Shawnee Inn
Shawnee-on-the-Delaware

The original concrete building still stands surrounded by the golf courses. It overlooks the Delaware River and the Worthington State Forest on the New Jersey side of the river.

My room was on the third floor just over the main entrance. I had very patient neighbors who didn't complain about my afternoon violin practice sessions. I had a recital coming up so I brought along my Cricket to continue practicing. The results were not always euphonious, but I was able to make progress with dedicated time that I rarely get at home.

When we arrived, the forest looked pretty bare. By the end of the week, the trees were greener. In front of the inn, the river is wide with several islands. Most of the golf courses are in fact on an island.

Our base of operations was the Waring Room, named for bandleader Fred Waring, a long-time owner of the hotel. We gathered here in the mornings to make our lunchtime sandwiches and stretch before leaving for the hikes. We also had dinners here. A smaller adjacent room was used for special lectures on the history of the area and on the local wildlife.

One afternoon I lucked into a "Golf Cart Tour" of some of the sights on the adjacent island. The fairways are lovely with a collection of trees that had been carefully selected and planted over the years. I forget how many different varieties there were -- some rare.

The resort grows vegetables used in the food service and also maintains several hives of honeybees. The honey is used in the craft brewery to make special ales.

The food was delicious and varied.

The buildings in the background are timeshares that were originally developed by the owner of the Shawnee Inn, but later acquired by Wyndham Hotels. In early 2026 Wyndham abruptly closed the operation. Our guide told us that the Shawnee Inn was attempting to buy the timeshare buildings, but had not reached an agreement. Apparently the timeshare owners were not getting much traction with Wyndham either.

One of the features of the island tour was an eagles' nest. There is supposed to be one of the eagles currently in the nest, but I couldn't see one. The pair has nested here for several years and successfully raised chicks.

The brewery and brewpub attached to the inn makes a variety of beers and ales, including the one using the local honey. One night we had pizza at the brewery. On the final evening there was an open mic night, but I didn't participate in that event.

We had a free afternoon after the nature hike and I took the opportunity to check out the abandoned timeshares and the wildflowers on their maintenance road.

Most of the many violets we saw in the woods were blue, but these were white.

Bluets were abundant around the timeshare units. They were also found throughout our hikes, but in the woods they didn't get as thick as here where they receive more sun.

There were also a few yellow violets along the road.

In the early days of the resort, horse-drawn barges ferried golfers to the island, seen on the left, where the majority of the holes were located. Later a wooden bridge carried golfers and later golf carts, but the bridge had to be assembled at the beginning of the season and disassembled at the end because of flood danger. Even so, it would occasionally be washed out during a spring or summer flood. The resort built this new high bridge in 2023. It even allows golf carts to go both ways -- eliminating a common bottleneck.

A small creek wound through the holes on the mainland. The inn is in the background.

A sign on the bridge said "golf carts only." I chose to believe that was intended to keep cars off the bridge rather than pedestrians. Nevertheless I made sure there was no one watching while I scurried across.

I am ignorant of the etiquette of walking on or near a golf fairway, so I tried to make sure no one was playing a hole before I passed along it.

Although Dutchman's Breeches is a common woodland flower, I only saw them in flower between the fairway above and the river. I did see the distinctive foliage elsewhere, so perhaps this is a warmer micro-climate that has encouraged early blooming.

Elsewhere on our hikes we saw Canadian mayflower, but this is the only patch of mayapple that I encountered. The buds are prominent, but I didn't find any that were in bloom.