TANNERSVILLE, Pa. — The Tannersville Inn has been located on the corner of Route 611 and Cherry Lane Road for nearly 200 years.
Laura Salmon used to work for the restaurant.
"I was one of the cooks over there for quite a while, so it was fun. We were like a family, so we had good times," said Salmon.
That came to an end when the pandemic hit, and the restaurant closed for good.
Last week, sketch plans were submitted to Pocono Township officials to demolish the inn and replace it with a Wawa service station and convenience store.
Salmon says it's time to move on.
"It was fun while it lasted, but time marches on," Salmon said. "It's been here for such a long time, and the buildings are not in good repair anymore. It's over 100 years old. It was a restaurant for over 50 years."
Jeannie Uvino of Tannersville used to visit the restaurant. She says she'll miss it.
"I will cry when they start knocking this thing down because it's been here forever," Uvino said. "I was hoping if they had to rejuvenate it, it would go more in the direction of what it was because I don't think a Wawa is nice in this spot. I just think it's going to cause a traffic headache."
One of the concerns people have with knocking down the inn is they believe it's a historic building. But Pocono Township officials say technically it isn't.
"From a local and nostalgic standpoint, it is a historic building. When it comes to land development, in the end, what's determined to be a historic building is based off of what's listed on the National Historic Register. So from my understanding, it's not listed on the register, so it's not a historic building, so none of those protections on the property," said Pocono Township Manager Taylor Munoz.
Pocono Township says nothing is set in stone yet; it is just a sketch plan. So there is still a long way to go.
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