Governor honors Fauchere owners

Milford — Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell recently honored the owners of the Hotel Fauchere, Richard L. Snyder and Sean Strub, with induction into the Keystone Society for Tourism, the highest honor the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania presents to leaders in the tourism industry. The ceremony was held on May 6,, at a banquet in Gettysburg, as part of the Governor’s Tourism Conference. Snyder and Strub are two of 18 initial inductees into the Keystone Society for Tourism. Another honoree from Northeast Pennsylvania was Scranton Mayor, Chris Doherty, who was recognized for his public sector leadership. The Keystone Society for Tourism was established earlier this year to honor visionaries and leaders in destination marketing and community development. The initial inductees were selected by the Pennsylvania Tourism Office in consultation with the Governor’s Tourism Partnership. “The tourism opportunities in the commonwealth would not be as strong or as diverse without the contributions of these inductees who, through their inspiration, leadership, enterprise, innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit, have enriched the experience of visiting the various regions of the commonwealth,” Governor Rendell said at the ceremony. “These visionaries have had the foresight and motivation to create new products and tourism opportunities and have done so while creating new family-sustaining jobs in the commonwealth,” the Governor said. “They are the keystones of the tourism economy.” The ceremony included presentation of a hand-cast keystone-shaped bronze medallion with the seal of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on the front and the date and individual honoree’s name on the reverse. Honorees were also each presented with a piece of art from a Pennsylvania artist. The Master of Ceremonies at the event was Kathleen Matthews, an executive with Marriott Corporation and the spouse of Chris Matthews, the host of MSNBC’s Hardball. The Hotel Fauchère was recently featured in Travel and Leisure’s edition of The World’s Greatest Hotels, Resorts and Spas citing its “preserved original decorative touches such as chestnut floors and a walnut-and-mahogany banister” and naming its guest rooms a “contemporary retreat with rain showers, radiant-heat floors and Frette linens.” Conde Nast Traveler, Elle Décor, Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel, Food Arts, American Heritage and many other travel and culinary media leaders have recognized the meticulous restoration, exquisite cuisine and attentive service of the historic Hotel Fauchère. The Hotel Fauchère opened in the mid-19 century by Louis Fauchère, the Swiss-born French-speaking master chef at New York City’s world-famous Delmonico’s restaurant. Run by the Fauchère family for 125 years, the Fauchère guest book registry reads as a veritable “Who’s Who” of the 19 and 20 centuries including such luminaries as Robert Frost, Sarah Bernhardt, President Theodore Roosevelt, President Franklin Roosevelt, President John F. Kennedy, General William Tecumseh Sherman, Franz Liszt, Jr., and captains of industry such as Henry Ford, the Carnegies and the Rockefellers. Early film pioneer D.W. Griffith shot several of his silent epics in the area, and was thus a regular of the Fauchère, along with many early stars of the silver screen, including Dorothy and Lillian Gish, Pearl White, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin. The hotel reopened in the summer of 2006 after a five-year restoration which adhered to rigorous U.S. Department of the Interior historic guidelines. The result is the transformation of a derelict building into an architectural gem at the center of the Pike County seat.