I’ve got a soft spot for towns nobody stops in. Northeast Pennsylvania is full of them.
Drive an hour or so north of Scranton into the Endless Mountains and the map goes quiet: river valleys, state forest, boroughs of a few hundred people where the loudest thing all afternoon is a creek running over rock.
These aren’t resort towns. Nobody’s selling you a ticket.
They’re the small, half-forgotten places people mean when they say they want to get away from everything, and I’ve rounded up 25 of the most secluded ones in the region.
Some sit right on the Susquehanna. Some hide on a forested plateau with one road in and out (more on those in a minute).
If you’d rather find an empty trailhead than a busy boardwalk, you’re going to like this list.
25. Dushore: Hidden Mountain Village
Dushore is the closest thing rural Sullivan County has to a downtown, which in practice means a bank, a post office, a couple of restaurants, and the surrounding farms driving in to run errands.
It was built on tanneries and creameries, back when the railroad still hauled local goods out to bigger markets. Most of that industry is long gone.
The town kept going anyway.
What I like is how fast the wilderness takes over once you leave Main Street.
Ricketts Glen State Park (famous for the chain of waterfalls on its Falls Trail) and Worlds End State Park are both a short drive out, so the same streets that handle the county’s day-to-day spill straight into forest.
You come for the quiet, and you stay because there’s a waterfall trail ten minutes away.
Where is Dushore?
North-central Pennsylvania, about 75 miles northwest of Scranton, at the end of a long winding stretch of U.S. Route 220.
Forested ridges and state forest land wrap it on every side, which is most of the reason it still feels hidden.
Miss the turn and you’ll know (there’s not much else out there to confuse it with).
24. Lopez: A Quiet Plateau
Lopez is what’s left after the timber ran out. In the late 1800s it was a logging and sawmill town high in the Endless Mountains, the railroad carrying lumber out of the forests.
When that work dried up most people left, and what remains is a scatter of homes across a forested plateau in Sullivan County (population: not many).
The pull now is everything around it.
Loyalsock State Forest and Ricketts Glen bring in campers and anglers (plus the occasional hiker who’s wandered off the Loyalsock Trail), while Lopez itself stays small and still.
Nobody passes through here on the way to somewhere else. There’s nowhere else to be going, which is sort of the whole appeal.
Where is Lopez?
Up on a high plateau roughly 30 miles west of Wilkes-Barre, reached by State Route 487 as it climbs through ridge and valley. State game lands and quiet woods ring the place.
Sitting that high, with the forest closing in, Lopez feels like somewhere you reach on purpose or not at all.
23. Laceyville: Riverside Calm
Laceyville grew up along the Susquehanna in Wyoming County, a farm town that’s always moved at the speed of the river beside it.
Its main street once had grain depots and general stores serving the valley.
A lot of that has thinned out, though the borough still keeps the surrounding farms in supplies (for the bigger stuff, people drive over to Tunkhannock).
Summer is when the river earns its keep.
Anglers and paddlers turn up for the slow bends, and U.S. Route 6, the long scenic highway that traces the water, brings a trickle of road-trippers through town.
The rest of the year it’s a small farming community getting on with things, which is honestly the appeal.
Where is Laceyville?
On the bank of the Susquehanna, about 50 miles northwest of Wilkes-Barre, strung along U.S. Route 6 where the highway follows the water past farmland and wooded ridge.
Houses gather close to the river, fields and hills behind them. It was shaped by the river and never felt much need to grow past it.
22. Forksville: A Covered Bridge Haven
Forksville sits where Little Loyalsock Creek meets Loyalsock Creek in Sullivan County, and for a town of barely a hundred people it punches above its weight on charm.
The 1850s covered bridge still carries traffic over the water. The Forksville General Store still sells you a sandwich and a fishing license under one roof.
Sawmills and tanneries built the place; tourists keep it going now.
The reason most people find Forksville is Worlds End State Park, right next door, with its cliffs, swimming hole, and trails along the Loyalsock.
Come in October when the gorge turns and you’ll see why the campsites book out.
Come on a wet Tuesday in March and you might have the whole valley to yourself (I’d take the Tuesday).
Where is Forksville?
Tucked into the Endless Mountains about 60 miles northwest of Scranton, reached by State Route 87 as it bends along the creek.
Worlds End State Park is minutes away, steep wooded ridges on all sides. Between the covered bridge and the water, it’s one of those corners that feels older than it is.
21. Wyalusing: Rolling Hills Hideaway
Wyalusing is busier than most towns on this list, which is relative when we’re talking the Endless Mountains.
It’s long been the commercial stop for the farms around it in Bradford County, sitting above the Susquehanna where Route 6 rolls through.
Dairy farms and crop fields still anchor the economy, with some manufacturing and (more recently) Marcellus Shale gas money in the mix.
For travelers the draw is the setting more than the town: river on one side, rolling farmland and wooded ridges all around, and a walkable old main street with banks, diners, and a couple of places worth a stop.
It’s a good base if you want a real town with services but still want the quiet to start the moment you drive out of it.
Where is Wyalusing?
Bradford County, on the bank of the Susquehanna about 25 miles southeast of Towanda, on U.S. Route 6 as it winds through farmland and ridge. Rolling hills and old buildings frame it.
Small enough to feel apart, big enough to fuel up and grab lunch.
20. Nicholson: Historic Trestle Town
You don’t forget your first sight of the Tunkhannock Viaduct.
The concrete railroad bridge towers over Nicholson in Wyoming County, ten arches of it, finished in 1915 and still one of the largest of its kind.
The town more or less grew up in its shadow, first on rail work and farming, later on commuting and small trade.
Once a year the Nicholson Bridge Day festival fills the streets with vendors and people craning their necks at the viaduct.
The rest of the time you can fish Tunkhannock Creek, hike the nearby hills, or just stand under that span and feel very small.
For a roadside stop on U.S. Route 11, it delivers a genuine wow.
Where is Nicholson?
In a valley along Tunkhannock Creek, about 25 miles northwest of Scranton, on U.S. Route 11 where the road follows the creek through farmland and hill.
The viaduct is the landmark you’ll see first and remember longest. Quiet valley, big bridge, not much else, and that’s fine.
19. Monroeton: Creekside Refuge
Monroeton started as a mill town on Towanda Creek in Bradford County, the water turning sawmills and gristmills before farming took over.
Today it’s small and practical: a few shops, a garage or two, families who mostly commute to Towanda or Sayre for work. Nobody’s pretending it’s a destination.
What it is, is a quiet creekside stop on the way into the Endless Mountains, the kind of place hunters and anglers pass through and travelers blow past without realizing they should’ve slowed down.
The hills hold it close. If you want nothing happening, in the best sense, Monroeton obliges.
Where is Monroeton?
Bradford County, about 5 miles south of Towanda where Towanda Creek winds through the hills, on U.S. Route 220. Farmland and forest on every side.
Down in its little valley, it feels like the landscape is keeping it tucked away on purpose.
18. Noxen: Mountain Gateway
Noxen sits along Bowman’s Creek in Wyoming County, a village built on timber and tanning bark back when the forests around it were the whole economy.
Those industries faded, and people made do with farming, small trades, and jobs over in Tunkhannock, Dallas, or Wilkes-Barre. The diners and garages that are left still serve the community.
For an outdoors traveler this is good ground.
Bowman’s Creek is solid trout water, state game lands run right up to the edge of the village, and the roads in climb through proper mountain country.
Noxen works best as a gateway: somewhere to base yourself before you disappear into the woods for the day.
Where is Noxen?
About 30 miles northwest of Wilkes-Barre on State Route 29, which winds through farmland and forested valley to get there. Bowman Creek and state game lands box it in with streams and rugged hill.
Out here the roads go quiet and the trees take over.
17. Lawton: Pastoral Stillness
Lawton barely registers as a town, and that’s the appeal.
It’s a farming village in Susquehanna County, the sort of place that grew up around a post office, a general store, and the dairy farms spread across the surrounding hills.
Most folks who work elsewhere drive to Montrose or Towanda for it.
There’s no attraction here, no big draw, just open fields running up into wooded ridgelines and a stillness that’s hard to find on a map anymore. Hunters and anglers know the back roads.
If you’re the type who’d pull over to photograph a barn in good light, Lawton will keep you busy for an hour and you’ll pass maybe two cars doing it.
Where is Lawton?
A rural village in Susquehanna County, about 12 miles northwest of Montrose on State Route 267, a country road that threads the valleys and little creeks. Lightly settled, mostly farmland and forest.
The countryside sets the pace, and the pace is slow.
16. Meshoppen: Riverbend Quiet
Meshoppen is a river town through and through, set on the Susquehanna in Wyoming County where milling, lumber, and farming first put it on the map.
The river and then the railroad made it a place to move grain and timber. These days it’s farms, a bit of manufacturing, some Marcellus gas work, and people commuting toward Tunkhannock or Scranton.
The river is the reason to come. It bends right past town, good for fishing and an easy paddle, with wooded ridges rising behind the rooftops.
Main Street has the basics and not much fuss. It’s a comfortable, lived-in kind of quiet, a town that sits between the water and the hills and doesn’t ask for your attention.
Where is Meshoppen?
Wyoming County, on the Susquehanna about 40 miles northwest of Wilkes-Barre, on U.S. Route 6 as it follows the river’s bends through farmland and slope.
The streets sit close to the water, ridges at their back. River in front, mountains behind, that’s Meshoppen.
15. Ulster: Riverside Hamlet
Ulster is a small river settlement in Bradford County, strung along the Susquehanna where the floodplain is flat and fertile.
People here farmed and traded and used the river to move it all, and the rhythm hasn’t changed much. Agriculture still leads, with some gas-industry jobs added in the last decade or so.
It’s barely more than a hamlet, which is exactly what makes it worth a slow drive.
The river is right there for fishing or kayaking, open countryside and rolling ridge all around, and the kind of wide quiet that makes you ease off the gas without deciding to.
Don’t expect services. Expect calm.
Where is Ulster?
Bradford County, on the Susquehanna about 8 miles north of Towanda, reached by following U.S. Route 220 as it traces the river through fields and wooded hill. River flats and ridges frame it.
Set off from the bigger towns, it holds onto its quiet.
14. Great Bend: Borderland Retreat
Great Bend earned its name from the sharp turn the Susquehanna takes here in Susquehanna County, right up near the New York line.
It was a river-and-rail town first, a trade stop, and then Interstate 81 came through and rewired everything: truck traffic, travelers, gas stations, and a lot of people commuting to Binghamton across the border.
So it’s busier and more connected than the deep-mountain villages on this list, but the setting still delivers, with low ridges, farmland, and that big river bend defining the whole valley.
Treat it as a comfortable, well-placed base: services and the highway on one hand, quiet countryside and the New York border country on the other.
Where is Great Bend?
A borough in Susquehanna County right at a bend of the Susquehanna near the New York state line, about 10 miles north of Montrose, with Interstate 81 running straight through the valley.
Ridges, farmland, and the river set the scene. A quiet gateway between Pennsylvania and New York.
13. Montrose: Hilltop Retreat
Montrose is the grown-up of the bunch, the county seat of Susquehanna County and its civic heart since the dairy-and-tannery days.
The courthouse square anchors a real downtown of shops, cafes, and old homes, with government offices, schools, and a hospital giving people steady work.
For a small mountain town it has a surprising amount going on.
It earns its place on a secluded-towns list through location and elevation: it sits up high near the headwaters of the Susquehanna, ringed by rolling hills and forest, with long views in every direction.
Come for the summer festivals or the historic streets, stay because it’s an easy, handsome base for exploring the Endless Mountains.
Where is Montrose?
The county seat of Susquehanna County, about 30 miles northwest of Scranton, up in the Endless Mountains near the Susquehanna’s headwaters. Rolling hills and forested ridge surround it.
The hilltop setting gives it wide views and a calm, small-town air.
12. Shunk: Forest Enclave
Shunk is about as off-grid as this list gets, an unincorporated speck in Sullivan County buried in the hills of the Endless Mountains.
It boomed briefly on lumber in the 1800s, when sawmills and tanneries ran hard and logs floated down the creeks. The timber went, the people mostly followed, and the forest closed back in.
What’s left is hunting camps, a few hardy year-rounders, and some of the deepest seclusion in northern Pennsylvania. Loyalsock State Forest is right there.
The overlooks are spectacular, and almost nobody sees them. Bring what you need, because the nearest real supplies are 15 miles off in Dushore and Shunk isn’t going to provide.
Where is Shunk?
An unincorporated community in Sullivan County on Pennsylvania Route 154, about 15 miles southwest of Dushore and hard against Loyalsock State Forest. Heavy woods, creeks, hollows, and scenic overlooks all around.
Remote, Appalachian, and quiet in a way that’s getting rare.
11. Little Meadows: Borderline Seclusion
Little Meadows perches in the far northwest corner of Susquehanna County, close enough to the New York line that plenty of locals cross it for work.
It’s always run on farmland and forest, dairy herds and small mills and family homesteads, and that backbone still holds even as jobs have moved to nearby towns.
The village center is the gathering point, a handful of businesses and community events that keep things ticking. Hunting, fishing, and a lot of rolling countryside give it a light dusting of tourism.
It’s quiet and out of the way, yet Binghamton, New York is only about 10 miles off, which is a rare combination: real seclusion with a city’s worth of services close by.
Where is Little Meadows?
A small borough in the northwest corner of Susquehanna County near the New York state line, about 10 miles southeast of Binghamton, set among forests, farms, and country roads.
Rolling hills and woods all around. A tucked-away village right on the Pennsylvania-New York border.
10. Hillsgrove: Wilderness Retreat
Hillsgrove has a population somewhere around 200 and is swallowed almost whole by Loyalsock State Forest in Sullivan County. That’s the draw.
The town is a small clearing in a huge expanse of green, with forestry and a bit of farming about the extent of the local industry, and barely any commercial development to speak of.
For hiking, fishing, and camping it’s hard to beat, with the Loyalsock and its trails right on the doorstep and very little else competing for your attention.
Nights here are dark and properly quiet, the kind broken only by whatever’s moving around in the woods.
If you want wilderness without giving up the feeling of somewhere to come back to, Hillsgrove fits.
Where is Hillsgrove?
Sullivan County, in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, surrounded by state forest that acts as a buffer from any larger town.
You reach it on a scenic stretch of PA Route 87 that feels like a slow step backward in time. Remote enough that disconnecting isn’t a choice, it’s just what happens.
9. Mehoopany: Remote River Valley
Mehoopany, around 900 people, spreads along the Susquehanna in Wyoming County with the kind of big lots and elbow room that make it feel even emptier than it is.
Farming leads the economy, plus some light industry (there’s a large paper-products plant nearby), but the lasting impression is space: wide properties, river views, hills rolling off in every direction.
Outdoors is the whole pitch. Fish or kayak the Susquehanna, hike the surrounding ridges, watch the wildlife that the low development leaves room for.
It sits well off the major highways, so the people who make it here are mostly the ones who meant to. That self-selection is part of why it stays so peaceful.
Where is Mehoopany?
Wyoming County, along the Susquehanna, ringed by forest and farmland that keep it off the main routes.
You can reach it on PA Route 87 from the nearby towns, but the drive makes sure only the people who want the quiet bother. The remoteness is the point.
8. Rome: Countryside Solace
Rome is a Bradford County borough of roughly 400, and it’s about as country-Pennsylvania as it gets: big open farmland stretching to the horizon, agriculture running the show, and almost no traffic to interrupt it.
There are no commercial zones crowding in, no rush, just a small grid of streets surrounded by fields.
The pleasure here is the sense that time slowed down and forgot to start again. Local markets, a few historic buildings, neighbors who know each other.
It’s not putting on a show for anyone. For a traveler chasing real rural quiet rather than a manufactured version of it, Rome is the genuine article.
Where is Rome?
Bradford County, up in the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania, miles from any city or major highway.
You get there on a scenic run of U.S. Route 6 and then smaller county roads winding through the farmland. The drive itself does most of the work of leaving the world behind.
7. Friendsville: A Quiet Hamlet
Friendsville is tiny, about 100 people, tucked near the Pennsylvania-New York border in Susquehanna County. Farming is the mainstay and always has been, with rolling hills and open fields wrapping the handful of streets.
The charm is in the smallness and the way everyone knows everyone, which is harder to find than it used to be.
There’s no real attraction, and that’s rather the point. Family-owned farms, a couple of historic sites, woodland and pasture holding it apart from the next town over.
If your ideal trip involves a slow drive, a thermos, and nowhere you have to be, Friendsville delivers a hamlet that hasn’t bothered to change.
Where is Friendsville?
Susquehanna County, near the Pennsylvania-New York border, insulated by the woodlands and farms around it.
You’ll likely arrive on a rural road like PA Route 858, which adds to the sense that you’ve found something.
The reward at the end is a true countryside hamlet, well clear of the noise.
6. Hop Bottom: Valley of Tranquility
Hop Bottom, about 300 people, sits in a sheltered valley in Susquehanna County with a creek running through and hills on either side keeping the noise out.
The name’s a leftover from its hop-growing days; the industry’s long gone, and what replaced it is mostly quiet. Low density, plenty of room, an easy pace.
It’s the valley setting that sells it. The surrounding hills muffle the outside world, the creek does its thing, and the whole place feels sheltered in the literal sense.
PA Route 167 gets you in without much trouble, but you’d never call it on the way to anywhere. Hop Bottom is for slowing down, and it’s good at it.
Where is Hop Bottom?
Susquehanna County, reached by PA Route 167 yet still comfortably off the beaten track, sheltered in a valley with farmland and forest separating it from busier ground.
The hills wall it off from the noise. The drive in over rolling country sets the tone before you arrive.
5. Damascus: Peaceful Countryside Living
Damascus is a big rural township, around 3,500 people spread thin over a lot of ground in Wayne County, which gives it a roomy, unhurried feel rather than a crowded one.
Gentle hills and wide farmland define it, with agriculture and small businesses doing most of the work, and the Delaware River marking its eastern edge.
That river is the bonus. It runs right along the New York border here, good for fishing and canoeing, with the kind of scenery that makes the drive worth it on its own.
Big lots and light traffic mean you can find a quiet, undisturbed spot almost anywhere inside the township’s sprawl. For countryside with a river thrown in, Damascus is a strong pick.
Where is Damascus?
Wayne County, along the Pennsylvania-New York border with the Delaware River as its eastern edge. You reach it on PA Route 371 or Route 191, both winding through pretty country.
The township’s sheer size means even within its lines there’s plenty of empty, peaceful ground.
4. Starrucca: Woodland Escape
Starrucca is a Wayne County borough of about 200, set deep among forests and rolling hills with almost nothing in the way of development to break the green.
Small-scale farming and forestry are about the extent of the industry, which is exactly what keeps it so hidden. Its namesake creek runs through, good for a quiet hour with a rod.
This is wildlife and birdwatching country, the woods thick enough that you feel tucked right inside them.
There’s no through-traffic to speak of, no commercial strip, no reason to be here except the woods themselves.
For travelers who measure a place by how far they can get from a parking lot, Starrucca scores high.
Where is Starrucca?
Wayne County, off the beaten path on winding country roads like PA Route 1009. Its small size and the dense forest around it keep it isolated from larger towns.
Getting there feels like driving into the middle of the woods, which is more or less what you’re doing.
3. Equinunk: Riverside Serenity
Equinunk is a Wayne County village of roughly 1,500 spread across rural ground along the Delaware River, right on Pennsylvania’s northeastern border with New York.
Housing is sparse, the natural beauty is not, and the river sets the whole mood: fishing, boating, and the easy quiet of life beside moving water.
Small businesses and farming keep things ticking without ever crowding the place.
There’s real history here too. The old general store and the Equinunk Historical Society Museum are worth a look, low-key spots that add character without pulling crowds.
It’s a restful, riverside sort of village, the kind you stumble into and then find reasons to linger in for an afternoon.
Where is Equinunk?
Wayne County, along the Delaware River on the northeastern edge of Pennsylvania, next to New York. You get in mainly on PA Route 191 or Route 370, both meandering through good scenery.
The drive leads you deeper into quiet countryside, which is half the pleasure.
2. Pleasant Mount: Seclusion in the Highlands
Pleasant Mount lives up to the name, a rural community of about 1,400 set high in the hills of Wayne County.
The elevation is the thing: big land parcels, long views, and air that runs a touch cooler than the valleys below.
Agriculture and some logging fit naturally into the surroundings, and there’s little development to clutter the high open country.
For a traveler the payoff is the vistas and the sense of being up above it all, with room to breathe and nobody close by. No commercial bustle, just highland landscape and quiet.
If your idea of a getaway involves a high road, a long view, and a complete lack of anything you have to do, this is your spot.
Where is Pleasant Mount?
Wayne County in northeastern Pennsylvania, reached by PA Route 371 yet kept well clear of the major highways and cities. Its high position and the hills around it give it that secluded, lifted-up feel.
The scenic climb into the highlands is part of the draw, with views opening up the whole way.
1. Lake Como: A Hidden Lakeside Haven
Top of the list, and it earns it.
Lake Como is a Wayne County community of around 300 sitting right on the edge of its namesake lake, wrapped in dense forest and about as peaceful as northeastern Pennsylvania gets.
Most properties run an acre or more, so there’s real privacy, and the local economy leans on tourism and outdoor recreation: fishing, boating, hiking, the usual lakeside pleasures minus the crowds.
What seals it is the seclusion. Thick woodland rings the lake and there’s no major road close by, so the outside world just doesn’t intrude.
Whether you want a long weekend with a canoe or you’re half-wondering what it’d cost to live here, Lake Como is the kind of place that plants the idea. A fitting number one.
Where is Lake Como?
Wayne County, tucked into the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania, screened by surrounding forest and well away from any major road.
You’d take PA Route 247 or Route 370, winding through countryside until the lake appears. The drive through the woods only sharpens the feeling of arriving somewhere hidden.
So that’s my 25.
If you only have time for a couple, I’d point you at Forksville and Worlds End State Park for the scenery, Nicholson for the sheer surprise of that viaduct, and Lake Como if you want to sit by the water and forget what day it is.
Pack a full tank and low expectations for cell signal, and Northeast Pennsylvania will hand you quiet by the bucketload.
