THE HOTEL CRITTENDEN

AT THE TRAFFIC LIGHT IN COUDERSPORT

At first glance the Hotel Crittenden on the main intersection in Coudersport Pennsylvania looks impressive. A neat strong clean looking building diagonal from the Potter County Courthouse. You have to stare at it as you wait for the light to change. It takes a while and the building is impressive in this small town anchored by this main intersection.

The hotel is under renovations, and there’s only four rooms available. There are not if any other accommodations in town though. They cater to the star gazing crowd at Cherry Springs State Park and on promising days when the weather looks like it will hold the hotel brims with people.

The Taproom offers an array of good beers and a menu that has a lot more on it than just hamburgers and normal pub food. There’s a smoker in the courtyard outback and the first night Janet had a brisket sandwich and I went for the pulled pork. It was very good. The second night we were there was Taco Night and because it was National Tequila Day (isn’t every day?) the bartender Kayla gave us healthy pours of Cuervo Gold for $2.50.

The room we stayed in has a bit of history. Eliot Ness, of Untouchables fame, met here, as well as in the dining room, with a ghost writer to capture his antics battling Al Capone and the Chicago mob. Ness had come to Coudersport on a business venture and eventually passed away in town in 1957. Such is the Untouchables myth that this year the first Eliot Ness Fest was held the weekend before we arrived. The festival was so well attended that the Hotel Crittenden ran out of food. The proprietor phoned us as we were driving through the fierce rains that if we arrived and she was gone, she was out getting more food.

It was a good place to stay.

THE HOTEL CRITTENDEN