Ferncrest Promised Land — Hotel in Greene Township

We arrived as the remnants of hurricane Debbie began to pummel the area. We had trouble finding our tent as there is no map I could find on the website and the map on the welcome board was small and we didn’t see it. So it was a frustrating and rainy arrival. We also bought a cart because we had read that you can’t drive to your site, but they had a ton of carts at the gift shop. More on that later.

After we found our site and got settled in, the lock on our tent started to go on the fritz and our fridge was unplugged before we arrived so it had defrosted and leaked on the floor. We texted and asked for towels, and the maintenance crew came quickly to help clean up the mess, and gave us a key in case our lock got any worse. We hung out for the rest of the evening and relaxed.

The overnight and into the next day the main thrust of Debbie’s languishing rage hit so we had to spend most of the day inside. It was so loud inside the tent and branches were falling everywhere. A few smaller ones hit our tent but everything seemed okay. We did have water coming in by the door, but we dammed it up with some of the extra towels they left us. In the evening the rain relented and we ventured out, cleaning up our little site. We had Dome 4, all the way to the end of the property leftwards of entering. We looked at the hot tub but decided that between the lack of privacy of its location and the three hour heat up time it gave in the instructions, that we’d just write it off for the trip.

Folks started to arrive, as it was now Friday, and it got loud. The tents do nothing to lessen the noise made either inside or outside. There was a group across the “street” that partied each night until about 11, but they kept it to a dull roar and the fan was enough to drown them out. The dome next to us had a group of 4 join those staying on site each day and they did karaoke in their tent until about 10 or 11 as well, but again it was fine because everyone’s just trying to enjoy themselves and I didn’t want to Ken out about the quiet hours enforcement.

One issue is the carts. Folks grab them in the morning and seem to hang onto them all day. There seemed to be at least one cart for each tent, but I saw folks grabbing multiple. It would be nice if others would be more considerate of fellow campers.

The other issue is the showers, and it’s minor. I love really hot showers. They got… warm. Maybe there was a mechanical issue. Honestly there’s a lot that I’m just not even thinking about writing here because the storm was quite bad and affected a lot of systems. So it was as much adventure as relaxation.

What the site did great was communicate, respond, and work to take care of issues. As I said our lock failed completely at one point and I locked myself out. They sent someone over right away to help out. There were one or two other storm related issues I texted about and they responded right away.

The tent was really nice. I’m not considering the rain infiltration in my tent because a once a decade storm is ridiculous. We made do and had fun. The only knock on the room is that I’d love for there to be a table for us to eat at. It could be small and go over the cooler. The lanterns were really cool. One of ours couldn’t be turned off all the way, but they lasted for hours between charges. It felt very secure there in the tent. I wasn’t scared during the hurricane remnants and even when they invited all guests to drive their vehicles to their tents so they could shelter if needed, I didn’t feel the need because even the parking lot was not a long hike.

The bathrooms were quite nice. Kept very clean and had nice fixtures. The showers brought me back to my Boy Scout days, and even if I didn’t come out lobster red like usual, I still enjoyed the facilities. I recommend the one on the corner furthest from the sauna as it’s one huge room and is a nice experience.

I’m almost out of characters here. Grounds are great, people great, locks not immune to big storms. Here’s a campground map and pics...

Let me say that this is one of the most unique experiences my wife and I have done together. It was our wedding anniversary and we both needed a weekend get away to the tranquility that the Delaware Water Gap and surrounding area offer. No phones, no connections to the outside world, and that our phones wouldn’t ring. As someone that is aspiring to get my own business off the ground here’s an honest review. Spoiler we came away from the experience with full intention of going back. Firstly the check in process does require you to login into the Wi-Fi on site and follow the instructions that have been texted to you throughout the week. As long as you follow those you are golden. Even if you have questions prior to your visit you can respond back to the same number as a bonus. IT IS A REAL PERSON THAT ANSWERS. In a world full of automated processes that remove the human element this was a welcomed surprise. Everything is virtually self serve including the walk from your car to your accommodations but the tools needed to facilitate taking care of it yourself are always available. Our cart had a flat tire when we didn’t notice right away till I started pulling but I told Sean and he took care of it right away. When we arrived Sean and another groundskeeper were getting our outdoor hot tub ready. I asked them a few questions about getting it to the optimum temps and how the burn box worked. They gave me great answers recommending to stir the tub every so often and to let a fire smolder rather than go full Dante’s inferno. LISTEN TO THIS. It takes several hours for the tub to heat up, more fire doesn’t equal quicker hot, it means more hot. Like lobster boiling hot. I kid but you could get burned. This also means it’s takes hours to go from 120 back down to 105-110. So go slow stir often for best results. This also means if you go over let the fire die out and come back in the morning to a perfect 100-105. A great way to start the day! Especially because wildlife was abundant. Secondly, the dome! We stayed in dome 6 Absolutely perfect view of the woods for us. To open that big window and see the wildlife was awesome! The sheets are impeccable, the pillows on par with some nicer hotels I’ve been to around the world, the mattress……. Our mattress was FIRM, like Stocks pound cake firm.. Some positions were comfortable like on my back, others, like on my stomach, not so much. The appointments of the dome were great. Nice curtains for some privacy and to cut down on noise. The fridge is bigger than 90% of hotels out there, the microwave and utensils for tea and coffee making were all clean and ready for use. Overall the aesthetic seemed to reach form and function pretty well. The fireplace was problematic, please fire these up prior to guests arriving for the cold season. Ours “offgassed” from being so new it smoked out our entire dome and smelled like burning plastic as things heated up. Sean was quick to come over to make sure everything was installed correctly and we’re not in danger! After the initial heat up it was perfect. Third, the grounds. This was an abandoned campground and you can tell if you’re from the area. They’re doing a fantastic job of restoring it to a former glory for those of us that are used to a PA campground. They’re reusing so many left behind buildings and materials which made me us happy. The bathhouses were so well redone and paid respect to the age of the structures themselves. The toilets were well stocked and didn’t have the typical public toilet funk. However the sinks in the front toilets did begin to overflow with heavy use. Upfront at the commons there’s old trailers cleaned up and being used as storefronts for guests and the public alike, the common fireplace and tent/event space was so well done and looked boarder-line Disney in execution. Well done. And the staff (I’m sorry I forgot your names ladies) are fantastic! The drinks and food were good but the atmosphere made everything better! Thank you for a great stay! We...

We are so very disappointed with our experience here and the unprofessional owners. For one night ran us over $300, for CAMPING. We booked a double dome tent that promised the privacy wooded views, a hot tub and hotel like ammeties inside. Before arrival you are bombarded with several texts and emails, making it difficult to pin down the nesscary codes and info needed upon arrival. Couldn't this be one email? Without any map or guidance we spent time pulling our luggage around to try to determine which site is ours. When we finally we able establish which site was our we were immediately let down, our promised wooded views w/ privacy was in reality a overlook to a work stations, parking lot and the camp store /bathrooms and our adjacent neighbors having a straight line of view into our dome. The 'hot tub' on arrival was 55°, which then we had to additionally buy Firewood on site to heat up. Why did we pay for a hot tub ammeties but then addionally have to pay to heat it? We loaded $30 of firewood into the tub over the course of SIX hours for it to only reach a peak of 87° by quiet hours, glad we paid twice for this ammetie we weren't even able to use... Speaking of quiet hours, our adjacent dome had a speaker blasting music ALL DAY, it clearly states on the camps policy absolutly no speakers anytime of the day. We had to ask hospitality to address this twice before it was properly taken care of. We were kept up by partying campers and dogs barking until 1am, so much for quiet after 10pm or at all for that matter. We opted to use our own blankets and pillows due so the strong dog odor coming from the blankets. It was also worrisome to hear of neighboring tent had the same pass code to enter their dome, we did not feel safe knowing one of those drunk strangers could accidentally access our dome and enter with such ease, I hope they can address this safety issue immediately. Along other quiet hours issues which they claimed to be 'strongly enforced' after being awoken again several time by barking dogs and rude neighbors from 7 am on we were startled without warning a large blaring dump truck at 745am, perhaps if our site wasn't overlooking the dumpster and parking lot this wouldn't if been such an issue? Something else we found concerning as a parent was the broken glass found all over the play area and tetherball picnic area.It was just one thing after another adding up making a terrible trip,we ended up leaving early and with the money we spent we could of have a luxurious hotel stay in New York for the night but instead we had the worst camp experience of our life. Even after all this one of the owners had the audacity call us the next day to inform us that charge us an additional $75 dollars cleaning fee because the dog stenched sheets we didn't even use had a stain. Next thing they are going to charge you to breath the air on their campsite. There are plenty of other affordable nice campsites around the Poconos, don't fall for this money pit, there is a reason their website is so conspicuous for a reason

EDIT: I did reach out directly THREE times while we were staying there, we expressed our various concerns. Two times the day of our arrival and again in the morning before leaving our trip early. At first they seem concerned and willing to try to someone make up our terrible experience for us by offering another stay in the future in a Dome tent with a more private setting, we weren't looking for handout but we were thankful. To your surprise later I get a lunchtime phone call from the owner being extremely condescending and letting me know in addition to our terrible experience we will be additionaly charged for their nasty dog sheets ( these are clearly not sanitized or washed properly if they smell of dogs and they aren't able to get simple wear and tear marks washed out) when I questioned this the owner took away our future comped stay, was rude then HUNG UP ON ME. I would suggest taking your...