The hotel opened on June 5, 1911, as the Buckwood Inn It was constructed out of concrete, considered unusual for the time, and some of the walls were a foot thick. Author Lawrence Squeri wrote, “Although the Buckwood Inn was adjacent to the Delaware River, only a few steps from the water, its management realized that guests preferred a swimming pool to river bathing.” The golf course at the Buckwood Inn was the first to be designed by
A. W. Tillinghast, a renowned golf course architect. In 1919 the resort was a host site for a
U.S. Women's Amateur won by
Alexa Stirling. Worthington hired “a Scotsman with a flock of sheep and dogs” to keep the fairways trim, but the efforts were not successful. He then designed the gang mower to maintain the golf course, and this led to the establishment of the Shawnee Mower Factory, which sold gang mowers all over the United States.
Jackie Gleason took up golf there in 1944, while
Art Carney,
Lucille Ball,
Ed Sullivan and
Perry Como would make regular appearances at the resort. In 1964 the golf course was expanded from eighteen to twenty-seven holes, with nine new holes designed by
Bill Diddle. Jason Scott Deegan of
Golf Advisor wrote, “Where Tillinghast holes begin and where Diddle ends can be confusing, but they mesh well, nonetheless.” In 1974 he established the Shawnee Village, the first
timeshare development in Pennsylvania.
Bethlehem native Charles Kirkwood purchased the Shawnee Inn in 1977. The nine-hole, par-3 Tillinghast Approach Course, designed by
Tom Doak, opened at the resort in 2006. ==References==