“The Brickhouse,” a 90-year-old structure on Rt. 6 East across from SCI Waymart, is set to become a tourist information center administered by the Waymart Area Historical Society.
The Society took possession of the house and three acres on Thursday, April 15, when State Rep. Ed Staback handed the deed and payment for sale to Society president Jane Varcoe.
“This is a historic occasion,” Varcoe stated, surrounded by Society members, prison officials and Wayne County history buffs. “There is so much history related to this property and the surrounding area. It also has sentimental value to me, because it was my home until I was 10 years old.”
It was her home when she was born in 1941, because her father, Willard Richard Varcoe (b. 1903/d. 1985), served as steward of Farview State Hospital, which opened in 1913. “The Brickhouse” was built in 1920 as a dormitory for hospital guards.
The property on which the house and hospital were built was owned by the D&H Railroad Co., which began operating the Gravity Railroad through the property in 1826. The 600-acre Farview Park opened in that area in 1868.
It included 30 acres of picnic grounds, a large pavillion, swings, tennis courts, ball fields, and trails. It became a very popular tourist destination, with visitors transported there on the D&H Railroad from Carbondale and Honesdale.
On the high elevation of Moosic Mountain, the resort was the site of two observation towers 2,300 feet above sea level, which claimed to offer views of the New York and New Jersey borders on a clear day.
“The Brickhouse” is on a section of the Farview Park property that was once a picnicgrounds. Its popularity is indicated by records kept at the time, which show that in 1893 there were 56,105 visitors, which jumped to 72,345 a year later. When the Gravity Railroad closed in 1899, the park lasted only a few more years.
In 1906, the D&H company sold the property for the hospital and house to the Commonwealth for $5. In February 2008, the house was vacant, and Varcoe and the Waymart Area Historical Society met with Rep. Staback to request state funds that could be used to purchase the property.
“I was able to acquire a $10,000 Legislative Initiative Grant for the purchase,” Rep. Staback explained. “When they told me the history of the house and what they wanted to do with it, I thought it was a very worthy idea.”
Varcoe said the Historical Society will now work to get funding for the restoration of the house as an education center for the history of the area, as well as a ‘gateway’ to other local historic sites.
“The Brickhouse” will add to the other historic site owned and administered by the Wayart Area Historical Society — the D&H Gravity Railroad Depot Museum in Waymart. Built in 1851, it is the last remaining Gravity Railroad depot.

(From the Carbondale News)