RGP’s 4 Best Ruins to Explore
The title may need a little more context. In this blog, we’ll be discussing the 4 craziest places I’ve been while cleaning trash — aka, doing RGP. When you clean garbage, every day, for going on 2 years, you inevitably stumble into some wild locations. Here they are.
Fort Tilden
Fort Tilden is a former US Army installation located in Queens, NY, on the beach. Meant originally to shoot down enemy ships of some kind, it has since become just a regular old beach. That happens to still have the infrastructure of a military fort under it.
Whereas most beaches just have sand dunes, Fort Tilden has sand dunes with tunnels containing old barracks & infrastructure. If you creep around the trails here you’re liable to find this stuff all over the place. It’s awesome. Especially if you dig a little history, highly recommend checking it out.
If you’ve ever wanted to feel like your life is a movie, this is the spot to go.
Sheldrake Water Pump Station
This one’s a local spot and certainly not one you would’ve heard about if you didn’t know the area. Sheldrake is a nice park between Scarsdale, Larchmont and New Rochelle NY with some trails, a dam and a lake. And also an old water filtration station pictured below.
To the left, out of the picture, there’s a much newer water filtration station that is actually used today. The brick building just sits abandoned. It turns out, however, that you can climb up behind the building and hop in a window. The old desks and tables are still in there, as well as a huge vat on the third floor.
Everything is covered in bird shit.
It’s one of the wildest places we’ve ever been hands down. Definitely not a place to stay long, but definitely a place that makes you feel like you’re looking for lost treasure. Life’s about adventure.
Ken was there.
Abercrombie Mansion
Ever heard of David Abercrombie? He’s the guy from Abercrombie & Fitch. Clearly a big clothes guy, as that’s the industry in which he built his legacy. Having said that, he was also a big Scottish castles guy.
So he had one built to live in. In Ossining, New York.
It sits completely abandoned out there in the woods, covered in graffiti and full of old stuff. There’s been a theme in this article of feeling like you’re in a movie, but in this one you feel like you’re in a horror movie.
The windows are all long shattered, but the house stands yet. There was a serious fire on the premises a number of years back which burnt everything not built to last, but the stone structure has held up remarkably well.
There’s a chapel room, an open courtyard, roof access, a weird orphanage looking room with a bunch of beds in there, and a number of other miscellaneous spots. You can get around via a series of catwalks and ladders. Truly one of the most fascinating spots out there — if you ever find yourself in the NY area, google maps it and go.
Blauvelt State Park
Blauvelt State Park, right by the Hudson River, is essentially just a large forested park which occupies the same location as Camp Bluefield — a military training camp from WW1 days. The tunnels and infrastructure are still there. Feels like something lives down there.
This picture was taken from the top of a tunnel, looking into another tunnel. These tunnels ran underground to protect training soldiers from stray bullets, allowing them to best navigate around the camp. Additionally, I believe there was some concern about the US being attacked during WW1? Seems a bit silly now, but hindsight is 20/20.
The entrance pictured above is the beginning of another old tunnel. Incredibly moist down there. Eerie in every sense of the word. Another spot that needs to be checked out if you’re into history and anything else of that nature.
If we’re going to rank these places as far as Most Haunted, which is valid —
- Abercrombie’s mansion (several fires, checkered past)
- Blauvelt (weird tunnels in the forest, military history)
- Fort Tilden (same as above but at the beach, bringing a pleasant vibe)
- Sheldrake (just an old building full of bird shit, nothing to see)
All in all, we’ve explored some wild spots on our mission to clean trash every day. It’s been an awesome journey and I’m excited to add to the list as time goes on. Get outside and explore the world around you !!! You never know what you’ll find in your area with a quick google search. Follow here, on IG, and subscribe on patreon.
