It is one of a handful of Moodus resorts still in business today and the last one to be owned by the same family that started it. Cave Hill Resort offers an updated-but-classic Moodus vacation experience, with plenty of quiet activities for guests in the gracious atmosphere of a family-oriented, rustic country place. Don't expect to find television  in your room, however - that's not the classic Moodus resort way. One longtime visitor to Cave Hiill said, "this is where God comes when he wants a vacation from heaven." 

​

Johanna Pach and her husband Frank founded Cave Hill Camp and Ranch in 1920. Mr. and Mrs. Pach had emigrated from Poland at the turn of the century. While raising nine children – Emilia, Anne, George, John, Joe, Edward, Helen, Evelyn and Steven — they built a small farm, raising cows, chickens, pigs, horses, and acres of vegetable gardens.

 

They began to take in guests by the early 1930s, eventually building a dining hall and kitchen, a two-story cabin with eight rooms, and six other smaller cabins. Mrs. Pach and her daughters cooked three meals each day for their summer guests and served delicious, homemade Polish and American food in a family-style tradition. All the boys maintained the buildings and land.

​

Cave Hill, known as the "Camp," was a place where city-dwellers could enjoy simple pleasures, spending time in the fresh air and wide-open spaces. Camp life was simple too. Guests enjoyed horseback riding, canoeing on the Salmon River, hayrides, hotdog and marshmallow roasts at night, pitching horseshoes, playing tennis, basketball or handball, singing songs around the campfire, or lying in a cozy hammock under a big Maple tree.

 

In 1939, the family introduced a 40 x 100 foot swimming pool, which quickly became the center of attention, especially on those hot, summer days. By the late 1940s, they added three more cabins and a recreation hall, which became the center for nighttime parties and dances. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, two more cabins were built and two motel-style buildings with 14 rooms, all near the swimming pool so guests were only a few hundred feet away from the pleasure of a morning dip.

​

Despite the changes, additions and improvements to Cave Hill through the years, the one constant is that the resort is still operated by the same family, the descendants of Johanna Pach. Three of her grandchildren —JoAnn, Jim, and Nancy (Helen and Sonny's children) are still welcoming guests back to Cave Hill each summer. Having learned well the business, traditions and customs of their parents, aunts and uncles, they continue to make Cave Hill a fun, family-centered and relaxing spot for their guests.