![]() ![]() ![]() From the middle of the parking lot, you can get right onto the white-blazed Castle Loop Trail, which is about 3.1 miles long. For the shortest and most direct route to the castle, park at the Upper Lot on Skyline Drive. There are three parking lots at Ramapo Mountain State Forest. Similarly, off-season is always going to be better than summer, and if the weather is a bit dreary, even better. If you have a free weekday, you’ll have much better luck finding a parking spot than if you try to hike here on the weekend. Which means park visitors are now free to visit and explore the abandoned castle today! How to Find the Castleįirst things first, Ramapo Mountain State Forest is a very popular hiking destination, so you need to be a bit strategic if you want to hike there yourself. The lot and ruined mansion were eventually seized and became part of the Ramapo Mountain State Forest in the 1980s. Already beginning to fall to ruin, the castle was abandoned entirely in 1959 after a fire completely destroyed the mansion. ![]() Originally used only as a summer home, Ruth moved into the castle permanently after Van Slyke died in 1925.Īfter Ruth’s own death in 1940, the castle sat vacant for many years before being purchased by new owners who left it unoccupied. Porter died in 1911, leaving the mansion and property to his wife, Ruth, who later married a lawyer by the name of Warren Van Slyke (hence the new name of the castle). At the time, the location was known as Fox Hill, and the mansion Porter built there was originally called “Foxcroft”. The Van Slyke Castle was built in the early 1900s by a NY stockbroker named William Porter. And with last week’s beautiful weather, we just had to get out and do some exploring! For this most recent adventure, we set out to find the ruins of the old Van Slyke Castle, nestled atop a hill in the middle of NJ’s Ramapo Mountain State Forest. It’s been a cold and snowy winter, but we’re looking forward to sharing more of our adventures with you now that spring is coming and vaccines are making it safer to be out and about. Hello, dear readers! It’s been a while since we last wrote, and we hope that you’re all doing well. ![]()
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