I wanted to name this cache: The Abandoned Laurelton State Village for the Feeble-Minded Women of Child Bearing Age Hospital, but that was too many characters. Yes, you read that correctly. The Laurelton State Village for the Feeble-Minded Women of Child Bearing Age opened here in 1917 and was once thriving at this location. In 1969, males were admitted and the hospital took a new direction and new name: Laurelton State School and Hospital. In 1998 it closed and the remaining 193 patients were moved to a new location. In it's heyday, there were 500 patients.
Many of the patients (sometimes referred to as inmates) assisted with the daily chores (farm, kitchen, laundry...) making the hospital self sufficient.
Many of the buildings are still standing today. The smokestack of the powerhouse is easily seen from route 45 when passing by. The main building is also visible on the other side of route 45.
Since the buildings of the Laurelton Center are in Bald Eagle State Forest, I needed to obtain permission from DCNR. In talking with them, I learned that there have been paranormal sightings and activities. One of the workers at the Resources Management Center across the street saw a woman in a white dress in one of the Laurelton Center windows. A couple other workers heard children giggling down the hall of their Resources Management building. By the way, the Resources Management building sits on land that used to be part of the Laurelton Center.
While researching the hospital I came across a poem by Deirdre O’Connor:
At the Site of the Laurelton Village
for Feeble-minded Girls of Childbearing Age
No ghosts. Only witness
casting dark on lawns. Cool nets.
Rustles above, alongside.
Where the fields were, maybe,
green beans, cukes,
Where the grass now sways hip-high,
hips in cotton dresses swayed.
Where the orchards: pear, plum, apple.
Baskets of them in arms.
Where stone was lifted and made
an institution.
Porches painted white.
Can’t you see the ones called morons
mending dresses,
idiots shelling peas,
the deviant
berry-pickers, water-fetchers,
milkers of cows,
and those incorrigibles
who couldn’t be trusted
with a shovel,
weeding the long rain-loosened rows
on hands and knees? Scrubbing floors,
hanging sheets to flap
and then by supper
spread again on beds.
Can’t you see yourself
standing inside the corn
grown higher than faces?
How you might watch the whores
and nulliparae dance
like boys and girls,
music drifting
from open windows, curtains wafting
as if in a film and you alone
in knowing what you were
missing? No one seeming to notice,
no one bashing through stalks to lead you
back by the ordinary arm.
For more information and pictures about the hospital:
https://new.bestofu.live/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=193429
http://rustyjaw.com/work/abandoned/laurelton-state-village/
http://amyheiden.com/blog/category/Laurelton+State+Village
https://architecturalafterlife.com/2020/01/laurelton-state-village/
Parking is at the Resources Management Center of the Bald Eagle Forest District visitors lot which is directly across the street from the main Laurelton building.
To log a find on this cache please take a photo of yourself or a personal item with the main building in the background and post it with your online log. There is no need to cross the street, your photo can be taken right from the parking lot. If you are at all unsure which building is the main building, please see the background image on this cache page
I find it amazing how far we've come - there is no way we could ever name a hospital that way in today's culture.
I hope you enjoyed this little bit of history.
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.
Congratulations to Two Tenderfeet on the FTF!!