My Dad used to tell me about an old farmhouse that his Dad and Mom owned in the Poconos that was 100 years old in the '30s, that had a stream running underneath it, probably a spring, that they would ice their beer in. He never mentioned bears, but that means nothing.
They sold it to buy and rename the Roxy Hotel in Tamaqua. They were living there when I was born. They sold it, and a Madame put it to good use.
Now, it's a vet clinic (St. Francis? South Tamaqua.)
Years ago (~'98), on a trip back there, we saw a dead baby bear alongside the road near Summit Hill. We slowed to look, but I didn't let the kids get out (wise move?).
My Mom grew up in Summit Hill, and played everywhere, and never mentioned bears. She was born in '29, and Dad in '26. When I spent summers in SH in the '60s, my cousins never mentioned bears, or we would have looked for them. Had the bears been hunted out then ('30s and '40s), and have since made a comeback due to hunting law changes?