Old Lodge – An Abandoned House in New York State

Old Lodge was built around 1890 in Tomkins Cove, New York, USA and has been a hotel and private residence over the years. There are also reports that the building once served as a children’s camp however there appears to be no recent records and the house lies abandoned and derelict.

Old Lodge is in an extremely bad state of disrepair.

Not much information can be found in research about the building however it now seems to be in a very dangerous state. As seen in the photos, the ceilings are crumbling, right along with the structure itself. Therefore entering the building is not advised and urban explorers are urged to keep away. Similar abandoned buildings exist in the nearby countryside making for an eerie location. It is not far up river from the hamlet of Sleepy Hollow, famous as the home of Washington Irving’s Headless Horseman.

Tomkins Cove itself is located north of New York City near Bear Mountain State Park. The village began life as a lime mine and was named after its founders Calvin and Daniel Tomkins. They purchased 20 acres of land in 1838 having spotted the potential in the area for making lime. The village of Tomkins Cove grew around the lime mine and was given its present name when the post office opened. It was once said that Tomkins Cove had the purest limestone in the the world.

The Hudson River National Defence Reserve Fleet as seen from the shore.

The Hudson River Reserve Fleet, commonly known as the Mothball Fleet, was anchored on the river nearby. Following World War II, the US Navy needed somewhere to store vessels and so they were anchored from Jones Point Dock to the Boulderberg House at Tomkins Cove. Some ships were returned to service during the Korean and Vietnam wars, as well as during the Suez Crisis of 1956. The last of the vessels were sold for scrap in 1971.

The staircase is in an extremely bad state and is danger of collapsing.

The basement of the building including rusting appliances.

You can see how bad the ceilings are in this picture. Many have already fallen down.

An old, extremely rusty range in Old Lodge.

The building has been vandalised and left open to the elements leading to an extreme state of dereliction.

A bedroom in Old Lodge. The rooms upstairs are quite unsafe.

An old machine left abandoned.

This part of the building is missing its ceiling.

Photos: Tom Slatin  More at: tomslatin.com