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Monthly Archives: April 2026

Jim Thorpe Part Two: The Coffee Shop

The grade is steep. The learning curve isn’t.

Walking from the train station towards the attractions at the top of the hill on Broadway will give you a nice little exercise. It’s not too bad, really, as long as you walk a lot regularly; it’s more brisk than anything. And there’s the view. Jim Thorpe is a beautiful town. It’s a slice of Americana, a compactification of it into a few small city blocks. Brick buildings that have clearly stood since the 1800s mingle with newer residential spaces and shops geared towards the outdoorsy travelers taking advantage of the surrounding mountains and gorges.

When I said the space was compactified, I meant it. Shops are crammed into just about every building within a quarter mile of the train station. There are little plazas accessible only through alleyways. The sheer number of tourists ensures that they’ll never run out of business. I found two coffeehouses positioned right up against each other. I’ll tackle them one at a time.

The Coffee Shop. That’s what it’s called. Unofficially/officially. You see, this coffeehouse has a very specific theme. It has a wizardly theme. That theme could have been a bit more specific, but for copyright issues. As it stands, this coffee shop is generically wizardly. That’s actually a great thing. I like generally magical things, and magic itself lacks our mundane bounds.

The interior spoke to that magical tradition. Hard, dark wood and strung lights felt like a magician’s den. One aspect felt out of place: the big screen TV on the side wall. Granted, they were showing weird, fun movies, but still, a roaring fire might have been better. I must say, it did add to the ‘living room’ feeling I got when I walked in. I could play so much Dungeons & Dragons here. The folks at the counter gave off a ‘vibe’ of being a bit esoteric. Esoteric like me. As I alluded to in the last paragraph, I’m deeply into spirituality and philosophy, so this place felt like somewhere I belong. I wanted to spend longer there, but I also wanted to head further up the hill to see the famous Mauch Chunk Opera house, among other sites.

I got the house blend here, and it was Ethiopian. It came courtesy of Greenstreet Coffee Co. of Philadelphia. Eastern PA craft coffee once again finds itself in an Eastern PA coffeehouse. Interestingly, I didn’t get much citrus flavor. Rather, there were notes of bright fruit rounding out an otherwise smooth blend. It drank like a breakfast coffee, with a swift and airy feel. I wish I could have had more than a taste, but this was the second coffee I’d bought and the fourth I’d had since Friday morning. So it’s a sip only from now on, or I’ll be running in circles all night.

After spending far too little time at this shop, I headed up the street after asking one last question: Was that other coffeehouse next door part of this project? It wasn’t. My eyes had not deceived me; two coffee shops were housed in the same little block. I’d have to get one last sip of coffee before making the long walk to the opera house.

I’m typing this on Monday, and I’m running on maybe two hours of sleep. For some reason, it’s hard for me to come down from an active weekend. I lose track of the days, counting time in miles, and my brain keeps replaying everything that happened. In a week or so, I’ll post the third installment, which will take us not only to that one last coffee shop, but to a haunting story of Pennsylvania’s past.

Until then, stay tuned.