History

Pocono Postcard Collection – My 250+ Memories

Don’t you just love getting a postcard? You know them… that picture you’d get in your mailbox from back in the days when getting one put a smile on your face.

Welcome to my online postcard and photo collection, which catalogs the history and beauty of Lake Naomi and the Pocono Pines region of the Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania. If you have a postcard you’d like to share, please feel free to do so. We’d love to share it with our audience. Any condition – just take a picture of it with your phone and send here. I love growing the collection.

Join the Facebook Group Lake Naomi and Pocono Pines Memories & History

Start your experience with a live look at the Club Beach at Lake Naomi – Livecam Click Here
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Postcards:

Before we get started, here’s a fun 1913 transcribed card

Horace R. Longshore, Langhorne, Bucks Co., Pa. POCONO PINES, PA – AUG 18, 1913 5:30 PM

This is where we take our meals, at or on the top of the mountain.
It seems quite a bit nearer the stars than at home, 2000 ft. high. The trip up here was delightful, and so everything has been since we came. I wish you could be here, and hope you may someday. Today, there will be a County Fair on the grounds. The rides are wonderful, and the air is so invigorating.
With love, M. Cousin R.B.- Not very well, but better this morning. The nurse is here. Will write a real letter as soon as I am able.

Digital Postcard and Photo Collection – Click any image to enlarge


Lake Naomi & the Poconos – A Personal Pocono History Series

The series I’ve been researching began as an effort to rebuild my youthful memories of growing up on Lake Naomi in the Poconos starting in the 1960s. As the stories… Read More »Lake Naomi & the Poconos – A Personal Pocono…

Memories Growing Up On Lake Naomi and Pocono Pines, PA

This story is part of a series I’ve been researching, as I rebuild my youthful memories growing up on Lake Naomi in the Poconos. As the series comes together, there… Read More »Memories Growing Up On Lake Naomi and Pocono Pines,…

Pocono Lake vs. Lake Naomi – Tale of Two Lake Communities & Religious History

Nostalgic & Personal As a kid, summers at Lake Naomi were my whole world. That’s where I first learned to handle a Sunfish, skimming across the water with the wind… Read More »Pocono Lake vs. Lake Naomi – Tale of Two…

The Sunfish Sailboat – Fortune Magazine’s Top 25 Best Designed Products

Picture it: a warm afternoon on the water, a flash of colorful sail skimming across the waves. Chances are, it’s a Sunfish, the little boat that became a global phenomenon.… Read More »The Sunfish Sailboat – Fortune Magazine’s Top 25 Best…

What’s The Pocono Plateau- Visiting a Beautiful Ice Age Remnant

While the summer is a beautiful time for recreation in the Poconos, the fall is IMHO the most beautiful time in the Poconos. No need to drive all the way… Read More »What’s The Pocono Plateau- Visiting a Beautiful Ice Age…

Pocono Business Advertisements We Love To Remember

Help us, old folks, remember all those great businesses around Lake Naomi and the Pocono Pines region that you love and cherish. This story is part of a series I… Read More »Pocono Business Advertisements We Love To Remember

Lake Naomi’s KonTiki – Honoring the Club’s Race Committee and That Boat

This series began as an effort to rebuild my youthful memories of growing up on Lake Naomi in the Poconos starting in the 1960s. As the stories came together, I… Read More »Lake Naomi’s KonTiki – Honoring the Club’s Race Committee…

Lake Naomi Way Before the Dam

Map of the 1779 Sullivan Trail – Click the map to see a blow-up of the trail that ran right through Pocono Pines and the region. This map is likely the… Read More »Lake Naomi Way Before the Dam

Meet The King of the Poconos- Isaac Stauffer

Introduction In the mid-19th century, the Pocono Plateau was still a rugged wilderness, characterized by dense forests, hidden lakes, and scattered clearings carved out by lumbermen’s axes. It was here… Read More »Meet The King of the Poconos- Isaac Stauffer

Pocono Pines and Lake Naomi Area – Map Collection Showcases History

I’ve been creating a series of memories and researching the history of Lake Naomi, Pocono Pines, and the greater Pocono Mountains area. While some call me a historian, I’m more… Read More »Pocono Pines and Lake Naomi Area – Map Collection…

I decided to write these stories down because a friend of mine, with whom I grew up, now lives on Lake Naomi and still sends me photos of the Lake Naomi Club trophy case, where my name, along with my father’s and brothers’, lives on (Thanks, Sue). Thank you for allowing me to document this life experience for the record.

Brooks founded Mr. Local History and the Mr. Local History Project along with his wife, Jill. Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, and raised in Westfield, Brooks graduated from Westfield High School in 1980 and later from Bryant University. For over two decades, Brooks, along with his brother Brian and younger sister Cee Cee, spent their summers on Lake Naomi with their parents, Frank and Caryolyn Betz, who had lived on Canoe Brook Road since the mid-1960s.

He and his family owned the Pocono Boathouse (Pocono Pines, PA) and the Cranford Canoe Club in the 1960s through the 1990s.

There are likely many gaps in the history that I hope to fill, along with a return visit to Lake Naomi to reminisce and reflect on these stories. This story is part of a series dedicated to the history of Lake Naomi, Pocono Pines, and the memories of my family spending time together. Thanks for reading.

Cee Cee, Brian, and Carolyn 2025.

Brooks Betz

Founder and Chair of the Mr. Local History Project

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