Good Pennsylvania or NJ nature retreat sites?

I’m part of a group of people scattered throughout the Northeastern US who want to do a nature retreat in the fall (Last weekend in September-off season prices, you see) . Having never planned one of these things, I’m hoping you guys can give me suggestions.

Our criteria:

1)A physical structure to hold us in with plumbing. Apparently, some of us don’t do tents. Aiming to hold at least 10-14 people, but we’ll expand it with air mattresses and Army cots and such. (Personally, I have a tent I can pitch outside if it gets too crowded.) Nothing fancy, just walls, a roof, and plumbing. Flush toilets a bonus, but we’ll deal with porta-potties.

2)Electrical hookup. We’ll be self-catering, mostly with crock pot stews and such, and fire cooking for 20 of us might be difficult.

  1. PRIVACY. The last time we met, we had to veer around 4 other groups and it got tiring. We really just want it to be us and the surroundings this time.

  2. Low price. Our last event went WAY over budget and we’re kind of in a money crunch now.

  3. Somewhere near-ish a highway, as we’re coming from all over the place.

Is there a site within PA or NJ that might serve us? Anyone who has camped in the area, tell me about it and toss me some tips for planning this thing!

And, moronically, I posted this in the wrong forum. Can a mod fix that and take it to IMHO?

I really don’t know what “low price” means to you but one I am aware of is the Poconos Environmental Education Center.

You got it.

BTW, you can report your own posts, which will usually get you action faster than relying on a mod to read the thread, since we don’t read every post in every thread in our forums.

A good resource for PA is here: http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/recreation/cabins.aspx

I have stayed in the cabins at Prince Gallitzin. It is close to PA route 219.

I have also stayed at the cabins in Keystone State Park near Pittsburgh, which is a bit smaller/less rural but better connected to highways.

Good luck!

The Deleware Water Gap is beautiful and is likely to have some places that would fit the bill. It’s right between I-84 at Port Jervis, NY and I-80 at Stroudsburg, PA.

Crazy Idea that just might work: Contact Shawnee Mountain Ski Area. See if they have lots of summer stuff going on or are nice and quiet as you’d prefer in their offseason. Arrange to camp out in their base lodge for cheap.

Otherwise, look at all the for rent by owner sites (homeaway, VRBO, etc) for a house on the river to rent.