The Lake Wallenpaupack Birthday Mystery

When Exactly Did Lake Wally Become A Lake?

I went looking for a specific date for Lake Wallenpaupack’s actual birthday and sort of ran into a math problem.

On paper, construction ran from 1924 to 1926. It took roughly 2,700 workers, a fleet of mules, steam shovels, and a three-and-a-half-mile wooden pipe made of Washington Douglas fir to build the 1,280-foot concrete dam at Wilsonville. According to the Wayne County Historical Society, the power plant officially flipped the switch and the 44,000-kilowatt power plant began service in June 1926.

Case closed, right? Not quite.

Finishing a dam isn’t the same thing as having a lake. Once they completed the dam, the valley took about seven months to fill up. That means the water everyone’s jet-skiing on this weekend didn’t actually finish arriving until sometime in 1927.

To complicate things further, officials didn’t legally open the lake to the public for fishing and boating until August 19, 1928.

So, take your pick:

• 1926 if you count the concrete.
• 1927 if you count the water.
• 1928 if you count the first guy legally allowed to catch a bass.

The Chamber of Commerce went with 1926 which is technically the dam’s birthday, but it’s the option that gets us a party this year. Fine by me. I’m not about to argue with logic that gets us a party sooner!

Things to Do If You Aren’t Into The Centennial Weekend

Sadly, the boat parade has been canceled, but the Wally 100 floating stage and the Brookfield history programs are still on for July 24 and 25, and I covered those in last week’s “things to do” post. But maybe all this hoopla and crowds around Lake Wallenpaupack’s beginning isn’t for you. Good news! There are other fun things to do “off lake” in Wayne & Pike County! Read on:

Go Pick Blueberries. Now, Not Later.

This is the one thing in this post with an actual deadline attached, and it is not a deadline anybody sets. Blueberry season runs a few weeks and then it is over, and no amount of planning around it helps.

The Paupack Blueberry Farm at 184 Gumbletown Road in Paupack (Pike County) opened its fields for picking on Friday, July 17. Three fields are open to the public for you to pick your own. The store is open every day 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and has baked goods made fresh every morning, plus jam, ice cream, honey, cheese, and, of course, blueberries, if being out picking in the sun is not your idea of a good time. 570-226-9702.

By the way: no pets are allowed at the fields. Not on a leash, not in the car with the windows down, not any version of it. Neighborhood dogs are sometimes running loose, and the farm can’t vouch for their manners. Take this seriously: the absolute last thing you want is your dog getting into a scuffle, or worse, deciding to join a local dog gang and running off into the sunset. Save yourself the heartbreak (and the awkward drive home) and leave Fido & FiFi cool and comfy at home.

Little Meadows Organic Blueberries is a seasonal u-pick patch on Hamlin Highway in Lake Ariel (Wayne County). If you have been around a while you may remember it as Mary’s Berries, which is what it was called before. They post picking days to Facebook, which is the main place they post updates, so check there before driving over.

Both patches are within 30 minutes of one another, both are on the way (according to Northeastern PA standards, anyway) to other things in this post, and neither will be there in September because the blueberries will be gone. Definitely worth a visit.

Sunday, July 26: Ponds And Fossils At PEEC

The Pocono Environmental Education Center at 538 Emery Road in Dingmans Ferry (Pike County) is offering two programs Sunday, and they stack nicely into a single day out.

Pond Explorers, 10 a.m. to noon, $5 per person. Nets, buckets, and a pond. You catch things and figure out what they are, from insects up to amphibians. My kids loved doing this kind of stuff back in the day; yours will too!

Geology Hike, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., $5 per person. A walk on the Fossil Trail with Paul Kovalski, a.k.a. Dr. Dinosaur. Dust off your inner paleontologist, hit the fossil trails, and learn about the wild geological history sitting right under our feet in the Poconos.

Both take registration by phone at 570-828-2319 or online. PEEC sits inside the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. There are six hiking trails, free to use and open year-round if you want to make a longer day of it. Figure 45 minutes from Hawley.

Wednesday, July 29: The Only Midweek Wildflower Show Of The Season

The Wildflower Concert Series has run for more than 45 years and it is almost entirely a weekend thing. This year there is exactly one Wednesday on the schedule, and this is it.

Best Friends Girl, a Cars tribute, 6 p.m. at the Wildflower Amphitheater on the grounds of the Dorflinger-Suydam Wildlife Sanctuary, Long Ridge Road in White Mills. Seating opens around 5 p.m. and it is first come, so bring a chair or a blanket and get there early if you care where you sit.

Tickets are $30 general, $15 for students 12 to 18, free for 11 and under. Worth knowing: any 2026 ticket is good for any 2026 concert, so a ticket you did not use in June still works. Food and drink are welcome, wine and beer included. Rain moves the show indoors to the Wallenpaupack Area High School auditorium, where food and drink are not permitted. If the sky looks uncertain, call 570-253-5500 after noon.

They also have Ghost Town Blues Band on Saturday, August 1, same time and same terms, if Wednesday does not work.

Friday July 31 And Beyond: Four Shows At Harmony

Harmony in the Woods at 19 Imagination Way in Hawley has a solid stretch of music coming.

• Friday, July 31: Kara Grainger, blues-rock and slide guitar, $28
• Saturday, August 1: Rosine with Mike Miz, Americana and folk, $35
• Sunday, August 2: The Dave Matthews Tribute Band, $65

That last event is worth a second look if you own a lake house nearby or a lakefront home directly on Lake Wallenpaupack. The concert benefits the Lake Wallenpaupack Watershed Management District, the folks handling water quality monitoring and shoreline protection for that body of water tied directly to your property value. Going to a show is easily the funnest, lowest-effort way to support them.

All shows start at 6 p.m. with parking opening an hour before. Bring a picnic and your own drinks. Lawn chairs are provided and there is golf cart service from the lot. Shows here sell out regularly, so buy ahead rather than driving over and hoping. Rain moves things to Harmony on the River at the Dime Bank Indian Orchard campus, 1055 Texas Palmyra Highway in Honesdale.

Saturday, August 1: Bats, For Free

Lacawac Sanctuary at 94 Sanctuary Road in Lake Ariel hosts Bats Count! Learning About the Appalachian Bat Count at 7:30 p.m. Kelly Pollock from the Pennsylvania Game Commission covers how bats live, why they matter, and how the state actually counts them. Free, but recommended for adults and teens 13 and up.

Registration is online only and is required. The deadline is 11:59 p.m. the night before. Lacawac does not take walk-ins for programs, and they will cancel if fewer than 10 people sign up, so registering early does double duty.

If you want a Sunday follow-up, they have Rendezvous with Rachel Revere on August 2 at 2 p.m. in the Carriage House, a living-history performance about Paul Revere’s wife during the Siege of Boston. $15 non-members, $10 members, free for veterans, active duty, and first responders.

The 550-acre grounds themselves are free and open sunrise to sunset regardless.

Where To Buy Things That Were Recently In A Field

Kim and Andrew’s Farm Market at 884 Hamlin Highway in Lake Ariel is open seven days a week right now. Produce, honey, sourdough bread, and maple syrup, all of it grown or made rather than trucked in. They also run a Farm in a Box program and an online market if you want to order ahead. The farm is under ten years old and has been adding products every season.

Specific hours move around, and they post daily updates to their Facebook page. Check there before you go, or call 570-630-5031.

Wayne County Farmers Market is Saturdays 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Dave’s Super Duper lot at 200 Willow Avenue in Honesdale. Grower and producer only, running since 1975.

Two Extra Quiet Ones, If You Have Had Enough Of Crowds

George W. Childs Park on Silver Lake Road in Dingmans Ferry is a 1.2 to 1.4-mile loop past three waterfalls, Factory, Fulmer, and Deer Leap, plus the ruins of an 1820s woolen mill. This fairly easy trail is boardwalk and stairs most of the way. The first falls is accessible at about 0.4 miles one way. Entrance to Childs Park is free, with composting toilets at the trailhead. Two rules people get caught by: no pets of any kind, and no swimming or wading. This is an extremely popular spot, so the parking lot fills on weekends. It’s a good idea to go early. Childs Park is one of my favorite places in the area to visit.

Bruce Lake Natural Area sits right next to Promised Land State Park and is the polar opposite of Centennial weekend in every way. Bruce Lake, a spring-fed glacial lake, is only reachable on foot, making it the perfect spot if you’re looking for some peace and quiet.

It’s a roughly five-mile round trip from the parking lot on Route 390, and easy enough for most fitness levels, with no rock scrambling required. Once you arrive, there’s nothing but nature (and maybe a few fellow hikers). No concessions, no motorboats, no crowds. Just a beautiful mountain lake and whatever the weather is doing that day.

Egypt Meadow Lake, created by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1935, sits in the exact same tract and is just as scenic. Plus, several intersecting trails mean you can easily stretch your trip into a longer, more adventurous loop if you wish.

A few practical notes for the trail:

• Pets are welcome, but you’re likely to pass other pups along the way, so keep ’em leashed. And one quick ground rule: pack out their… contributions. Please don’t be the person who leaves dog waste (or worse, a tied-up poop bag) sitting on the side of the trail.
• Supplies: Bring water and a snack. Five miles isn’t huge, but it’s still five miles with nowhere to buy a bottle of water if you get thirsty!

I confirm every date, time, and price here before this post goes up. Things move anyway. Schedules shift, venues sell out, and fees go up. And if you have landed on this post a while after it ran, which happens more than you would think, treat the specifics as a starting point rather than gospel. The linked site is always the last word. Check before you drive.

Common Questions

When did Lake Wallenpaupack actually turn 100?

It depends what you are counting. The dam was completed in 1926 and the hydroelectric plant began service that June, which is why 2026 is the centennial year. But the valley took about seven months to fill after the dam was closed, and the lake was not opened to the public for fishing and boating until August 19, 1928. The Chamber of the Northern Poconos went with 1926, which is the standard reckoning.

What is happening around Lake Wallenpaupack the last week of July 2026?

The Wildflower Concert Series has its only midweek show of the season on Wednesday, July 29. Harmony in the Woods runs shows July 31, August 1, and August 2. Lacawac Sanctuary has a free bat program August 1, and PEEC has pond and geology programs July 26. Both farmers markets are running.

What is there to do in Wayne and Pike County that isn’t centered around Lake Wallenpaupack?

Quite a lot in late July. Blueberry picking is at its peak at The Paupack Blueberry Farm in Paupack and Little Meadows Organic Blueberries in Lake Ariel. George W. Childs Park in Dingmans Ferry has a short loop past three waterfalls, and Bruce Lake Natural Area is a five-mile hike to a glacial lake with no road access. The Pocono Environmental Education Center runs low-cost naturalist programs, Lacawac Sanctuary has 550 acres of free trails plus a program calendar, and both Harmony in the Woods and the Wildflower Concert Series are in the middle of their summer runs.

A Hundred Years In, People Still Want To Be On This Lake

The centennial is a nice excuse to call out something that has been true the whole time. Frontage on Wallenpaupack is finite and it was finite in 1926 too. If you own a lakefront home or a lake house and have wondered what it’s worth right now, or you are trying to figure out what you can buy and stay within a certain budget, I can help with that.

Contact Karen

Own the View. Love the Life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karen Rice

Karen Rice of Keller Williams Real Estate has been a full-time Realtor since 2007. She specializes in luxury, lakefront, waterfront, and vacation home sales in the Lake Wallenpaupack, Lake Ariel, and the greater Pocono Mountains region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Thinking about a specific property or community, or just want to talk it through? Message me.

Own the View. Love the Life.