The history of The Silver Birches is really the history of the Ehrhardt family.
A story of forging hard work, hope and values into a tradition - a tradition that has held for 50 years, a tradition of warm hospitality, uncontrived friendship, good food, and pleasant times to the many guests that have made The Silver Birches home for a time each year, a home they return to year after year.
The journey begins in 1943 when George and Marjorie Ehrhardt purchased The Silver Birches Inn from Marjorie's sister and brother-in-law, George and Rachel Singer. Up until that time, the property consisted of a small farm house built in 1904 by Charles Singer, Rachel's father-in-law. It had five bedrooms, a barn, a pig pen and a chicken coop. her father-in-law sold eggs and various produce from its large garden. It was large enough to be a farm.
For three years, George Singer watched as the man-made Lake Wallenpaupack and its dam were created. In 1929, he decided to build an Inn to service the visitors who vacationed in the tranquil peace of the lake and its surroundings.
Each year as the income from room rentals allowed, they would plow back the proceeds into the business.
The old barn became the first cottage. The kitchen was enlarged and by 1931, the Inn consisted of a cluster of 14 rooms and three baths. A suspicious character from the Wilkes-Barre area had opened a small roadhouse near the Inn and named it The Marine Terrace which eventually became Ehrhardt's Lakeside Restaurant.
Marjorie married George Ehrhardt in 1929 and purchased the in from her sister and brother-in-law in 1943. George worked at the Newfoundland Garage to earn the down payment. It was named The Silver Birches Inn because of the multitude of white birches that surrounded the main building. "We saw an opportunity. We had a dream," Marjorie says. "We made up our minds to make it a reality. "The first year they hosted 18 guests over the summer season.
George and Marjorie Ehrhardt had a son, Jerry, and as the Lake Wallenpaupack region grew in vacationing popularity, so did The Silver Birches. 
Those years were filled with hard work and savings. George and Marjorie slowly bought small parcels of land around The Silver Birches, some as small as one-eighth of an acre, and Jerry
soon was old enough to help his dad build wooden rowboats to rent to the visiting fishermen. George would work building new cottages while Marjorie would clean and cook for the guest. The rates were $15 a week with three square meals a day.
In 1954, Jerry married Alice Ferris and the newlyweds continued to help Jerry's parents with The Silver Birches. It was around this time, that the Ehrhardts decided to purchase one of the first televisions in the area. It was a Philco and it sat on the front porch for the guests to enjoy.
In the fifties, Jerry got involved with water skiing. He fitted a 25 horsepower motor to an aluminum boat and began teaching the guests the sport. It was an immediate hit. As the years passed, Jerry took more responsibility for operating The Silver Birches and Alice was a schoolteacher. Their sons - Eric, Stephen and Craig were young boys - hunting, fishing and helping out with the motel.
By 1966, the Ehrhardt's added a motel. The Silver Birches now consisted of 21 rooms and cottages and 13 baths as well as air conditioning. But with all the changes, it still remained the same in hospitality and good food. Regular visitors who first stayed at The Silver Birches as young 
newlyweds were now coming back each year with their children and they still welcomed the fact that they knew what would be served each night as they walked past the kitchen on the way to the communal dining room. It was strictly family style before the term was invented.
It remained that way until 1989 when the old dining room was closed and Ehrhardt's Restaurant was expanded. The newer people wanted a choice in menu. Some of the regular guests liked the old way, that familiar feeling the Monday was pork chop night. The change was perhaps one most fraught with concern.
In 1982, the pool was added, and the boys had grown into young men. Eric worked at the Marriott Hotel chain, Craig went to the prestigious American Culinary Institute and Stephen graduated from Dickenson College and went to work at Ponderosa. It was sadly also the year that George, Marjorie's husband passed away.
Unlike the fragile birch trees that once surrounded the Inn, The Silver Birches has grown and remained 
strong. An old wooden Inn in 1943 had become a modern motel totaling over 29 rooms and cottages on 5-1/2 acres with 600 feet of lakefront. It has grown without changing.
Today, the fourth generation of Ehrhardts' are standing in the wings - Jennifer, Ashley, Brett (Eric and Sue's children), Mackenzie and Madison (Stephen and Keely's children) and Raeann and Ryan (Craig and Gina's children) to carry on the tradition just as their parents Eric and Sue, Stephen and his wife Keely, and Craig and wife Gina have done.
Marjorie Ehrhardt, who turned 94 on February 12, 1993 said it was an interesting journey. "I enjoyed it. I was always too busy working then to realize how important it was." The story of The Silver Birches, its people, and history is a tribute to Marjorie and George Ehrhardt who began The Silver Birches tradition of warm hospitality, uncontrived friendship and good food.
