In 1958 Wilkins and his partner Harold O'Brien purchased Hotel Pocopaupack on the banks of Lake Wallenpaupack in Lakeville, Pennsylvania. They renamed the hotel Cove Haven and marketed it as a couples-only resort. In 1963 Wilkins invented the heart-shaped bathtub as a way to generate more honeymoon business at the hotel. The tubs cost $3,000 to make and install. Wilkins built the first six tubs himself, pouring concrete into a heart-shaped mold and covering them with red tile. He stated, "I felt that the bathroom was the great neglected honeymoon accommodation. There was already action in the bedroom, but I thought there could be action in the bathroom, too." In January 1971 Life magazine featured a two-page photograph of a couple smooching in one of the red-tiled "sweetheart tubs" at Cove Haven. They described it as "affluent vulgarity."
