Rohman’s even has its very own Winter Olympics! My boyfriend and I decided to look for it and see what I had been missing out on.

Our first look for it mistakenly took us to another bar; The Lackawaxen Inn. When I asked the bartender where the bowling alley was she said: “Oh you’re looking for Rohman’s, that’s about 15 minutes down the road on the NY side.” After having a drink at the bar and chatting with some of the locals about bald Eagle watching, we decided to venture on and do some eagle watching along the way.

TAKE A SUNDAY DRIVE

Taking a Sunday ride? Take rt 97 along the Delaware, it will not disappoint! When you go far enough, you will ride along the Hawk’s Nest; a famous winding road that takes you high above the Delaware with breathtaking photo opportunities. There are some shots from Hawk’s Nest here on my website in my “passion work.”

After searching Barryville, NY for 30 minutes we decided to stop and ask and that’s when we found out that it was, in fact, on the PA side. We hopped the Shohola bridge and found the little side road that Rohman’s was located. It seemed out of the way but back in the day, the train stopped right in front of the Inn and the train station was right across the tracks. Back then it was called The Shohola Hotel built in 1849 and many of elite society and even the rich and famous stopped and stayed here.

When walking in, you can imagine that it looks very much the same as it did over a century ago. Honestly, I was surprised that it has not been that modernized. There were actually quite a few locals and everyone was recovering from the annual Winter Olympics that happened just the day before. I explained that I was doing some Urban Exploration and wanted to photograph this bar that I keep hearing about.

URBAN EXPLORATION PHOTOS

Everyone was very friendly and a young man told us all about the place and showed up a scrapbook of the Inn with a ghost picture in it. It was also mentioned that Babe Ruth used to stop here often from the train that passed through, and would have a few beers. Behind the bar with the Olympic flag, are rows and rows of badges from NYC Police, corrections, fire departments and even what looked like a pass for a TV station.

Exploring upstairs we realized that the room that held the bowling alley was locked, I asked the bartender if I would be able to go in a photograph, she happily obliged although she seemed a bit perplexed that someone was excited about this kind of thing. When we entered, the front of the alley was covered in plastic because of their beer pong competition from the day before, I had no problem working around it as the allies were untouched.

I’ve done some research and this bowling alley was installed in the 1940’s and is one of only FOUR left in the country. It’s pretty amazing! If you’d like to see a video, some fellow Urban Explorers JPVideos were just there a couple of weeks ago. I discovered their video when doing some research. We obviously weren’t able to bowl, but I am definitely making a trip back for some areas I couldn’t get pictures of, and to bowl a round or two.

EVER VISITED? LET ME KNOW!

Hope you enjoy the images! Leave a comment below if you’ve got any stories about Rohman’s Inn & Pub.

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