WHITE MILLS, PA — A plan in the making for several years came to fruition on October 27 with a ribbon cutting ceremony held at the White Mills Recreation Park. The ceremony officially opened a public access point to the Lackawaxen River. 

Public excitement was evident, with well over 50 people in attendance.

Amenities include a graveled parking area, concrete canoe/kayak boat launch, restroom, ADA walkway to the riverfront, plus a bench and trash receptacles.

Grant Genzlinger and Molly Rodgers, members of the Lackawaxen Trails Group, led the initiative for the planning and feasibility of a river network of river-access sites and trails along the Lackawaxen River between Wayne and Pike counties.

Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) provided the funding for the initial study.

Once it was determined that there was an avenue for this plan to come together, it became a collaborative effort with local citizens, philanthropic organizations, county and state officials, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PAFBC) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife all playing vital roles in the process.

This site is the second public access site, joining the access at Hawley’s Bingham Park. Two additional access sites will join the river trail in the next phase of the project: one in Honesdale at the former Industrial Point (now renamed as Sycamore Point), with construction scheduled to begin March 2024, and another at Indian Orchard. 

Rodgers and Genzlinger accompanied officials from the PAFBC while evaluating about a dozen sites and said, “It was Fish and Boat that said, ‘This is perfect; this is less than perfect.’ Out of the potential sites, we picked the best of the best.”

The river group employed Woodland Design Associates and specifically Jason Wood, whose work was to make the group’s vision a reality. Wood will also design the Sycamore access site.

Tim Schaeffer, executive director of the PAFBC, said, “What the water trails are doing statewide is making outdoor recreation relevant, and it’s making water quality relevant to local communities. The Lackawaxen River will be more relevant to Honesdale and Hawley than it has ever been because of it.”

Dan Corrigan, owner of Northeast Wilderness Experience, said that the White Mills site is about 5.5 miles from Honesdale and 4.5 miles from Hawley, and with few areas of swiftly flowing water, it is especially friendly to novice boaters. “The nice thing about the Lackawaxen River is that it’s a smaller river, so the wildlife seems to be a lot closer to you.” 

Just minutes before, a bald eagle flew over the ribbon cutting.

According to Corrigan, depending upon water conditions, the trip from Sycamore Point in Honesdale to the White Mills access takes about an hour and a half, then another 45 minutes or so to get to Hawley.

Tiffany Schemitz Dzwieleski expressed her appreciation of the results of the work done and how her father, Rudy Schemitz—former owner of the park complex in White Mills—would have loved how the access site turned out.