Penthouse — the most prominent confidence on such thing — once called it“a intimate Disneyland . ” It housed a gift shop containing grownup novelty items . A stark - naked statue of Apollo greet visitors in the lobby entry . A “ social director ” was on bridge player to further banter among couple and make off - color antic to tease apart their libido . Its rooms were paries - carpeted and mirror .
It was Cove Haven , and for decades it was the premier Poconos resort destination for newlyweds across the nor'-east . Its popularity was chiefly attributed to two thing : the marketing insightfulness of atomic number 27 - founder Morris B. Wilkins , and the iconic , charmingly tacky hot tub he designed that was influence like a heart .
Cove Haven Resorts
hold to Russian immigrants in 1925 , Wilkins was anunlikely saviorof the honeymoon hospitality industriousness . After a least sandpiper as a submariner in World War II , the Stroudsburg , Pennsylvania aborigine bulge out working as an electrician . byplay move well until Hurricane Diane span up his billet distance and equipment in 1955 , level all of his material commodity . Settling in as a self-employed person , he and pal Harold “ Obie ” O’Brien were working on refurbishment for a Poconos - surface area hotel when they both noticed the accommodation were absolutely awful . The men believed they could do better , so they buy an 18 - elbow room refuge , the Hotel Pocopaupac in Lakeville , in 1958 .
Since the death of the state of war , gas shortages had conduct to more and more honeymooner rent the shorter trip to the Poconos — a four - county areaabout the sizeof Delaware — rather than Niagara Falls . What was missing was a sensory faculty of levity or playfulness . Wilkins and O’Brienchanged the nameof the hotel to Cove Haven and readily began renovating the property so that it might appeal to the increasingly provocative tastes of sixties couples . Ostentatious accents replaced inert colour ; the way , he conceive , would become the star attraction for those seeking a reservation .
But Wilkins involve time . When business was dense , he ’d conserve electricity by carry business meetingsin the dark . And despite his ability to recognize how hospitality would call for to change , it take a few years for him to figure out exactly how .
According to “ Honest ” Phil Policare , Cove Haven ’s " Chief Excitement Officer , " Wilkins and O’Brien had theirepiphanyone nighttime in 1963 , when the two were struggling to cart a pear-shaped hot bathing tub down a flight of stairs . In society to make the turn at the bottom , the men temporarily pushed in one side of the flexible textile and find it resembled a kernel . Other report mention that Wilkins daydream up the notion in the midriff of the night , sketching a heart over a concrete floor .
However he come to the melodic theme , Wilkinspoured concretefor the first six heart and soul - mold tubs himself , with dozens more added as Cove Haven continued to expand to its eventual sizing of236 rooms .
The Sweetheart Tub was tile in cerise , comfortable enough for two , and featured mirrors on the walls . Holy Scripture of sass quick spread , as did Wilkins ’s particular figure aesthetic . shortly , Cove Haven was home to guests — couples only — who come to sightsee the attracter in their quarters : rotary or heart - shaped bottom , multi - level elbow room , and private swimming pond .
Eager to amplify , the partners sold Cove Haven to Caesars Resorts in 1969 . ( O’Brien expire away five years later in a plane wreck . ) Maurice Wilkins promptly opened two more Poconos - area resorts , just in meter for an detonation of popularity after the nub - shaped tub was photographed for a1971Lifemagazine spreadabout the opening of Interstate 80 . The photo was so prescribed that Wilkins had to borrow $ 10,000 the following week just so that he had enough fluid cash to impress more resort brochures .
That single photo inLifehelped make the heart - shaped tub synonymous with honeymoon adjustment , capsulize everything anyone would ever need to experience about the atmosphere in the region . As Wilkins watched his Poconos empire grow through the next few decades , he became screw as the innovator behind the beautifully sentimental honeymooner experience .
With the achiever of the eye - shaped tub drive business , Wilkins came up a more challenging idea : He wanted to install a 7 - foot - tall champagne chicken feed in his suites that could duplicate as a whirlpool . It would be novel , look terrific in advertising , and create a small piece of secret : without a ladder , how could couples even get in ?
Wilkins ’s financiers at Caesars were n’t interested . Theydismissedthe thought as silly and let it percolate in the hotelier ’s headway for nearly a ten before giving in . Debuting in 1984 , the bubbly Methedrine whirlpool became another Poconos and Cove Haven trademark , appearing to be balance on a thin root while distich marinade in the bubbly water . Rooms featuring the methamphetamine were booked as far as 18 calendar month out . ( The mystery to getting in was simple : the life way where it was situate was sunken , and guests would climb in from the 2nd - floor bedroom . )
Business carry on boom through the eighties . Rooms went for $ 380 for two nights , and Wilkins was hailed as a hospitality caption . Heart - mold everything seemed to pervade the Poconos , with a one-fourth of its 16,000 seam hack into the bauble plan .
Then air hose traveling got cheaper , and Vegas get wiser . As airfare go down and room in other destination locations began to resemble the Wilkins model , attendance drop . Several Poconos - area resorts were close down by 1999 , the year Wilkins retired .
Today , roughly 437 heart - shaped raging tubs stay in the three Cove Haven resorts , with an untold number installed around the country . While Wilkins had managed to patent his champagne whirlpool , he was unsuccessful in obtaining the same protective cover for the tub . For $ 2395 , anyone can have one quick to be installed in their own personal lover ’s retreat .
Wilkins croak at age 90 in 2015 . Though he left behind four children , it could be reason he was creditworthy for many , many more .
" I do n’t have intercourse how many babies we ’ve conceived here , " Wilkins toldTheWashington Postin 1988 . " It must be an army . "
