Cliff Park Inn and golf course are reopened in Milford

By DAVID HULSE

MILFORD, PA — National Park Service (NPS) officials, local dignitaries and members of the Buchanan family were on hand September 16 as a ribbon was cut and the Cliff Park Inn, Restaurant and Golf Course, now in NPS ownership, was reopened to the public.

Superintendent John Donahue said acquisition of the 300-acre, ridge-top property was an essential for the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area as the property has vistas to see and be seen for miles.

Donahue said the alternative could have been 300 to 400 homes along the ridgelines.

The superintendent credited owner Harry Buchanan, who followed through on a commitment he made to make the land available to the park three decades ago.

The NPS did not volunteer the purchase price, but Buchanan said it was considerably less than he might have gotten from private developers. “It wasn’t done for the money,” he said.

The property has been family owned since 1780, and when he learned in the 1960s that the surrounding land was to become a national park, he brokered a deal with Congress.

Buchanan, a former CEO of Celanese Chemical Corporation, appeared before the House Interior Committee and made a commitment that the land would only be sold to the federal government. The Washington Post criticized the deal as something more akin to the English monarchy, but Cliff Park became “the only piece of property that couldn’t be taken,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan, said his advancing age prompted him to complete the deal last year. “I’m not 39 anymore,” he said, “and I wanted to take care of it while I was still able and I didn’t want somebody else to screw it up.”

He said his family agreed with his decision. Buchanan said his decision has been written about before and he’s been portrayed as a hero. “I’m no hero. I’m just preserving what my family started. I want you to make that point clearly,” he said.

The golf course at Cliff Park has been open since 1913.

The Inn and Golf Course have been renovated by James and Yvonne Klausmann of the Pine Hill Farm Bed & Breakfast in Milford, who entered into a long-term lease agreement with the NPS last year to operate the inn and golf course. The couple say the restaurant will offer “a more upscale dining alternative.”

For more information, call 570/296-6491 or visit them online at cliffparkinn.com.