…continuing
with our August 2018 road trip exploring parts of New England and the
northeastern United States.
This was
the nineteenth day of our trip. We drove
from Litchfield Connecticut to Scranton Pennsylvania, using back roads until we
reached I-84, about 10 – 12 miles north of its interchange with I-684.
When we
came to New Milford Connecticut, I had to stop and take a photo of this
attractive old railroad depot. This
depot on Railroad Street was built in 1886 by the Housatonic Railroad
Company. The depot was served by
passenger trains until 1970. It’s now
home of the Greater New Milford Chamber of Commerce.
At the
time that the railroad came to New Milford, the town was experiencing an
economic boom. It was a center for
regional tourism and as well as the principal location for the processing and
packing of tobacco in the Housatonic River valley.
The first
photo we took after crossing back into New York State was of this antique International
tow truck/wrecker appropriately sitting proudly on its pedestal. It’s a classy advertisement for Patterson
Auto Body in Patterson New York.
Website: https://www.pattersonautobody.com/auto-body-shop/. Nice paint job!
I will
admit that this big old depot was depressing to look at… The New York, Ontario and
Western Railway Company (O and W) depot in Middletown New York was completed in
1893. This 3-story Richardson Romanesque
style building was constructed using pressed brick and sandstone. It is about 237 feet long. The station was closed in 1957.
It was
listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. It had been sold to a health center that
wanted to redevelop it for its use.
Financial problems prevented the project and it’s been returned to the
city. Take a good look as it’s likely
that this old depot will be razed in the not too distant future. A photo from 2013 showed that the structure
had seriously deteriorated in the 5 years before we took these photos…
To learn
more about the New York, Ontario and Western Railway Company, the first notable
U.S. railroad to completely abandon it’s mainline, go to
We just
liked the classic look of this building in Middletown New York. It’s been well maintained and whatever it
was, the only information I could find on the Internet is that it is
permanently closed. It may have served
as a hotel or an apartment building. I
didn’t have an address and I couldn’t find anything about its history.
This is
the former Erie Railroad Depot near the center of Middletown New York. Located on the railroad’s mainline, this
station, which was built in 1896, replaced an earlier depot that was built in
1843. This Romanesque revival structure
was served by trains running between Jersey City New Jersey and Chicago
Illinois.
This
station served as a passenger railroad station until 1983 when rail service was
taken over by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Metro-North Railroad
using a different rail line. As you can
see, this depot was renovated and restored.
As of 1995, it reopened as the Thrall Library.
The sign
on the side of this building adjacent the old Erie Railroad Depot states that
it’s a used book store. I’d guess that
at one point it handled freight for the railroad.
We
finally arrived in Scranton Pennsylvania.
This is the former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
Station. This neoclassical French
Renaissance structure was built in 1908 as both a passenger train station and
office building. The last train left the
station on January 6, 1970. The building
was shuttered and left to decay. The
marbled lobby was used for storage. It
was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
The good
news is that the building was purchased by a local community action corporation
as part of a project to revive Scranton’s slumping economy. Subsequently it was renovated, refurbished
and reopened as a hotel in 1983.
Note: The other part of this plan to revive
Scranton’s economy is the subject of my next post.
The building
still retains its original clocks, doors, fountains, stairs, ceilings, walls
and overall ambience. Today, this old
depot is now the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel. To check out the hotel, make reservations or
just to see photos of the interior, go to the website at https://www.radisson.com/scranton-hotel-pa-18503/pascrant.
When it
was time for dinner, a bit of research left me conflicted regarding our
destination for the evening. Eventually
I got around to asking the helpful desk clerk at our Hampton Inn for some
suggestions. Nonno’s Pizza and Family
Restaurant sounded like our best option.
The first
photo shows the bar area at Nonno’s… They were doing a decent early evening
business. The inside dining area was
pretty quiet although business did pick up half way through our dinner. This is a big and very spacious restaurant…
It was a
bit hazy but outside dining drew more early diners than the inside option
did. Part of the charm of Nonno’s
outdoor option is that it’s covered with vines so it’s shaded, and it has a
great view of the valley below.
FYI, the
stadium that is so prominent in the second photo is PNC Field, Home of the
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, a NY Yankee’s affiliate, one of the ‘Triple A’
baseball teams in the Northern Division of the International League. I love some of the names of minor league
baseball teams. RailRiders is an eye-catching
name, but in this division of the International League, the Lehigh Valley
IronPigs has to take the prize!
After
ordering a couple of adult beverages, we decided that we’d order Nonno’s Garlic
Bread with Cheese as our ‘appetizer’. ($3.95) As you can see, it was a huge
portion…and it was nice and garlicy too!
FYI, it was ‘Miller Monday’ so my Miller Lite was only $1.50…
Our
entrees both came with soup or salad. We
both opted for a nice dinner salad as shown...
For her
side, Laurie chose the sautéed spinach.
It was good but given the fact that her entrée came with more spinach,
it was a bit of overkill.
Laurie
ordered the Veal Saltimbocca. ($19.99) As described, ‘top round veal medallions
layered with prosciutto, spinach and mozzarella cheese, finished with a Marsala
wine sauce’.
It was
good but it was way too much food, especially given the big order of garlic
cheese bread! Also, she is used to much
thinner slices of veal and as you can see, this was a very robust and hearty
version of this traditional entrée. ‘Sad
to say’, I ‘had’ to help her with a bit of that veal!
For my entrée,
I chose the Chicken Piccata. ($16.99) Described as chicken breast sautéed with
lemon, garlic, capers and white wine then tossed with carrots, broccoli and
penne pasta.
My dinner
was nice but just a bit bland for my taste.
More garlic would have been an improvement for me, but probably not most
diners. I popped it up with lots of
parmesan and some Tabasco and I was a happy camper.
Despite
all of the food we’d eaten, we still had a hankering for something sweet. So we shared this slice of Caramel Crunch Cake.
($6.50) It came with a lot of caramel drizzle and a bunch of whipped
cream. It was very good.
We
enjoyed our meal at Nonno’s Pizza and Family Restaurant. The menu is quite large and includes
everything from hoagies to wraps to burgers plus pizza and a nice variety of
Italian entrees. This restaurant is
located at 6 Radcliffe Drive in Moosic Pennsylvania. (Moosic is a suburb of
Scranton) Phone: 570-961-2250. Website: https://nonnosmontage.com/index.htm.
That’s
all for now. My next post will reveal a
special attraction and the real reason we headed home via Scranton.
Just
click on any of the photos to enlarge them…
Thanks
for stopping by for a visit!
Take
Care, Big Daddy Dave
You found plenty of RR structures along the way. Both of your meals look good and we keep threatening to make a beef saltimbocca but can't seem to get there
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