About The River Lodge

The River Lodge is presently a private residence located just north of Harrisburg on a unique stretch of the Susquehanna River, the longest river in eastern United States, where it travels in an easterly direction along the base of Cove Mountain near the Appalachian Trail.  The unique location provides a view south, across a broad expanse of the river to a long island near the opposite bank.  The island and surrounding areas contain nesting eagles, egrets, herons, cormorants, a variety of ducks, geese, and other birdlife which feed nearby.  Because the river flows from the west here, at times there are spectacular sunsets on the water.

Access to the River Lodge is via a rustic, private road, much of which served as the original towpath for mules towing barges along the historic Pennsylvania Canals.  Built before, and ultimately doomed by, the railroad system, the canals were built in the early to mid 1800s to transport Pennsylvania’s vast supply of minerals, lumber and other natural resources to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.  Barges filled with goods or passengers traveled along, but in an opposite direction to, the Susquehanna and included a complex system of locks and aqueducts to handle the mountainous topography.  Remnants of the canal are filled with water most of the year and separate the River Lodge from the nearby Carriage House, also under construction.  Future plans include a walking bridge across the canal, between the two structures.

The River Lodge and surrounding properties include walls covered by hand cut brownstones recovered from a mansion that originally stood five miles upstream on “Duncan’s Island,” near Duncannon, PA.  “Duncan’s House”, which included several stone fireplaces and served at various times as a home, tavern house for canal travelers and a home for the aged, was destroyed in 1972 by the Hurricane Agnes flood, the worst on record in Pennsylvania.  Dr. Pentti Nupponen learned of the razed mansion, recovered the stones and brought them to the property.  The stones were sold with the property in October, 2010, to be used in the construction of The River Lodge on the Susquehanna.

The River Lodge is being constructed just a few feet from the bank of the Susquehanna River in Dauphin County.  The Carriage House, with a matching exterior, is under construction across the canal.  There is planned construction for boat access to world class smallmouth bass, walleye and trout fishing.  The property includes the mouth of Clark’s Creek, well known to fly fishermen, which is stocked upstream with rainbow, brook and brown trout.  A few miles north, the Appalachian Trail crosses the Susquehanna River, and there are many other trail heads nearby.  Hershey Park, the Gettysburg battlefields, Lancaster Amish country and other interesting destinations are short drives from the River Lodge.