Part II: Scouting An Abandoned Mental Asylum – A Visit To The Rockland Psychiatric Center

This is Part 2 of the Scouting NY tour of Rockland State Psychiatric Hospital, a 600-acre abandoned mental asylum complex in Orangeburg, NY. Be sure to check out Part 1 here!

Construction of Rockland State Psychiatric Hospital began in 1927 on a 600-acre plot in rural Orangeburg, NY. Below, the Male Reception Building in its prime…

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…and today:

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Very little has changed on the complex since its construction. In most cases, it’s only the overrun foliage that gives it away as abandoned. Below, building 19 then…

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…and its twin, Building 18, now:

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I love little details from a bygone era, like this TV antenna…

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Also hidden behind a tangle of vines…

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A sign identifying the building:

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>>>Continue reading “Part II: Scouting An Abandoned Mental Asylum – A Visit To The Rockland Psychiatric Center”

If You Like Scouting NY, PLEASE Sign This Petition! – The Fight for 35 Cooper Square

You know 35 Cooper Square, right?

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Sure you do. It’s that cute little building hidden in the shadow of the modern Cooper Square Hotel, a building best described architecturally as having been inspired by Optimus Prime’s phallus.

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If you had passed it . . .

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A Snowstorm In Brooklyn

So New York’s latest snowstorm (that’s five so far!) is in full force. I ran out a few minutes ago to take some pictures for those who aren’t lucky enough to be here to enjoy it. :)

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In a string of bad snow storms, I’d say this . . .

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A Grave Matter

Part 2 of the Rockland State Psychiatric Hospital tour will be up on Monday, and there’s a lot of cool stuff yet to see, so be sure to check back. In the meantime, had a quick question…

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I was in a Jewish cemetery recently, and noticed this box in front of one . . .

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Scouting An Abandoned Mental Asylum: A Visit To The Rockland Psychiatric Center, Part 1

I gotta admit, when I see a pair of worn iron gates…

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…what looks like an abandoned property in the distance…

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…and the side entrance slightly ajar…

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…ancient, rusted-over NO TRESPASSING signs might as well say ENTER HERE.

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What I didn’t realize is that these gates surround a massive, 600 acre insane asylum from the 1920′s – and nearly all of it abandoned.

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(huge pan – click for larger sizes!)

This is the Rockland County Psychiatric Center, built in 1927, and “sprawling” does not do it justice. Here’s the facility in its heyday, and yes, that’s its own power plant in the distance:

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At its peak year in 1959, Rockland Psychiatric had 9,000 residents and a staff of 2,000. Today, most of the facility is empty, left to decay as roots and vines slowly overtake it.

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Rockland Psych is one of the most amazing places I’ve ever visited in New York, if for no better reason than it set my imagination firing like crazy.

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Though the buildings may be boarded up, the place is heavy with history, and you can feel it in the air.

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Visiting Rockland Psych is also like taking a trip back in time, as so wonderfully little has changed. Even little details, like these awesome street lights…

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…made me feel I should be driving an old jalopy to pick up my buddy Norman Bates from his weekly session.

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Very few places I’ve been to have offered such an all-encompassing out-of-time experience as simply driving down this long, snow-covered road past boarded up buildings:

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(huge pan – click for larger sizes!)

I couldn’t stop thinking of questions: how many thousands of patients had passed through Rockland Psych during its operation?

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How many had been subjected to primitive, often barbaric treatments like electroshock and lobotomization, both of which were employed at Rockland as “state-of-the-art”?

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And man did it set the mood when I climbed up on this heavily gated porch and peered through a window into a shadowy room…

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…and saw this on a chalk board:

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>>>Continue reading “Scouting An Abandoned Mental Asylum: A Visit To The Rockland Psychiatric Center, Part 1″

Yonkers Fears Oprah Can’t Be Stopped

I’ve been scouting neighborhoods up in Yonkers recently (made all the more fun by kids off from school on a snow day trying to hit me with snowballs – thanks, kids!). As I was driving around last week, I started to notice something strange…

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Someone has been going around and writing “You can’t stop . . .

→ Read More: Yonkers Fears Oprah Can’t Be Stopped