Deer Head Inn (Central House)

Deer Head Inn (Central House)

Deer Head Inn (Central House) © George E. Thomas
Photo 2 of Deer Head Inn (Central House) Photo 3 of Deer Head Inn (Central House)
c. 1885. 5 Main St.

All of the immense hotels of the resort have been demolished with the exception of the frame former Central House, a mansarded Victorian affair like the medium-sized hotels of Cape May, New Jersey. With its broad porches and jerkinhead dormers in the mansard, it conveys the character of the resort after the Civil War. Across Main Street is a cluster of white painted inn buildings from the early twentieth century that was known as the Castle Inn. It is said to have been designed by a German architect, Robert Brueckner, using the new material, reinforced concrete. Closed during World War II, it became the headquarters for big band radio star Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, who played at the nearby Shawnee Inn (
MN6) on the Delaware.

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