Skytop Lodge
Skytop, Pennsylvania
Though it opened in 1928 on the eve of the Great Depression, the concept behind Skytop Lodge is so universally appealing that it has weathered one national crisis after another to reach its 87th birthday this year, which it is celebrating with a $3.7 million renovation project.
The 5,500-acre property sprawls over a portion of the Poconos Mountains specifically selected by locals and regular area visitors to offer the best views from the lodge and golf course and the most picturesque surroundings. Though the course is still a big draw today, for groups, the resort has developed a slate of both modern and old-fashioned bonding and team-building activities, from soap-box derbies, zip lining and custom scavenger hunts to boat building and archery tag, a new sport not yet available anywhere else in the Northeast.
The lodge has garnered accolades from both meeting and general travel publications, including a top-10 spot on Travel + Leisure’s list of America’s Best All-Inclusive Resorts, but it’s currently making news with its landmark renovation, which is refreshing the historic main lobby as well as revamping all 192 guest rooms.
Scheduled to wrap up at the end of this year, the guest room redesign aims to bring the outside in as much as possible, melding each guest room with local water, garden or mountain motifs through color and design, including walls that are custom hand painted by a local artist.
Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort
Lake Placid, New York
One of only three places in the world to have hosted the Winter Olympics twice, Lake Placid is an internationally renowned winter sports destination. But its secret is that it’s also a wonderful place to visit the rest of the year, particularly for groups looking for a place to stay somewhere they can enjoy the great outdoors without having a negative impact on it.
Through the efforts of its family owners, Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort has become a pioneer in the ecotourism business, earning the first platinum rating for green travel from Audubon International’s Green Lodging Program and consulting on the creation of green lodging guidelines for other international travel organizations. From its recycled paper goods to its eco-friendly cleaning products to its sustainably sourced furniture and furnishings, every inch of Golden Arrow is aligned on the inside with the stunning setting surrounding it on the outside.
Golden Arrow has its own private stretch of lakefront beach on Mirror Lake, on which many of the guest rooms look out, and a pier stocked with complimentary canoes, kayaks and paddleboats that make it easy for groups to get out on the lake on their own. But staff can also organize boat trips on the resort’s private gondola or guided hikes in the surrounding mountains that offer views of not only Mirror Lake, but also the other two lakes of the trilake region.
Basin Harbor Club
Vergennes, Vermont
When Ardelia Beach bought herself the Basin Harbor farm in 1882 with a beachfront on Vermont’s meandering Lake Champlain, she wasn’t looking for a rural retreat for herself or even a hospitality business, just a little plot of farmland in her hometown of Vergennes.
Little did she know that more than 125 years later, the fourth and fifth generations of her family would be keeping up the tradition of hosting summering city folks she started by taking in a few seasonal boarders on her farm. In addition to the original inn on the site, there are lodges that were added over the years by Beach’s descendants, and the club now offers 73 freestanding cottages.
The Basin Harbor Club embodies all the best traits of the century-old tradition of Northeastern rural retreats — jackets and ties at dinner, lobster dinners on the dock and private cottages — with a few key twists. It has been designated a Historic Hotel of America by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and was the first of the group to also be designated a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary in no small part thanks to its 15,000-square-foot gardens, the largest collection of annuals in the state.
Staff can organize guided hikes and nature walks for groups on the 700-acre property or surrounding mountains, as well as tours of the lake on the club’s private 48-foot boat.
