ABOUT THE FILM
Stunod Pictures proudly presents Engagement, writer-director Jason Prugar’s entry into Fox’s On The Lot competition.
Missy Prugar (Jason’s wife in real life) stars as a woman who’s impatiently waiting for her boyfriend, who has a habit of being late. Jason Prugar also stars in the film as the boyfriend, who is indeed late, but as he shows her, he had a very good reason for it.
The film was shot on location in one day at Fountain Hill’s historic Lechauweki Springs Summer Resort Park.
ABOUT LECHAUWEKI SPRINGS RESORT
In September, 1893, the citizens of the village of Fountain Hill petitioned the Lehigh County Court to allow them to organize as a separate municipality. The Court handed down a favorable opinion; and, on November 13, 1893, the village was incorporated as the Borough of Fountain Hill.
While houses were being built in the portion of Fountain Hill which was originally incorporated as a borough, two recreational facilities were built in the portion of present-day Fountain Hill which had been annexed from Salisbury Township. One was a nine-hole golf course. The other recreational facility was the Lechauweki Springs Summer Resort which was built by John Smylie, Jr. This famous mountain resort, whose name is the Indian word for the Lehigh River, had three hotel buildings that were situated on a 63-acre tract. Beginning in 1876 the resort, which up to then had operated summers only, opened its doors year-round. In August 1876, 140 people had checked in. A horse-drawn coach, lemon in color with a silk crimson interior, had shuttled patrons from Bethlehem to the resort. The buildings, of Victorian architecture, had a capacity of 120. Each building had three floors and wraparound porches. The bedrooms were said to be large and airy. Private cottages were nearby. Three observatories placed on the side of the mountain gave visitors views of the surrounding countryside. For all this, guests paid, in 1875, $2.50 each day, and $12.50 each week, in May and June. In July and August, the lodging fees jumped to $3 each day, and $15 each week.
The
large main building was built midway up a slope covered with ferns and
wildflowers. A second, smaller building was nearby. Below the slope stood the
third building. Near it was a spring, still flowing. The water had flowed
through three large ponds, which were filled with trout and arranged in a way
that allowed the water to cascade as it passed through. The water emptied into a
small lake, an arbor in its center. The water was a key to the resort's success.
In 1880 the hotel was fitted with pipes to draw from the springs, and an 1876
advertisement had made much of the water's supposedly medicinal properties:
"The agreeable taste of this water is mainly due to the nitrates contained
in it and has been found remarkably beneficial in kidney and nervous affections.
For dyspepsia and bowel complaints it is unequaled." Alas, business at
Lechauweki Springs cooled off. Newspaper accounts said that business was
"only fair" in 1881-82 and that no guests had checked in during 1883.
Only local residents stopped by.
Sometime
in the early 1890s, a fire destroyed the resort. Not much is known how the fire
started. The archaeological evidence suggests it was a bad one.
Ten
years after the fire, the property was sold and subsequently used to bottle and
sell the spring water. Little evidence remains of the Crystal Water Co., which
operated on the site. In later years the water from the springs was piped to
nearby homes, but this practice stopped several years ago when Fountain Hill
began to get its water from Bethlehem's supply.
The
gazebo that stands on the site of the Lechauweki Springs
Resort, where Engagement was filmed.