During winter break, I made it my mission to spend as much time with my hometown friends before we all had to go on our separate paths (only 4-5 people, so relatively COVID-safe). I was soon going back to State College, my other two friends were headed back to Temple University, and my other friend was preparing to leave for his army deployment in Germany.
Our next winter break adventure was to another ghostly neighborhood in Warminster, PA. This location is well-known to kids from our high school and the surrounding area; some students once tried to throw an overnight party in one of the abandoned houses. While I never heard how their party turned out, I knew the location must be easily accessible because of how popular it is.
Located in the middle of the Philadelphia suburbs, “Shenandoah Woods” is a former military housing complex that has been abandoned since the late 1990s. The townhome community used to house employees of the adjacent Naval Air Warfare Center and the nearby Willow Grove Joint Naval-Air Station. The downfall of the neighborhood was first realized when neighbors began encountering various sewage and water issues. Similar to the Concrete City neighborhood I previously explored, Shenandoah Woods accepted its demise after removing the plumbing pipes in 1997 and failing to go through with their costly replacement. The two military facilities closed or significantly descaled their operations around that time as well, so there wasn’t a dire need for housing anyways.
The physical location of Shenandoah Woods is also unique, as it juxtaposes the fast-growing nature of a popular Philadelphia suburb. It’s quite ironic to see hundreds of decrepit houses camouflaged in an area sprawling with parks, new construction, shopping centers, and large homes. It’s also worth noting that there are currently no plans in the works to rebuild or sell the neighborhood.
My friends and I were excited to embark on this adventure, and after the 20 minute car ride, we finally arrived at the new community park next door to park. After winding through one of the park’s trails, we saw the sprawling neighborhood, seemingly hidden in the middle of the woods. We came upon a hole in the fence, which served as our portal into the old abandoned neighborhood. We ran behind the houses so that other parkgoers couldn’t see us from the trail, but we eventually were deep enough in the neighborhood where that wasn’t an issue.
The neighborhood was very repetitive and featured countless rows of identical townhomes, some with mangled garage doors or roofs falling in. Every house was layered in graffiti and had most of their windows shattered. There was also two playground areas, a basketball court, and a mechanic’s garage. It was easy to visualize this neighborhood in its prime; it was somewhat sad to realize that this forgotten community is where some people used to call home or where children grew up.
After exploring for a few hours and seeing a few other explorers, a burnt down house, and a toilet in the middle of the road, we were on our way home. It was a cool place to explore, and I’m glad I checked it off of my list of “Places to Go”, but it was somewhat repetitive.
Rating: 7.3/10