About this city
Also known as: Switzerland of America, Gateway to the Poconos
Jim Thorpe is a breathtaking, architecturally spectacular mountain borough serving as the county seat of Carbon County, dynamically nestled within a deep, steep-sided gorge of the Lehigh River in eastern Pennsylvania. Originally founded in 1818 as Mauch Chunk ('Bear Mountain'), the town grew into an immense, wildly wealthy coal shipping powerhouse fueled by the historic Lehigh Valley railroad empire and Switchback Gravity Railroad. In 1954, the borough combined with neighboring towns and renamed itself to honor legendary Native American Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe, purchasing his remains for a grand monument. Today, Jim Thorpe is universally heralded as the 'Switzerland of America' due to its dramatic mountain topography and an immaculate, fairytale downtown lined with towering Victorian brick mansions.
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Practical Tourism Metadata
Suggested stay: 1–2 days
Ride the vintage coaches of the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, tour the opulent 1861 Asa Packer Mansion, mountain bike the spectacular Lehigh Gorge State Park trails, white-water raft down the roaring Lehigh River, and visit the monumental Jim Thorpe Memorial.
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