The lieutenant governor’s swimming pool will reopen for public use after a year-long closure due to COVID-19.
The home, located along Route 934 on the grounds of Fort Indiantown Gap, was previously used as the Pennsylvania governor’s summer home until 1971, when it was converted for use by the lieutenant governor. However, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman announced in 2018, before taking office, that he would not use the State House, as it’s commonly known.
The three-story, 2,400-square-foot stone house, built in the early 1940s, stands behind a gated entrance within Fort Indiantown Gap. The home has a staff and annually costs taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to operate and maintain.
The house and pool were turned over to the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and, in 2019, the pool was opened to the public.
Second Lady Gisele Fetterman accepted requests from nonprofits, summer camps and organizations that serve groups that normally wouldn’t have access to a swimming pool to be guests at the facility to swim that year. She also oversaw a water safety education program at the pool.
But the coronavirus pandemic shuttered the program in 2020.
Now it’s back. According to the lieutenant governor’s office, Fetterman said he and his wife believe “that if our children are welcome to swim in this pool, so should every other child in Pennsylvania.”
Read More: Lt. Governor’s house holds memories, has long tradition of public use
Accordingly, Pennsylvania’s Second Lady is again accepting requests for the pool’s use beginning July 6.
She thanked the DMVA for restoring the program, noting that, “because of their support, children who have no other opportunity to use a swimming pool will learn how to swim in a huge, beautiful pool at a historic estate.”
Gisele Fetterman was motivated to create a water safety program in part because of statistics showing high rates of fatality from drowning among certain demographics.
The facility includes a small picnic pavilion and a utilities house with rustic changing rooms and bathrooms, according to a recent report.
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