New Jersey hospitality and Ghost Town Pa.

I can’t recall who said these true words; you never get a second chance to make a first impression, but somehow that doesn’t seem to bother some people involved in the service industry in New Jersey.

Bridge over Delaware River joining Pennsylvania to New Jersey

The first time I encountered a problem in their service industry was around two years ago when we were going to Philly but decided to overnight in New Jersey. As I had always used Comfort Inn establishments when on the road, I made the reservation through them.

Never again.

The motel they gave me should not have been open to the public. For it was being expanded and lots of workmen were around doing all types of construction work, so the rooms and even the lounges were full of cement dust.

We stayed there about two hours, just long enough for a breather and worse, we had to go through the Better Business Bureau to get a refund from Comfort Inn for the terrible state of their accommodation!

The historic building in New Jersey was nice but the restaurant awful

Strike two was in August 2019, as four of us from a Meet-Up group in Florida led by Jennifer Weise, headed out to tour points of interest in Pennsylvania.  One stop was at the famous Wilmington Railroad, near where with the Delaware River separates Philadelphia from New Jersey.

 Feeling adventurous, we decided that after a wonderful train ride, we should walk across the bridge to over to Jersey to have dinner.
BIG MISTAKE.

First, we researched on line and found a nice sounding restaurant called “Boathouse “which advertised a wide-ranging menu on its web page. That suited us perfectly as one participant was vegetarian and another on a keto diet, so we needed good variety. However, when we walked over the bridge and followed directions to the location, we were met by a hostess who informed us that, despite what they had posted on line, they did not serve dinner, only Cocktails!

Hungry and disappointed, we were still determined to try something in New Jersey, so  we walked around and found a nice-looking historic building on Bridge Street with a restaurant called “Lambertville Inn" with seating on the patio. It surely looked attractive and the menu posted outside was appealing.

A section of graffiti highway

Well that was where the drama started, for the waitress was so rude that she walked off while one member was still making her order. Then the same customer got cold overcooked chicken as her main course, which could not be eaten. The manager was called and said he would take care of it. He didn’t however, for when the bill came, she was still being charged for the unpalatable food which they had taken away, uneaten. This led to a verbal confrontation which ended with the manger threating to call the police if the unpalatable food was not paid for! Rather than waste time, our coordinator, Jennifer, decided we should pay the bill but I don’t think anyone in the service industry in New Jersey will see any of us soon ever again!

We could still smell the smoke coming up from under the highway

Ghost Town and Graffiti Highway, Pennsylvania.

Another section of the sinking highway

Our visit to Ghost town in Centralia, Pennsylvania was far less eventful but quite interesting.

It is amazing , but Pennsylvania has quite a few ghost towns, seven to be exact.

These are towns that have been totally abandoned by residents for one reason or the other.

Some "artists" at work. They offered to share their paint.

The one in Centralia was ordered abandoned by the authorities when an underground coal-mine caught fire there in 1962. The fire has been burning underground for over fifty years, causing many areas of the surface to sink, including large sections of the highway which passed through the town That led to the government taking over the land, paying off those who lived there and ordering them to relocate. 

They then declared the town of Centralia, population of just under 2,500, a danger zone.

We could still smell the smoke when we visited in August 2019 and signs of the damage to the road

were everywhere.

Interestingly however, since then, people from all over the US and even overseas, have decided that despite the danger signs, the highway, should become a giant canvas.

It is now known as Graffiti Highway.

Even some plants got painted

Over the years, people have therefore been visiting the area to paint various portraits and write messages, not only on the roads, but also the rocks on the fringes and even the plants! And we could have practiced our artistic skills too, as we saw some artists at work who offered us cans of spray paint to work with.

As we drove around the abandoned and densely overgrown town, not even the foundation of the houses and businesses that were there in 1962, could be seen anywhere. However, there were still three occupied houses, where the few who refused to leave, now reside.