Zane Grey Museum, part of the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River park

Zane Grey was a prolific author of westerns and outdoor adventure novels. Born in 1872 in Zanesville, Ohio, Grey first came to Lackawaxen to fish and enjoy the outdoors in his early 20s after setting up a dentistry practice in New York. It is here that he met his future wife, Lina “Dolly” Roth. She encourage his desire to be a writer, and his first novel was published in 1903. By 1905 he had left the dentistry business to focus on writing full time. This same year he and Lina were married.

The Greys moved into the house that now serves as the Zane Grey Museum in 1912 as renters, then purchased it in 1915. By then, Grey often traveled to the western United States, and three years later they moved to California, though they kept the Lackawaxen house. Grey’s last visit to Lackawaxen was in 1929.

While in California, Grey became involved in the movie industry. Nearly 100 films were made from his novels and stories, with most being produced in the 1920s and 30s. He even had a TV show named after him in the 1950s, Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theatre. Many of the episodes were based on his novels.

Grey died in 1939, and in 1945 Dolly sold the Lackawaxen house to Helen James, the daughter of a long-time friend. She turned it into the Zane Grey Inn and operated it for 25 years. When the inn closed in the early 1970s, James reopened the house as the Zane Grey Museum to display her collection of Grey memorabilia and books. The museum was purchased in 1989 by the National Park Service.

In addition to being a museum, the Zane Grey Museum is where visitors to the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River can get brochures and other information about the park, begin a trip down the Delaware River from the boat ramp on the property, and get their National Park Service passport books stamped. When the museum is closed, the stamp is left on the front porch. Be sure to change the date on the stamp to the correct date.

The Zane Grey Museum is typically open for guided tours given by the National Park Service on Thursdays through Sundays from 10 AM to 4 PM starting around Memorial Day and continuing through Labor Day. Be sure to get the latest schedule on the National Park Service’s Operating Hours and Seasons web page for the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River.

For GPS directions to the museum, use 135 Scenic Drive, Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania.