While driving to Nevele through the Catskills mountains, we came across a billboard that read “planned opening for 2020.” Unsure if the abandoned resort was under construction, we decided to check it out anyways since we had come all this way. When we got there, there was luckily no activity or sign of reopening. Next to Nevele is an open resort so we knew we wanted to steer clear of that. We parked down the road on a residential street and walked over.
We got in through an opening in the fence and walked through the woods to a bridge. The bridge looked like it had seen better days but we decide to trust it anyways since it was the only way to cross the river. Once over the bridge, we were no longer in the woods. Next to us was a pond and on the other side of pond is the property. We walked around the pond until we got to a ditch with an industrial halfpipe sticking out. We climb over the ditch and find remnants of a road that used to exist and leads to the property. Down the road on the left was a small outdoor swimming pool and tennis courts and on the right was a children’s day care. This is the first building we entered. The daycare was pretty bad shape – colorful paint was pealing off the walls, the ground was wet and in some areas the floor was completely caved in. We continued down the road to the main area where the tower was. The next building we visited was where the old reception hall used to be. We entered through what looked to be the old lobby. The glass door had been shattered and only the door frame remained. We walked from the lobby into the grand reception hall, lined with ceiling to floor glass windows, half of which were shattered, the carpet was wet and degraded but sturdy enough for us to make our way through, The room was practically empty other than a couple of tables left over and tattered curtains. Then we went upstairs to a hallway lined with hotel rooms. Something that really freaked me out was the posters on the walls. The posters were of different men pointing guns and we found 3 or 4 of them in all. The gaze and directness of the photographs seemed so real and felt like a warning sign. We explored one more building before leaving. This we like to refer to as the porn house, since it is full of old porn magazines and heroin needles. It had high ceilings, a big fire place in the center of the room and spiral staircases on either side of the fire place that led to the 2nd floor. There was a painting left behind of a sun and a tree, but it was too big to take it with us so we left it in the fireplace to pick it up next time. Unfortunately it was gone by then.
The second time that we explored Nevele we went into the tower. We took the stairs all the way up to the rooftop and looked out at the view. It was circular and we could see the entire complex and mountains all around us. While every floor layout followed the same format of a long hallway lined with identical bedrooms, the top floor was special. We entered what seemed to be the presidential suit which was partly decayed but strangely pristine at the same time. There were two chairs and a table set with glasses and plates. Above the table was an ornate chandelier with candles and beads and behind that was a window looking out on the mountainous view with thick decorative curtains. In the corner was an end table with flowers and on the other side was a cabinet with glass doors and plates and glasses still inside. It looked grand and of another time. We figured that previous visitors had kept the dining area intact and appeared to be just as it was before it became abandoned. When we returned the 3rd time, someone had spray painted, “Leave this room untouched,” confirming our theory that it had been left alone intentionally.
That day Nevele looked like a winter wonderland with snow on the ground and icicles on the tree branches. In addition to exploring the tower, we also went back to the main building with the old reception hall. Last time we didn’t go downstairs because it was too flooded but since it was the middle of winter, all the water froze over and we were able to cross the previously unreachable area. There we found an indoor swimming pool and a gym with old stationary bikes and yoga equipment. Next we walked behind the tower to what looked like a big pavilion and discovered that it was an abandoned iceskating rink. The floor appeared to have been stripped away and in the center was a giant hole where the floor caved in. The last building we explored was next to the children’s day care we saw on our first visit. The building was filled with gigantic turquoise machines and on the lefthand wall was a clipboard with some papers. We figured the machines were boiler systems and the room contained 3 or 4 of them. At that point, we felt satisfied that we had seen all there was to see at Nevele and made our way back home. Seems unlikely it will opening in 2020, or any time soon for that matter.
URBAN EXPLORING ABANDONED BUILDINGS 