American Youth Hostels charters Innisfree

The River Reporter
Things Are Happening magazine section
Thursday, July 17, 1986, p. 12S

American Youth Hostels
charters Innisfree

MILANVILLE - American Youth Hostels (AYH) a national nonprofit network which provides year-round opportunities for outdoor recreation and inexpensive educational travel, has announced the chartering of the Innisfree Youth Hostel as a new AYH facility in Milanville.

Hosteling is becoming more popular in the United States, but has a long history in Europe. People of all ages find the experience "a unique, friendly, and low-cost way to travel," according to an article in the spring 1986 issue of the AYH magazine, Hosteler's Knapsack.

AYH was incorporated as a membership organization offering opportunities for low-cost lodging and recreation in scenic, cultural, and historic areas.

Innisfree was selected, in part, because of its close proximity to the Skinners Falls rapids, the most popular recreation spot on the Upper Delaware. Hostel manager Tom Rue noted that neither Innisfree nor AYH are affiliated with the National Park Service (NPS), which administers the Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River, where the hostel is located.

Formerly a summer camp for teenagers, Innisfree was purchased in 1970 from Oscar and Vivian Ropke of Milanville, who ran it as a summer boarding house. Then called Hillside Acres, the establishment t was built in the 1940s by Vivian's father, A.J. Thomas, a local poultry farmer. It is presently set up for a sleeping capacity of 50 in warm weather, and 20 in winter.

In a charter dated July 8, AYH designated Innisfree a "supplemental accommodation," meaning that it will have "mixed AYH and non-AYH use. Innisfree will continue to lodge and feed guests who are not AYH members.

Unlike some AYH hostels, Innisfree is a private establishment, owned and operated by a nonprofit corporation. But despite its tax-exempt status, Innisfree will continue to pay local real estate taxes on its Milanville property, as it has since 1970.

AYH publishes an annual Directory of Hostels in the U.S.A., which in the 1986 edition included 268 hostels in 42 states. An AYH membership also serves as a ticket to more than 5000 hostels in the 61 other countries affiliated with the International Youth Hostels Federation (IYHF).

Many U.S. hostels exist side-by-side and in cooperation with national and state parks and historic landmarks, such as at Gettysburg, PA or Pigeon Point Lighthouse in Pescadero, CA. Others are run by one of the 30 regional AYH councils, private citizens, or nonprofit organizations like the YMCA, YWCA or Scouts.

AYH currently operates over 30 hostels on public land around the country, including converted military barracks, lighthouse-keeper's quarters, and former ranger cabins.

Some hostels serve as education centers, museums, or community centers during off-season periods.

Other AYH hostels in this area include the LaAnna Youth Hostel in southern Wayne County, the DeBruce Youth Hostel near Livingston Manor, and the Layton (NJ) Youth Hostel in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

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