The road north from Lycoming County into the Pine Creek Valley is a rippled, twisting ribbon that alternates between riding close to the water and up on the mountains that frame Pine Creek, the gorge of a thousand vistas. Coming down from one overlook, the road goes into a pocket, nestled in the woods. Rounding a curve into that pocket, there’s the Waterville Hotel. It’s at the intersection of Route 44 and Little Pine Creek Road, but the juncture itself, at the convergence of Pine Creek and Little Pine Creek, is much older than the roads.

This year marks the 200th continuous year in business for the Waterville Hotel. It’s a traditional Pennsylvania tavern, with a bar below and rooms for guests above—six rooms on the second floor, and an apartment leased on the third floor. It’s old enough to have been on the railroad line—that’s evident by the closeness of the rail trail that now runs on the former New York Central line. But this hotel is much older than that. Brad Wyland, one of the Waterville’s new owners, says, “When we renovated the kitchen, we tore out old walls to the original [structure].” And there, the hand hewn beams from old-growth timbers were visible again.

Harry Stephenson’s History of the Little Pine Creek Valley confirms it. This hotel was built before the railroads, before the tourists and nature seekers, before fly fishermen from all over the country plied the trout streams. In fact, this history makes a particular note of the buildings belonging to the original owner, Abraham Harris. That’s because the barn behind, long since burnt to the ground, was the more important structure. There, housing for the horses, mules, and pack animals needed to carve out a farm and a home in the Pennsylvania wilderness could be found. That there were buildings here at all is a testament to the first people to settle and farm this area of the Pine Creek Valley.

In 2023, local residents Jason McConnell and Vanessa Brown took over as new owners of the hotel (formerly the Waterville Tavern), along with business partner Brad. Jason and Vanessa already own McConnell’s General Store, right across from the parking lot. So, when Al and Deb Harakel, who owned the business for fifteen years, decided to sell, each of the new owners began to think privately about the fate of the hotel and whether one of them could be the person to carry on the tradition.

“This hotel is part of Waterville and part of the valley,” Brad explains. “The fact that the Harakels could retire and it close didn’t sit well with any of us. Then there was the fear that someone would buy it and not keep it as the Waterville Hotel.”

Finally, in 2022, Jason, Vanessa, and Brad shared with each other the thoughts they’d been having as individuals. Communicating a vision of the future for the hotel, thoughts turned to the practical matters of figuring out how they could make the vision reality. Jason and Vanessa are the owners in Waterville, and Brad is the partner who has ties to the village but lives in Pittsburgh. It made sense, as Jason and Vanessa love this village, and are part of the history themselves. After all, according to Jason, his great-grandmother and grandfather were the tavern keepers right here between 1933 and 1945.

Brad sums it up best: “The Pine Creek Valley is in our souls.”

Luckily for them, they bought a property that was loved and cared for before they arrived, as the Harakels had completed a major renovation about ten years ago. When Jason, Vanessa, and Brad opened, they did work on an exterior bar area, so that patrons could be outside, hearing the water and enjoying nature.

The other thing this trio did was highlight the tradition of the place. The walls are filled with mementos. From a photo of Abraham Harris by the front door, to the photos of the hotel over the years, the maps of Tioga and Potter counties (even a map of Camp Kline, the nearby site of what was once a Boy Scout camp), the story of the area and the hotel are woven throughout the building.. These walls can and do talk.

They remembered the past in food, as well.

“One of the first things we did was bring back the Mountain Burger and the Porky Sandwich,” Brad says. These, along with the waffle fries, were staples and favorites at the hotel for decades. But it’s not a total turning back of the clock. There’s plenty of space for chef Dan Collar to create entrées and specials for today’s visitors to love. See the full menu at thewatervillehotel.com, or call (570) 753-5970, but know it includes a charcuterie board, Pittsburgh salad bowl, Pine Creek Canoe Part Two, and a full bar. The special board promotes mac-n-cheese and lamb lollipops, and offerings change regularly.

“People just love the food,” says Brad. The Waterville Hotel is open Thursday through Monday. Kitchen hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. except for Sunday, when it closes at 7 p.m. The bar is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. except for Sunday, when it closes at 9 p.m.

Danielle Kisko, the bar manager, says that the ghosts in the building talk to her when she opens. Knowing the area, chances are they are just catching up on the local news about people they were related to. Those relatives are here on a cold day in early spring, visiting at the bar. Everyone is enjoying the quiet before fishing season and warm weather arrives and visitors from all over the world fill the hotel.

“There’s lots of repeats,” Jason notes.