this was my main goal today, having first read about it on weirdnj.com. i’m not going to go into the history of the place since that article does a really good job (jiving with what an older local lady i ran into said). (if you check out that article, sadly, the main gates are not there anymore; the lady told me they were stolen two years ago. also, the buildings are still covered in profanity. a little creepy!)
an update on the location, since it’s not clear from that original source. it said to turn at the old cemetery, but if you turn towards the cemetery, you’re going in the wrong direction. what you want to do is go down 517 east of Interstate 80, turning down Stuyvesant Road towards this pub (which, the lady said, was really sketch). continue past the pub about 3/4 of a mile or so (it’s a very poorly-kept road) and you can’t miss the site on your left.
[googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=pub+near+Allamuchy+Township,+NJ&aq=1&oq=pub,+allamuchy,+&sll=40.90508,-74.676304&sspn=0.055464,0.132093&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=pub&hnear=Allamuchy+Township,+Warren,+New+Jersey&fll=40.944056,-74.795651&fspn=0.027716,0.066047&st=115968771510351694523&rq=1&ev=zo&split=1&ll=40.943683,-74.79887&spn=0.00778,0.013733&z=16&output=embed&w=640&h=480]
the property, as far as i can tell, is part of the Allamuchy (which i learned from the lady is pronounced like the name Al + luh + MOO-chy like smoochy) Mountain State Park, so you’re not trespassing, but again, do not quote me on that. the lady (who was hiking with snazzy walking sticks and all) didn’t seem shocked that i was there and was wondering what publication the pictures i told her i was taking would end up in (HA!).
there are two main groups of buildings, one at the base of the hill and one up the hill past the columns where the gates used to be.
lower
upper
(yes, there really is [as of today] a motorboat up there…)
a panorama of some of the upper buildings:
