In the spring of 1890, Charles St. John, a businessman and newspaper publisher from Port Jervis, New York, built the High Point Inn, which opened in June that year on a bluff overlooking Lake Marcia with views of the summit above and the Delaware River Valley below. At this grand hotel, vacationers played croquet, lawn tennis, cards, and billiards, danced to the resident orchestra, and went swimming, boating, fishing, hunting, and hiking. Although its remote location made access difficult, it operated for almost twenty years before St. John was forced to file for bankruptcy and the inn became the property of the National Bank of Port Jervis.